Uniswap V3 Sandwich Attacker Snatches $732,000 (AU$1.1M) USDC From a Single Trade

Onchain data has revealed a staggering loss in a single cryptocurrency swap: a trader exchanged over US$732,000 (AU$1M) in USDC for just about US$19K (AU$30K) in USDT.

On-chain data has revealed a staggering loss in a single cryptocurrency swap, with a trader exchanging over US$732,000 (AU$1.1M) in USDC for only about US$19K (AU$30K) in USDT.

The transaction was carried out on Uniswap V3’s highly liquid USDC–USDT pool and it appears to have been manipulated by a sandwich attack — a tactic in which an attacker places transactions both before and after a victim’s order to force an unfavorable price movement.

In this case, an MEV bot is believed to have front-run the trader’s transaction by draining liquidity from the pool, creating a massive price discrepancy between two stablecoins that are usually pegged to one US dollar. The bot also tipped a block builder to ensure its transaction was processed ahead of the victim’s.

Some observers have speculated that these unusually poor swap outcomes might not be accidental and could be a money laundering mechanism.

The DEFiac noted that all wallets follow the same path, which is “unusual”.

Unknown entity got sandwiched for 714k today on six separate USDC -> USDT swaps. (Traded with 100% slippage allowed.)

They swapped 732583.429405 USDC for 18636.232611 USDT.

A promised 🧵: pic.twitter.com/0rFNE4DfoP

In one notably extreme instance highlighted by TheDEFIac, a trader exchanged over US$220K (AU$347K) in USDC for only about US$5K in USDT (AU$7.91).

In another instance, a trader appears to have lost over US$400K (AU$630K) in a single swap as they exchanged USDC for a small amount of another token.

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