USENIX 2026 Study Flags Over 65,000 Risky Addresses on Ethereum and BNB Chain

A study presented at USENIX Security 2026, reported Thursday, August 13, 2026 (22 Mordad 1405), identified 65,340 risky addresses across the Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain networks. According to the researchers, these addresses are linked to losses of 126,982.94 ETH and 17,726.7 BNB, valued at more than $574.8 million using May 2025 reference prices.

Per the report, which CryptoSlate also confirmed, 49,344 cases involved contract account address misuse and 15,996 involved accounts with exposed private keys. Two newly identified attack vectors, one exploiting the EIP-7702 feature and another exploiting undeployed contract addresses, together account for about $15.7 million, or 2.7 percent of the total estimate. The researchers recommended that wallets provide clearer warnings about exposed private keys and cross-network contract address mismatches.