MEV is especially notorious on Ethereum, where it continues to be extracted at a rate equivalent to 11% of block rewards. Data shows that nearly $300,000 was lost in sandwich attacks in September. This reveals that MEV is a recurring hidden fee, not a minor inefficiency, hitting large trades hardest in volatile markets.
On most modern blockchains, transaction data is publicly viewable in the mempool before it is sequenced, executed and confirmed in a block. This transparency creates avenues for sophisticated parties to engage in extractive practices known as Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). MEV exploits the block proposer's ability to reorder, include or omit transactions for financial gain.
The North Korean threat actor known as Konni has been observed using PowerShell malware generated using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to target developers and engineering teams in the blockchain sector. The phishing campaign has targeted Japan, Australia, and India, highlighting the adversary's expansion of the targeting scope beyond South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, and European nations, Check Point Research said in a technical report published last week.
In a statement issued on Friday, Garden again said that user funds were safe and that the attack exploited one of its solvers. In the context of decentralized finance, a solver is typically an algorithm or trading agent that's relied on to execute transactions in the most efficient manner possible. Garden is a blockchain bridge protocol company, and its solvers earn a small profit for carrying out transactions between blockchains.