I am trading cryptocurrency on a frequent basis, and I have tiny sums - in exchanges and wallets - which are too small to trade or withdraw as they fall below the transaction value requirements. The main wallets and exchanges I use are: Atomic Wallet, StakeCube, and Binance.
Dust can be harmful, but there are some ways to address the problem of “crypto dust.”
What's Crypto Dust?
In the crypto markets, dust refers to a fraction of a cryptocurrency or token that is so small and it cannot be traded or withdrawn. As a result, most crypto dust lies idle in exchanges or wallets.
While altcoin dust may not sound like a big issue, there is actually an important amount of capital locked away in wallets that could otherwise be deployed to provide crypto market liquidity.
What I Do About. My Crypto Dust?
My ability to deal with altcoin dust depends on the policies of the exchange where I have that dust left.
From my large experience with exchanges, I must tell you that most of them have done little or nothing to address the dust issue.
Most wallets and exchanges have minimum trade size requirements, such as 0.001 or 0.0001 of a token. Also they have a minimum withdrawal value requirement to cover transaction fees. But they will not tell you much or nothing about how to solve the crypto dust issue! However, I have found some solutions which are presented below.
Crypto Dust Converting on Binance
When I have small holdings on Binance, I use the exchange’s “Convert into BNB” feature, which lets me to convert (with the click of a button) all holdings – including crypto dust – into the company’s native Binance Coin (BNB).
Other Solutions for Converting Crypto Dust
If an exchange does not offer convert feature, there are other ways of resolving your altcoin dust problem.
One solution I used to remove dust from Atomic Wallet, involves topping up the cryptocurrency dust to the point where its value meets the minimum trading limit. From there, I convert it to another coin.
Or, I can top up my dust to the point where it meets the exchange’s minimum withdrawal value requirement. Then I can transfer smaller holdings to an exchange like BINANCE or StakeCube, and use available crypto dust cleaning feature.
From here, it's an easy process to withdraw the funds to a bank account, etc.
Be Aware of the Dusting Attacks
The threat of a dusting attack for privacy-conscious crypto users is a serious matter.
Crypto dusting attacks involve malicious actors attempting to uncover the identity of the users of a public blockchain network.
They do these attacks by sending a tiny amount of cryptocurrency to a crypto wallet.
The transactional activities that make use of these addresses can then be tracked in an attempt to gain insight into fund flows and, potentially, the identity of the owners of the addresses the attackers target.
If you do receive small transactions, better run your coins through a mixing service to ensure your privacy is not compromised.
Conclusion
Whether you are responsible for its creation or not, clearing up and cleaning the altcoin dust can be both profitable and safe.
