Citi Warns of Surge in 'Address Poisoning' Scams on Ethereum
Citi's research team reported on Jan. 22, 2026 that a recent uptick in Ethereum network activity appears to be fueled more by scam-related behavior than by organic adoption. Analysts highlighted a pattern they call 'address poisoning'—where bad actors send low-value or deceptive transactions to popular addresses to create misleading activity and obscure true user metrics. Citi says this tactic can inflate transaction counts, complicate analytics and give a false impression of network growth.
Why it matters: distorted on-chain signals can mislead investors, feed into flawed DeFi risk assessments, and prompt closer scrutiny from exchanges and regulators. For traders and projects tracking activity as a health indicator for ETH, Citi's warning is a reminder to cross-check on-chain growth with wallet-level and UX metrics. The bank advises heightened vigilance and better filtering tools to separate genuine adoption from malicious noise.