Crypto Scam Alert: Trader Loses $215K in Stablecoin Sandwich Attack

Crypto Trader Loses Over $215,000 in Sandwich Attack

A crypto trader was targeted in a sandwich attack on March 12 while making a $220,764 stablecoin transfer. The attack resulted in the trader losing nearly 98% of their funds to a Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) bot.

The trader swapped $220,764 worth of USD Coin (USDC) for only $5,271 worth of Tether (USDT) in just eight seconds. The MEV bot successfully front-ran the transaction, pocketing over $215,500.

Ethereum’s blockchain data reveals that the attack targeted Uniswap v3’s USDC-USDT liquidity pool, which holds around $19.8 million in locked assets.

MEV Bot Exploits Uniswap v3

The MEV bot manipulated the transaction by first removing all USDC liquidity from the Uniswap v3 pool. It then reinserted the liquidity right after the victim’s transaction was completed.

Michael Nadeau, founder of The DeFi Report, revealed that the attacker tipped Ethereum block builder “bob-the-builder.eth” $200,000 from the swap. The MEV bot attacker kept $8,000 in profits.

Trader Might Have Been Attacked Multiple Times

DeFi researcher “DeFiac” suspects that the same trader, using different wallets, may have fallen victim to six sandwich attacks on the same day. Two Ethereum wallets, “0xDDe…42a6D” and “0x999…1D215,” suffered attacks at around 9:00 AM UTC on March 12. They lost $138,838 and $128,003, respectively. The transactions were made within minutes of the $220,762 swap.

Speculation of Money Laundering

There is growing speculation that these transactions could be connected to money laundering. Some experts suggest that the attack may have been orchestrated to disguise the movement of illicit funds. According to 0xngmi, the founder of the crypto data platform DefiLlama, the exploit might have been intentionally designed to allow an MEV bot to “clean” the funds while minimizing losses. This theory raises concerns about the potential use of DeFi protocols for financial crimes.

Uniswap CEO Defends Platform

Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams has come forward to defend the platform after initial criticism from Michael Nadeau regarding a recent attack. Nadeau originally pointed fingers at Uniswap, suggesting that the exploit originated from its platform.

However, after receiving clarifications from him and other experts in the space, he acknowledged that the transactions in question did not originate from Uniswap’s front end.

He emphasized that Uniswap’s front-end interface is designed with multiple layers of security to protect users from malicious activities. One of these protective measures includes built-in MEV protection, which helps mitigate the risks of frontrunning and sandwich attacks.

With these safeguards in place, Uniswap continues to position itself as a secure and reliable decentralized exchange within the DeFi ecosystem.