Ethereum Record Metrics Mask Surge In Onchain Spam

While the network subsequently recorded all-time highs in transaction counts and active addresses in January 2026, the data shows these records were not driven by genuine institutional adoption or Layer 2 scaling. Instead, the "headroom" created by the upgrade has been largely consumed by a sophisticated address poisoning campaign.

Fusaka was activated on the Ethereum mainnet on 3 Dec 2025, followed by Blob Parameter-Only (BPO) updates on 9 Dec 2025 and 8 Jan 2026. These updates increased the blob target from six to 14 per block - a 133% increase - and raised the maximum from 15 to 21. While the intention was to widen the data highway for rollups, the primary beneficiary of the lower fee environment appears to be automated attack scripts.

Record activity driven by address poisoning

On 16 Jan, Ethereum processed 2,885,524 transactions, the highest daily total on record. However, the composition of this activity reveals a troubling trend. According to security researchers at CyLab and ForkLog, approximately 80% of the surge in new addresses was related to stablecoin "dust" attacks. These attacks involve scammers sending zero-value or near-zero-value transactions to users from lookalike addresses to "poison" their transaction history and induce future accidental transfers.

The 30-day average transaction count rose from 1.54mn to 2.04mn - a 32% increase - but this was largely a byproduct of the lower transaction costs introduced by Fusaka. By reducing gas fees by over 60%, the upgrade unintentionally made large-scale spam attacks economically viable. Security analysts note that 67% of newly active wallets in January 2026 received transactions of less than $1, a pattern that points directly to automated poisoning rather than organic retail or institutional usage.

The disconnect between blobs and base layer growth

The data proves that blob-carrying transactions, the primary target of the Fusaka upgrade, were not the source of the January records. Blob activity actually peaked on 3 Dec 2025 with 18,709 transactions. By the time the total transaction record was set in mid-January, blob transactions had fallen to just 10,479. As a share of total network activity, blob usage dropped to a record low of 0.363% on the day the all-time high was reached.

This divergence confirms that while Fusaka successfully expanded the "blob" lane for Layer 2 settlement, that lane remains largely underutilized. The surge in transactions occurred entirely in the execution layer, where reduced costs have lowered the barrier to entry for malicious actors. While the Ethereum community may celebrate these record metrics as a sign of network health, they are more accurately a symptom of a scaling solution that has outpaced its security protocols. Fusaka created the headroom, but for now, the scammers are the ones living in it.