- Almost half of all user authorizations for Ethereum’s EIP-7702 are linked to criminal activities, including phishing and fund draining.
- From May 7, users have activated EIP-7702 over 1.5 million times, with about 48% identified as crime-related by Wintermute.
- The EIP-7702 feature was designed to enhance experience and security by temporarily turning user accounts into smart contract wallets.
- As of May 30, about 97% of EIP-7702 delegations drained or swept funds from targeted accounts, according to Wintermute’s analysis.
- EIP-7702 transactions represent around 0.37% of all Ethereum network transactions per day.
Since early this year, nearly half of all user interactions with Ethereum’s EIP-7702 feature have been tied to crimes, including phishing and unauthorized fund withdrawals, according to research by Wintermute. The feature, live on the Ethereum mainnet since May 7, allows users to temporarily convert their accounts into smart contract wallets to carry out transactions.
Researchers state that users have activated EIP-7702 a total of 1,580,930 times. Out of those, 768,275 actions—about 48%—were flagged as related to criminal schemes. This data comes from Wintermute’s ongoing review of EIP-7702 usage, which suggests the feature may have been used to victimize thousands of individuals.
Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, had promoted EIP-7702 for its ability to grant users enhanced functionality—such as grouping transactions or reducing transaction costs—while claiming it offered new protections. He wrote that the feature would enable “broad adoption of user experience improvements across applications,” but Wintermute’s most recent data shows a high rate of misuse.
EIP-7702 works by temporarily making a regular user wallet operate as a smart contract, enabling additional actions during a transaction without making permanent changes to the account structure. However, Wintermute found that as of May 30, “97% of all EIP-7702 delegations were automatically draining or sweeping incoming ETH from victimized addresses,” with the “crime” category in their study referring to delegate contracts with these auto-drain functions.
On average, the new feature accounts for 6,285 transactions daily, amounting to approximately 0.37% of all Ethereum transfers. Multiple reviewers had previously approved EIP-7702’s technical upgrade, and warnings about possible risks were published on May 7, the same day the feature went public.
Recent headlines in the sector have highlighted cases where similar vulnerabilities have led to large thefts, such as a single malicious transaction resulting in $230 million being drained from the WazirX platform.
For more detailed data, see Wintermute’s summaries on criminal use of EIP-7702 and further explanations of their research findings. For background information, EIP-7702‘s full text is available from the official repository. Readers interested in tracking transaction volumes can refer to ETH transaction statistics.
✅ Follow BITNEWSBOT on Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X.com, and Google News for instant updates.
Previous Articles:
- IREN Doubles AI Cloud Capacity, Stock Jumps 11% on GPU Expansion
- Crypto Markets Crash With $1.7B Liquidated, Rate Cut Hopes Rise
- Gold Surges to $3,719, Up 42% in a Year, Outperforming Stocks
- Bitfinex Bitcoin Longs Surge, Historically Signal Potential Downturn
- Shiba Inu, Bitcoin, ETH Now Accepted at Major Global Retailers
