Culper shorts ETH, says tokenomics broken since Fusaka upgrade

Research firm Culper announced it is shorting Ethereum (ETH) and Bitmine (BMNR), publishing a related report. In a post on X, Culper argued that ETH's tokenomics have been compromised since the Fusaka upgrade in December of last year. The firm countered claims from Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee that fundamentals had improved with rising active addresses and transactions. Culper's investigation concluded that most of this activity stems from poisoning—a scam that tricks users into sending funds to fraudulent addresses mimicking their own—and dusting, where attackers send tiny amounts of crypto to track wallets. The firm attributed these issues to excess block space. The report also asserted that the gas limit increase in the Fusaka upgrade was miscalculated and that ETH founder Vitalik Buterin has been and continues to sell his holdings because he knows the tokenomics are broken. Culper concluded that ETH continues to lose market share to Solana (SOL) and Layer 2 solutions, and that Tom Lee will eventually be cornered.