Term

Dusting Attack

A privacy attack where tiny amounts of coins (dust) are sent to many addresses to try to link them when spent.

Type:
security
privacy
Also known as:
Dust Attack
1
concept

In a dusting attack, an adversary distributes small UTXOs to many addresses. When the recipient later consolidates or spends those outputs together, the attacker may infer common ownership and link addresses.

Example 1.1

A BCH wallet receives dozens of tiny outputs from unknown addresses; marking them "do not spend" helps preserve privacy until they can be consolidated thoughtfully.

2
mitigation

Wallet features like coin control, address labeling, and UTXO blacklisting help. Consolidate dust during low-fee periods, and avoid combining coins from unrelated contexts.

Example 2.1

Using coin control, a user spends only a single, clean UTXO for a purchase, leaving dust outputs untouched to avoid linking multiple identities.

All terms and definitions may update as the Cryptionary improves.