Multiple users have reported dust attacks from wallets linked to the HTX exchange, formerly Huobi. Users are worried that even a small transaction could connect a wallet to the exchange, which has been sanctioned as a counterparty in the UK and the European Union.

User wallets have received dust transactions linked to HTX addresses. A token contract for a new HTX asset has interacted with thousands of wallets on BNB Smart Chain, while other users said they received USDT from an address tagged as HTX48.

An HTX ambassador responded to the allegations, saying the exchange did not intentionally send out any assets and that this was not its usual mode of behavior. Justin Sun, the founder of TRON and the owner of HTX, has also not responded to questions about the spam attack. Sun has recently pivoted to AI, offering bonus tokens and access to one of his new advanced models.

As Cryptopolitan reported, HTX was also targeted in another wave of sanctions against third-country exchanges. Binance froze transactions from HTX, Exmo, and 14 other exchanges, underscoring how quickly wallet exposure can become a compliance issue across both centralized and decentralized venues.

Why are user wallets threatened by HTX?

A dust attack usually aims to trick users into sending funds to the wrong address. In this case, however, the activity has been described as compliance poisoning.

In the EU and other regions, exchanges have started to vet and de-anonymize user wallets. That means wallets may be monitored for interactions with sanctioned exchanges. So far, Binance has not confirmed whether it would screen for dust transfers, but it could potentially flag wallets that interact with HTX.

Some users said the attack could be aimed especially at crypto influencers and high-profile traders, creating pressure on exchanges to freeze or review their accounts. Some KOLs and insiders are already reporting that the dust attack has led to their centralized accounts being frozen for review.

Are dust attacks a risk to personal wallets?

A similar dust attack targeted user wallets after the US sanctioned the Tornado Cash mixer. At that time, a user spent $50,000 to contaminate addresses with dust transactions.

Even with automated risk filtering, that dust attack was not enough to ban all wallets and user accounts on centralized exchanges. Later, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ruled that non-material passive receipt of funds was not enough to deem an account an accomplice to a banned service.

The recent transactions are also often slightly larger than a typical dust attack, sometimes transferring up to 12 USDT. The attack is also not using any new or counterfeit tokens.

Wallet-screening practices vary by exchange. Binance has been the strictest, freezing some accounts for suspicious transactions. Other brokerages flag the received transaction and sometimes allow users to send it back to a self-custodial wallet without freezing the funds.

Currently, all wallets withdrawing from HTX after May 26 are considered sanctioned. Even decentralized services such as Hyperliquid and some DeFi protocols are already blacklisting the wallets. That means that even if authorities do not require an account freeze, decentralized services could still refuse users based on their recent connection to HTX.

Critics say the measures against HTX are an overreach, arguing that too many resources are being spent tracking legitimate users instead of real on-chain crime. For users and exchanges, the practical question is less about the size of the transfer than whether a wallet can be linked to a sanctioned counterparty and then treated as higher risk in later screening.