Exclusive data shows that MEV attacks hit hundreds of traders on Ethereum each month and continue to result in millions in losses. Maximal extractable value (MEV) refers to the economic value diverted from users by block builders through the manipulation of transaction ordering. The most harmful type of MEV are sandwich attacks, where an attacker simultaneously frontruns and backruns a victim’s swaps. This gives the victim a suboptimal execution price while the attacker pockets a spread. Most MEV activity occurs on Ethereum because it has high activity on DEXs and features an open block-building market that exposes order flow to searchers. In this article, Cointelegraph Research provides insights into sandwiching activity from November 2024 to October 2025, based on a data set of more than 95,000 sandwich attacks exclusively provided by the data platform EigenPhi. Our research indicates that, despite the slowdown in sandwich extraction, the risk to ordinary users persists. While attacks result in about $60 m...
The website of the Pepe memecoin has been hit with a front-end attack, and users are encouraged to stay clear of the website. The official website for the Pepe (PEPE) memecoin has been compromised by attackers, who are redirecting users to a malicious link. “Blockaid’s system has identified a front-end attack on Pepe. The site contains a code of inferno drainer,” the cybersecurity company said on Thursday. Blockaid’s Threat Intelligence Team told Cointelegraph: Inferno Drainer is a suite of scam tools that is employed by threat actors, including phishing website templates, wallet drainers and social engineering tools. The price of PEPE did not react immediately to the hack. The memecoin is up by about 4% over the last 24 hours, but is down by more than 77% over the last 12 months, according to CoinGecko. Read more
The European Commission plans to expand ESMA oversight of MiCA crypto companies and trading venues, aiming to streamline EU markets and narrow the gap with the US. The European Commission has proposed expanding the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) over crypto and broader financial markets in a bid to narrow the competitive gap with the United States. Published Thursday, the package would transfer “direct supervisory competences” for key pieces of market infrastructure, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), trading venues and central counterparties, to ESMA and strengthen its coordination role in the asset management sector. The proposal still needs approval from the European Parliament and the Council, where it is under negotiation. Read more
Onchain data points to a major Bitcoin price drop in the making, while a bearish technical structure projected a drop to $68,000. Bitcoin (BTC) is flashing early signs of a deeper correction, as the latest recovery pauses at $93,000. New analysis shows Bitcoin’s “market structure” increasingly resembles the first quarter of 2022, which marked the beginning of the bear market. Key takeaways: Bitcoin's onchain structure mirrors early 2022, risking a deep bear market if key levels are lost. Read more