Ethereum MEV Bot Guzzles Over $1M in Gas Pumping Memecoins

Over the last 24 hours, the ‘jaredfromsubway.eth’ MEV bot has spent more than $1 million on gas. According to Dune Analytics, it accounted for over 8% of total gas spending on the previous day. As a result of increasing network activity, gas prices for the rest of us have crept up.

The MEV bot had spent 522.7 ETH in fees worth an estimated $1.09 million at the time of writing. Furthermore, within the last week, the MEV bot has spent roughly 1,183 ETH worth $2.4 million. Its monthly Ethereum gas consumption is a whooping $5.3 million, making it the biggest gas guzzler.

MEV, or Maximal (previously Miner) Extractable Value, is a forerunner process in which a bot discovers potentially profitable transactions in the mempool. Typically, transactions are classified solely by transaction fees. The higher the cost, the higher a transaction is placed on the processing list. An MEV bot can access transaction data in the mempool (transaction waiting room) and arbitrage or front-run them to maximize profit.

This MEV bot appears to be “sandwich attacking” various low-cap cryptocurrencies, according to DeFi researcher “SeaLaunch_.” The researcher published a list of the altcoins that the bot had lately attacked. A sandwich assault is a sort of malicious front-running that is frequently used to affect crypto token pricing. As a result, the prices of some of these obscure tokens have risen significantly.

Furthermore, the price of Ethereum gas has risen in the last 24 hours. Etherscan reports that average network costs have increased 140% since the weekend. As a result of the attack, the price of the obscure PEPE token has increased by more than 200%. PEPE is yet another memecoin with no discernible purpose or utility.

“You only see this kind of stuff during ALT season,” crypto trader “Satoshi Flipper” said, “so I’m expecting a sweet little spillover effect of momentum + demand into other ALTS.”

WOJAK is another seemingly insignificant memecoin that has increased by nearly 80% today. Despite the high cost of gas, it looks that the MEV bot profited from at least these two memecoins.