A single victim was scammed two times within three hours, losing a total of $2.5 million in stablecoins.

According to data shared on May 26 by crypto compliance firm Cyvers, the victim sent 843,000 worth of USDt (USDT), followed by another 1.75 million USDt around three hours later. Cyvers said the scam used a method known as a zero-value transfer, a sophisticated form of onchain phishing.

Source: Cyvers Alert

Zero-value transfers are an onchain phishing technique that abuses token transfer functions to trick users into sending real funds to attackers. The attackers exploit the token transfer From function to transfer zero tokens from the victim’s wallet to a spoofed address.

Since the amount transferred is zero, no signature by the victim’s private key is necessary for onchain inclusion. Consequently, the victims will see the outgoing transaction in their history.

The victim may trust this address since it is included in their transaction history, mistaking it as a known or safe recipient. They may then send real funds to the attacker’s address in a future transaction.

In one high-profile case, a scammer using zero transfer phishing attack managed to steal $20 million worth of USDT before getting blacklisted by the stablecoin’s issuer in the summer of 2023.

Related: Hackers using fake Ledger Live app to steal seed phrases and drain crypto

Advanced form of address poisoning

A zero-value transfer is considered an evolution of address poisoning — a tactic where attackers send small amounts of cryptocurrency from a wallet address that resembles a victim’s real address, often with the same starting and ending characters. The goal is to trick the user into accidentally copying and reusing the attacker’s address in future transactions, resulting in lost funds.

The technique exploits how users often rely on partial address matching or clipboard history when sending crypto. Custom addresses with similar starting and ending characters can also be combined with zero-value transfers.

Related: Industry exec sounds alarm on Ledger phishing letter delivered by USPS

Threat growing across blockchains

A January 2025 study found that over 270 million poisoning attempts occurred on BNB Chain and Ethereum between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2024. Of those, 6,000 attempts were successful, leading to losses over $83 million.

The report follows crypto cybersecurity firm Trugard and onchain trust protocol Webacy announcing an artificial intelligence-based system for detecting crypto wallet address poisoning. The new tool purportedly has a success score of 97%, tested across known attack cases.

Magazine: Crypto scam hub expose stunt goes viral, Kakao detects 70K scam apps: Asia Express

A single victim was scammed two times within three hours, losing a total of $2.6 million in stablecoins.

According to data shared on May 26 by crypto compliance firm Cyvers, the victim sent 843,000 worth of USDt (USDT), followed by another 1.75 million USDt around three hours later. Cyvers said the scam used a method known as a zero-value transfer, a sophisticated form of onchain phishing.

Source: Cyvers Alert

Zero-value transfers are an onchain phishing technique that abuses token transfer functions to trick users into sending real funds to attackers. The attackers exploit the token transfer From function to transfer zero tokens from the victim’s wallet to a spoofed address.

Since the amount transferred is zero, no signature by the victim’s private key is necessary for onchain inclusion. Consequently, the victims will see the outgoing transaction in their history.

The victim may trust this address since it is included in their transaction history, mistaking it as a known or safe recipient. They may then send real funds to the attacker’s address in a future transaction.

In one high-profile case, a scammer using a zero-transfer phishing attack managed to steal $20 million worth of USDT before getting blacklisted by the stablecoin’s issuer in the summer of 2023.

Related: Hackers using fake Ledger Live app to steal seed phrases and drain crypto

Advanced form of address poisoning

A zero-value transfer is considered an evolution of address poisoning, a tactic where attackers send small amounts of cryptocurrency from a wallet address that resembles a victim’s real address, often with the same starting and ending characters. The goal is to trick the user into accidentally copying and reusing the attacker’s address in future transactions, resulting in lost funds.

The technique exploits how users often rely on partial address matching or clipboard history when sending crypto. Custom addresses with similar starting and ending characters can also be combined with zero-value transfers.

Related: Industry exec sounds alarm on Ledger phishing letter delivered by USPS

Threat growing across blockchains

A January 2025 study found that over 270 million poisoning attempts occurred on BNB Chain and Ethereum between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2024. Of those, 6,000 attempts were successful, leading to losses over $83 million.

The report followed crypto cybersecurity firm Trugard and onchain trust protocol Webacy announcing an artificial intelligence-based system for detecting crypto wallet address poisoning. The new tool purportedly has a success score of 97%, tested across known attack cases.

Magazine: Crypto scam hub expose stunt goes viral, Kakao detects 70K scam apps: Asia Express

Cryptocurrency investment products saw a sharp increase in inflows last week, driving the year-to-date (YTD) total above $10 billion, according to data from European crypto investment manager CoinShares.

Global crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded $3.3 billion of inflows during the week ending May 24, bringing total inflows YTD to a record $10.8 billion, CoinShares reported on May 26.

CoinShares head of research James Butterfill said total assets under management (AUM) in crypto ETPs briefly reached an all-time high of $187.5 billion, reflecting strong investor interest.

“We believe that growing concerns over the US economy, driven by the Moody’s downgrade and the resulting spike in treasury yields, have prompted investors to seek diversification through digital assets,” Butterfill wrote.

Bitcoin ETPs lead with $2.9 billion in inflows

Bitcoin (BTC) led last week’s inflows to crypto ETPs with $2.9 billion, a quarter of total inflows for 2024.

As Bitcoin surged above $110,000 for the first time on May 22, some investors turned to short-BTC products, with inflows surging to $12.7 million, the highest since December 2024.

Crypto ETP flows by asset as of May 23, 2025 (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinShares

Ether (ETH) ETPs continued to see healthy inflows totaling $326 million last week, marking a fifth straight week of gains as momentum continued following the successful Pectra upgrade that went live on May 7.

Related: US Bitcoin ETFs near record month after $1.5B inflows in 2 days

While the majority of altcoin ETPs saw meager or even zero inflows, XRP (XRP) ETPs were hit with massive outflows. After posting an 80-week inflow streak, XRP investment products posted $37.2 million in outflows, the largest on record, according to Butterfill.

The wave of outflows for XRP ETPs came amid an underperforming price despite two key bullish developments for the asset, including a potential spot XRP exchange-traded fund in the US and $2.2 billion in XRP futures.

Crypto ETPs keep breaking records

The latest CoinShares data marks another record-breaking milestone for crypto ETPs, following a historic surge in YTD inflows the previous week.

In mid-May, crypto investment products added $785 million in new inflows, pushing the YTD total to $7.5 billion by May 16, according to CoinShares.

Weekly crypto ETP inflows since late 2024. Source: CoinShares

The new inflow record not only surpassed the previous peak of $7.2 billion recorded in February 2025 but also fully recovered the nearly $7 billion of outflows seen during the subsequent price correction in February and March, Butterfill said.

Magazine: Bitcoin bears eye $69K, CZ denies WLF ‘fixer’ rumors: Hodler’s Digest, May 18 – 24