What is dusting?

Dust refers to a small amount of bitcoin, typically worth a few cents. When dusting, an person sends small amounts of bitcoin to multiple wallet addresses. The person's goal is usually one of the following:

1. Mapping user behaviour: They track the movement of the dust in an attempt to link different wallet addresses to a single individual. By doing this, they aim to “deanonymise” users and identify individuals with large bitcoin holdings. Once identified, those users may become targets of phishing scams or even cyber-extortion.
2. Transaction history “poisoning”: When dust is sent to a wallet, it becomes part of the transaction history. If a user later refers to their history and mistakenly copies the dusting address, they might unknowingly send funds to the wrong destination.

How can you avoid dusting?

Although it is not possible to prevent small amounts of bitcoin(“dust”) from being sent to your wallet, these deposits do not pose a direct threat to your assets. Blockrise proactively addresses and mitigates most of the risks associated with dusting activities.

Conclusion

While dusting activities are generally not a major threat, it s still important to be cautious. By avoiding interaction with suspiciously small transactions you can effectively protect your assets and maintain your privacy on the blockchain.