All terms
Tiny amounts sent to your wallet to track or bait you.
An attacker sends a negligible amount of a token to thousands of addresses. Some dusting is analytical, trying to link addresses together when the dust is later spent.
More often now it is bait. The dust token has a name pointing at a website that will drain your wallet if you visit and connect.
Ignore unexpected tokens. Do not try to sell them, and never visit a site named in a token you did not buy.
That the dust is free money worth keeping. It is a marker, sent to see which addresses move together and to bait you into interacting with a malicious contract. Leave it alone and never try to spend it.
Common questions
Is dust dangerous to receive?
Should I try to return the dust?
Where this comes up on the site
The guides that actually use this word, rather than a list of everything we have written.
Where to go next
More security terms
Want this explained out loud?
Some of these land faster in conversation than in writing. Sessions are one to one and you can ask anything, including the things that feel too obvious to ask.