ETH MEV Bot Spends $2M On Gas Fees To Execute Sandwich Attacks

Crypto experts report that sandwich bots are leading the way for investors on newly-launched memecoins like pepe (PEPE) and chad (CHAD). While these memecoins have no inherent worth, they have gained popularity among Crypto Twitter enthusiasts almost instantly, resulting in an astonishing surge of over 10,000% for these tokens.

A wallet called “Jaredfromsubway.eth,” which is believed to be a reference to the popular sandwich chain, has spent more than $2 million in Ethereum network fees in the last week to execute sandwich attacks on low-cap token traders.

As a result, the fees for the entire network have skyrocketed, as shown by data from Dune Analytics. As of Wednesday morning in Asia, each Ethereum transaction costs over $10, a tenfold increase from last week’s level of $1.

ETH Gas Fee Spike according to Dune Analytics

For context, a sandwich attack occurs when a user’s transaction is sandwiched between two other transactions that are then manipulated to generate profit. The attack involves buying the same asset as the victim’s trade and then selling tokens to the victim at a slightly higher price during the same transaction, effectively frontrunning the victim’s trade.

According to the data, Jaredfromsubway.eth spent 7% of all fees on the Ethereum network in the last 24 hours, making them the top spender on the network. This is more than Arbitrum, a layer 2 blockchain that batches transactions on the Ethereum network, and Uniswap, the most widely used decentralized exchange.

Moreover, the MEV bot in question seems to be engaging in “sandwiching” with several low-cap altcoins, as pointed out by DeFi researcher “sealaunch_.” The researcher shared a list of the altcoins that the bot has recently targeted.

Although it is unclear how much profit Jaredfromsubway.eth made from their frontrunning actions, it is likely to exceed their costs by a significant margin, given the large amount they spent and continue to spend.

Meanwhile, the frenzy for pepe tokens is in full force, with the tokens nearly doubling in value over the last 24 hours, as Crypto Twitter traders shift their obsession from doge-themed tokens to internet memes.