The Lehman Brothers-driven global financial crisis of 2008 showed the danger of spreading money around too much.
Solana could flip Ethereum in transaction fees within a week: Report
The potential flip could further cement Solana’s status as an “Ethereum-killer,” which has been questioned due to the recent network outages.
Popular Crypto Wallet MetaMask Rolls Out ‘Smart Transactions’ to Combat Ethereum Front-Running
It’s the first step on a more ambitious roadmap to transform how Ethereum’s biggest wallet works under the hood.
EU Watchdog Says Reordering Blockchain Transactions Might Be Market Abuse. Industry Says It’s Not
Maximum Extractable Value (MEV), in which crypto miners reorder transactions they validate for profit, is not inherently bad, some policy experts point out.
The Bitcoin Halving Really Is Different This Time
Inside the ‘Private Mempools’ Where Ethereum Traders Hide From Front-Running Bots
These private mempools – where blockchain transactions avoid the eyes of front-running bots – promise to offer better settlement and lower fees to Ethereum users, but experts are sounding the alarm bell on some big risks.
Ethereum’s ‘Censorship’ Problem Is Getting Worse
Four of the five biggest “block builders” on Ethereum are excluding transactions sanctioned by the U.S. government, according to new research.
Blocknative Reduces Headcount by Third, After Suspending Work on Relay Project
The company completed a restructuring in the wake of its decision to exit services related to its MEV-Boost Relay, a type of software used by Ethereum network validators.
Blocknative to Suspend MEV-Boost Relay After Economics Fail to ‘Materialize’
The decision followed internal discussions among the company’s leadership and board of directors, and the company plans to focus on “economically viable opportunities.”
Curve Debacle Triggers Transaction Frenzy, Sending Ethereum ‘MEV’ Rewards to Record High
On July 30, over 6,000 ETH ($11M worth) in so-called Maximal Extractable Value rewards were paid out to Ethereum validators, the most ever for a single day.
Ribbon Finance Settles First On-Chain Ether ‘Autocallable’ With Marex and MEV Capital
The onchain execution of structured products promises transparency to investors and eliminates counterparty risks.
Crypto Firm Flashbots Raises $60M in Paradigm-Led Round
The new capital will help develop the SUAVE decentralized platform for maximal extractable value (MEV).
A New Uniswap Feature Aims to Eliminate DeFi Pain Points
UniswapX, announced at EthCC in Paris, offers better prices by aggregating liquidity sources, gas-free swaps, and protection against MEV.
Flashbots Confirms Top Strategy Researcher Obadia to Depart Amid ‘Strategic’ Hiring Push
Obadia cited personal reasons for his departure but warned of “serious challenges” for Flashbots in a letter posted to Twitter.
Multicoin Leads $2.3M FastLane VC Deal, Continuing its Bet on MEV Infrastructure
The crypto-focused investment firm has now backed three projects centered around maximal extractable value (MEV), a way for validators to earn extra money from traders.
Trader Has Over $10 Million Of PEPE And LADYS, But Can’t Sell
As PEPE prices recover after a 76% slump from May 2023 peaks, a trader holding over $10 million worth of Pepe Coin (PEPE) and Milady Meme Coin (LADYS) meme tokens can, reportedly, not sell as both projects have blacklisted his addresses.
Striking Gold On PEPE And LADYS
Data from Scope Protocol, an analytics platform, shows that the anonymous trader was among the earliest buyers of PEPE and LADYS meme tokens.
Imagine you are profit $10M but can't sell.
0xaf23 is blacklisted by both $PEPE & $LADYS because bought too early.
he bought 2.52T $PEPE with 0.013 ETH, now these $PEPE worth ~$4.6M
he also bought 290T $LADYS (33% of all) and holds 71T now (~4.9M).https://t.co/XzsxRdAMCY pic.twitter.com/7rWZnw6oMQ
— 0xScope ( . ) (@ScopeProtocol) May 11, 2023
The two meme projects have experienced a tremendous surge, catapulting early holders into the realm of millionaires.
Records show that the trader acquired 2.52 trillion PEPE tokens for just 0.013 ETH. His stash grew to $4.6 million.
The trader also bought 290 trillion LADY tokens, or about 33% of the total supply.
As of May 11, the blacklisted address held roughly 71 trillion LADY worth over $4.9 million.
Yet, with the two projects blocking his addresses, the trader cannot liquidate and profit.
Unconfirmed rumors have it that the trader is associated with a maximal extractable value (MEV) bot.
Despite this setback, the inability of the trader to sell their PEPE and LADYS tokens could support prices considering the amount held by the trader. A block sell could adversely impact liquidity.
The surge of PEPE, though without any utility, points to the community’s greed, and unwillingness to miss out due to FOMO.
MEV Bots Raise Concerns
Concerns about the impact of MEV bots on Ethereum’s security and fairness have grown, as they can impact gas fees, front-run transactions, and congest the network especially as the meme token craze continues.
The blacklisting of the trader’s addresses suspected of being MEV bots coincides with PEPE and LADYS spike in trading activity on Ethereum.
An example is a notorious MEV bot named Jaredfromsubway.eth that’s sandwiching meme token traders for profit. Because of the number of trading done amid the meme token craze, the bot is one of the biggest contributors of the high fees in Ethereum.
As trading volumes of meme tokens rise, more bots will likely be deployed to profit from this popularity.
Already, CoinMarketCap data on May 14 shows that PEPE’s average daily volumes stood at over $520 million which is almost the same as its market cap at $721 million. Meanwhile, LADYS daily volumes reached $74 million as its total market cap rose 30% to $80 million.
There were also signs of suspicious activities and addresses in the LADY token ecosystem which previously raised some concerns.
Nine addresses transferred 26 trillion LADYS, equivalent to $3.7 million, to exchanges. Earlier, these addresses received ETH from KuCoin simultaneously before buying LADYS.
If you notice these suspicious addresses, then you can predict the drop of $LADYS in advance.
9 addresses transferred a total of 26T $LADYS ($3.7M) to exchanges.
Is it a coincidence that the price of $LADYS drops after each transfer?https://t.co/isFU2u9zVK pic.twitter.com/uoa8tBFWUA
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 12, 2023
Furthermore, they transferred all of their holdings to new addresses. Interestingly, each transfer coincides with a drop in the price of LADYS.
Users were advised to watch these whale accounts as their activities could impact prices.
If you bought $LADYS, you should pay attention to these 42 suspicious addresses.
They hold 205T $LADYS ($19M), 23% of the total supply.
They all received $ETH from #KuCoin at the same time and bought $LADYS.
And also transferred all $LADYS to new addresses 10 hrs ago. pic.twitter.com/EftRtfRZD7
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 11, 2023
PEPE Meme Coin Craze Spreads Wealth to Ethereum Validators Running Blockchain
As risk-taking crypto traders sought to make tremendous profits off of surging prices for the suddenly-hot PEPE, a resulting surge in transaction fees brought a windfall to validators running the Ethereum blockchain.
Subway-themed trading bot makes millions using ‘sandwich’ attacks
The anonymous MEV bot operator’s best day was April 18, where he profited about $950,000.
ROOK Investors Begin Swapping Tokens for $25M Crypto Treasury
Holders of the former governance token have 90 days to exchange their ROOK for USDC.
What’s Next After Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade?
Ethereum is expected to address the implementation of proto-danksharding in the months after Wednesday’s Shanghai upgrade (also referred to as “Shapella”), as well as other mechanisms that will make the blockchain more scalable. Last year saw the Merge. Now comes the Verge, Purge and Scourge.