Value

WETH

when

Arkham

PEPE

An “unlucky” maximum extractable value (MEV) bot took out a staggering $12 million flash loan but only made $20 from its exploits.
In a Sept. 5 X <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/arkhamintel/status/1831706536399220907?s=46&amp;t=MuRujqZUAz3TQE1vmr3c6A" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">post</a>, blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence stated that the MEV bot took out a $11.97 million loan in Wrapped Ether (WETH) to “sandwich” a user trying to swap around $5,000 worth of Shuffle (SHFL) tokens.&nbsp;
<figure>
 <img alt="‘Unlucky’ MEV bot takes out huge $12M loan just to make $20 in profit" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/0191c59c-90e6-71c7-97e6-a090f60fe0b9">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: Arkham Intelligence
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0f0bb0abe6ce163008cf9ce6a691c87629646e56126cddbb6f76555d890e6113" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0f0bb0abe6ce163008cf9ce6a691c87629646e56126cddbb6f76555d890e6113">According</a> to Arkham data, the <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/what-is-mev-ethereums-invisible-tax" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">MEV bot</a> undertook a total of 14 transactions across the duration of its sandwich attack — lending, borrowing and returning around $700,000 in USD Coin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/usdc-price-index" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/usdc-price-index">USDC</a>) and WETH loans across decentralized finance protocols Aave and Uniswap. 
However, after the MEV attack was over and gas fees were paid, the bot made just over $20 in profit.&nbsp;
<figure>
 <img alt="‘Unlucky’ MEV bot takes out huge $12M loan just to make $20 in profit" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/0191c59c-6ecd-7901-8fc8-72101f557c0b">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 The entire attack took place across 14 transactions. Source: Arkham Intelligence
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0f0bb0abe6ce163008cf9ce6a691c87629646e56126cddbb6f76555d890e6113#eventlog" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0f0bb0abe6ce163008cf9ce6a691c87629646e56126cddbb6f76555d890e6113#eventlog">According</a> to data from Etherscan, the entire transaction was confirmed in a single block, meaning that the MEV bot executed all of the transactions within a span of around 12 seconds.&nbsp;
<h2 id="strong-how-a-sandwich-attack-works-strong">How a sandwich attack works&nbsp;</h2>
A sandwich attack occurs when an attacker “sandwiches” a victim’s transaction between their own two transactions to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sandwich-trading-bots-lose-bread-and-butter-in-25m-exploit" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">manipulate the price and profit</a> from the user.
This is possible because the victim’s transaction is first sent to the <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/on-chain-vs-off-chain-transactions" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">mempool</a> where it waits to be added to the next block. In the meantime, the attacker sets one transaction with a high gas fee — to ensure it is accepted first — and another transaction with a lower gas fee to ensure it is accepted after the victim’s transaction.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/solana-mev-sandwich-bot-profits-30-million-from-users" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Solana sandwich bot makes $30M from MEV arbitrage in 2 months</a>
The attacker profits by buying the victim’s token at a price cheaper than market value and then sells it within the same block — taking in the difference between the revenue from the transaction minus the gas fees.
While this particular MEV bot failed to turn a profit, they have been highly profitable for their operators in the past.
In April 2023, the infamous MEV bot operator “<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/notorious-mev-bot-returns-new-attacks" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">jaredfromsubway</a>” cashed in <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/subway-themed-trading-bot-makes-millions-using-sandwich-attacks" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">well over $1 million</a> in a single week by executing a spate of sandwich attacks on buyers and sellers of the Pepe (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/pepe-price-index" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/pepe-price-index">PEPE</a>) and Wojak (WOJAK) memecoins.
The bot’s name is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the popular sandwich chain Subway and its former spokesperson, Jared Fogle.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/5-ways-crypto-bots-are-ruining-crypto-including-auto-memecoin-rug-pulls/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">How crypto bots are ruining crypto — including auto memecoin rug pulls</a>

‘Unlucky’ MEV bot takes out huge $12M loan just to make $20 in profit

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