Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) proposed additional security measures to “eradicate” the practice of address “poisoning.”
The discussion was prompted by an incident in which an investor lost $50 million in USDT. The victim transferred funds to a fraudulent wallet, mistakenly copying it from a compromised transaction history.
“All wallets should simply check if the recipient address is ‘poisoned’ and block the user. This is a request to the blockchain,” Zhao noted.
He also added that security experts need to maintain a real-time blacklist of phishing wallets, allowing users to verify them before sending funds.
According to CZ, Binance is already engaged in this effort—back in May, the exchange introduced an “antidote” to spoofing scams. The platform’s algorithm detects fake addresses by initially identifying suspicious transfers, such as transactions with near-zero value or low-value tokens.
The tool then matches them with the addresses of potential victims and timestamps to find a possible point of “poisoning.”
Earlier in January, CertiK experts warned of the growing threat of phishing. In 2024, attackers stole more than $1 billion in 296 such attacks.
In February, a user lost over $760,000 due to address “poisoning.”
As reported by Chainalysis, since the beginning of 2025, hackers have stolen over $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency. One trend has been the increasing frequency of personal wallet hacks.
