Ethereum's Record Activity: A Double-Edged Sword of Growth and Scams

Ethereum is experiencing unprecedented transaction activity, with daily transactions hitting record highs and network fees plummeting to historic lows. This surge in usage, driven by scaling upgrades and increased stablecoin transfers, signals a more accessible and robust network. However, this boom is also being exploited by malicious actors.

Key Takeaways

• Ethereum's daily transaction volume has surpassed previous peaks, with fees dropping to "pennies.

• Recent protocol upgrades, including EIP-4844, have significantly increased blob capacity, lowering costs for Layer 2 solutions.

• A substantial portion of the increased activity is attributed to "address poisoning" scams and payload-based transaction phishing.

• Despite record usage, metrics like the Metcalfe Ratio suggest that valuation is not keeping pace with real network adoption.

• The network's validator exit queue has dropped to zero, indicating stability and confidence among stakers.

Network Scaling and Cost Reduction

Ethereum's recent surge in transaction volume is largely attributed to successful scaling efforts. Upgrades like "Pectra," "Fusaka" (introducing Peer Data Availability Sampling), and the Blob Parameter-Only (BPO) fork have dramatically increased the network's capacity. This has led to a significant drop in average transaction fees, making the network economically viable for a wider range of applications, including stablecoin transfers and payments. Dosh from Blockscout noted that this "reflects the success of Ethereum’s modular scaling architecture." The majority of this activity is dominated by stablecoin transfers, particularly USDT and USDC.

The Shadow of Scams

While the network's performance metrics are impressive, security researchers warn that a significant portion of this activity is not organic. "Address poisoning" campaigns are on the rise, where scammers send small "dust" transactions to users, creating lookalike addresses in their transaction history. The low transaction fees make it cost-effective for attackers to flood the network with these malicious transactions. A study presented at NDSS 2025 highlighted "payload-based transaction phishing" (PTXPHISH) as a growing threat, causing over $341.9 million in losses across 130,637 phishing transactions in a 300-day period. Scammers are reportedly consuming significant amounts of ETH daily to propagate these scams.

Network Stability and Future Concerns

Amidst the record activity and scam concerns, Ethereum's network health shows positive signs. The validator exit queue has fallen to zero, indicating a balance between staking rewards and operating costs, and suggesting strong confidence from stakers. However, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has raised concerns about the potential for "protocol bloat" as new features are added. He emphasized the importance of keeping the protocol simple and understandable, even as it scales, to ensure long-term resilience and agility.

Sources

• NDSS 2025 - Dissecting Payload-Based Transaction Phishing On Ethereum, Security Boulevard.

• Ethereum's record activity clouded by address poisoning scams, CryptoSlate.

• Ethereum Sets Record Usage as Costs Drop and Network Conditions Ease, Decrypt.