Dust is a tiny amount of crypto, so small that sending it would cost more in network feesNetwork feeA fee paid to a crypto network, not to a bank or company, for including your transaction in a block. than it is worth. In a dusting attack, someone sends such amounts to a large number of wallet addresses to see what happens to them.
How does dust come about?
On the Bitcoin network, a wallet's balance is held as many separate amounts, known as UTXOsUTXOAn unspent amount from an earlier transaction; Bitcoin tracks what people own as a collection of these, like notes in a wallet, rather than as one balance.. When you send, you pay a fee for each amount used, and if an amount is smaller than the fee, it isn't worth using. It is left behind as dust.
Bitcoin Core, the network's most widely used software, doesn't relay transactions that create such small amounts by default. The threshold depends on the address type and is a few hundred satoshis, for example 546 satoshis for an older type of address.
How does a dusting attack work?
A dusting attack relies on blockchainsBlockchainA public ledger where transactions are grouped into blocks, each linked to the one before, so past records can't be altered without it showing. being public. If you later spend the dust in a transaction together with other amounts in your wallet, the blockchain shows that the same person owns all those addresses. Addresses can be linked this way, and if one is tied to an exchange account, the owner can be identified. That can then be used to target scams or threats at people who hold a lot.
On networks such as Ethereum and Solana, another variant is more common: worthless tokens with a name that points to a website, such as "Claim your reward at ...". The site often hosts a wallet drainerWallet drainerMalicious code on a fake website that tricks you into approving a transaction or permission that empties your crypto wallet. that tries to get you to approve a permission that empties your wallet.
Dusting attacks and address poisoning
Both send tiny amounts to your wallet, but the goal is different. A dusting attack aims to track you. Address poisoningAddress poisoningA scam where a lookalike of an address you use is planted in your transaction history, in the hope that you copy it and send crypto to the scammer. aims to get you to copy a fake address from your transaction history and send crypto to it.
How do you protect yourself?
- Leave unexpected small amounts alone. Don't send them on, and don't try to sell unknown tokens.
- Never visit web addresses that appear in token names or transactions.
- Use your wallet's features. Some let you freeze individual amounts (coin control), and many hide unknown tokens automatically.
- Receive each payment at a new address, as most Bitcoin wallets do automatically. That makes it harder to link transactions together.
Dust can't take anything out of your wallet. The danger lies in what you do with it.
Everything in Myntkaup Learn is written and regularly reviewed by the Myntkaup editorial team. It is for education and is not investment advice. Editorial policy. Updated 2 November 2026.