MEV Bot Diverts $200,000 from PROMPT Airdrop Participants

The MEV bot Yoink transferred 119 ETH (~$200,000) to its wallets, acquired through front-running user claims on Kaito during the distribution of PROMPT tokens by Wayfinder, as reported by The Block.

The platform conducting the airdrop, TokenTable, halted the process upon discovering the issue and promised full compensation for the losses incurred by affected users.

We’re aware of the issue affecting our Wayfinder $PROMPT social claim on Kaito.

• The claim process is currently paused while we conduct a full investigation.

• All users impacted by failed transactions or claims taken by MEV will be fully compensated — all allocated $PROMPT…

— TokenTable (@tokentable) April 10, 2025

“The smart contract remains unaffected and secure. Our initial findings point to MEV activity as the primary cause,” commented the platform team on the incident. 

Wayfinder is a blockchain project based on AI, offering users an on-chain agent for interacting with smart contract applications.

On April 10, the project launched a TGE on Ethereum and the L2 network Base to distribute PROMPT among PRIME stakers. This is a governance and utility token from the organization behind Wayfinder, Echelon Prime Foundation.

For Kaito platform users who interacted with social media or AI project products through the Yapp solution, 0.25% of the total PROMPT distribution was allocated.

hey @AIWayfinder i think a MEV frontrunner is stealing and swapping s all $PROMPT @KaitoAI claims for ETHhttps://t.co/lksew6fznK pic.twitter.com/wDryhYjDZr

— ultra (@0x_ultra) April 10, 2025

“Hey, Wayfinder, I think a MEV frontrunner is stealing and swapping all PROMPT claimed from Kaito for ETH,” wrote independent developer Ultra.

According to the expert, the attack was not premeditated. The MEV bot discovered a vulnerability during a standard search for profit opportunities. For the attack, Yoink used public data from the mempool and shortcomings in the token issuance smart contract settings for Kaito “yappers,” Ultra clarified.

Back in May 2024, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin identified MEV as one of the three main threats to network decentralization.