The issuer of the stablecoin USDT, Tether, has blacklisted an address linked to the MEV-bot attack that held about $3 million in digital assets.
[2023/04/10 17:49] USDT blacklisted 0x3c98d617db017f51c6a73a13e80e1fe14cd1d8eb in block 17019365 https://t.co/BDLUzDkLb4
— usdt blacklist (@usdtblacklist) April 10, 2023
In early April, a group of blockchain bots that use MEV to extract additional income lost more than $25 million as a result of a fraudulent validator attack.
According to analytics firm CertiK, the attacker replaced the bots’ addresses in backrunning transactions. As a result, he moved them to his own wallets “wrapped” Bitcoin (WBTC) and Ethereum (WETH), as well as stablecoins USDC, USDT and DAI.
After the address was blocked, some Twitter users questioned Tether’s decentralisation.
Money of the FUTURE they said…
Got salty about a random mev bug…
Blacklisted…— OffWeGo? (@SailMyBoard) April 10, 2023
«The money of the future,» they said… They went berserk over a random MEV bug… S instant in the black list?», — wrote one user.
A Cryptonary spokesperson asked how such wallets are blocked.
What does a blacklisted stablecoin address look like?
Is it added to a list and/or sanctioned somehow?
— Cryptonary (@cryptonary) April 11, 2023
«What does a blacklisted stablecoin address look like? Is it simply added to a list or have any sanctions been imposed on it?», the publication states.
In February, Flashbots researchers unveiled the MEV-Share protocol, which expands opportunities for users in the distribution of MEV.
In April, more than 30 Ethereum projects joined forces to launch the MEV Blocker tool to protect users from front-running and “sandwich attacks.”