The Infamous ‘Jaredfromsubway’ MEV Bot Makes Troubling Comeback With Fresh Attacks

The infamous “jaredfromsubway.eth” MEV bot, a notorious figure in the crypto space, has made a disturbing resurrection. This bot, which has been dormant since its gainful exploits in early 2023, is now back with a vengeance and is more upgraded than ever.

[THE BLOCK] Jaredfromsubway.eth is back with a new MEV bot and new sandwich attacks

— BecauseBitcoin.com (@BecauseBitcoin) August 21, 2024

In the early months of 2023, the “jaredfromsubway.eth” MEV bot made headlines by revving up millions of dollars in crypto through a series of arbitrage and “sandwich” attacks. These attacks exploited vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols, allowing the bot to generate huge sums in profits. However, after a period of inactivity, the bot has returned with a new and improved strategy.

10 minutes ago, Jaredfromsubway.eth self destructed his mev bot. I counted 7,445 eth was sent to his address from the bot, which is over $14,000,000.

The contract self destructed, but was reinitialized with new ByteCode, 10 minutes later. This is the 3rd self destruct. pic.twitter.com/beGScbX2yM

— borovik (@3orovik) April 27, 2023

On August 20, EigenPhi, a leading MEV tracking site, reported that a new MEV contract associated with “jaredfromsubway.eth” has emerged. This latest contract employs innovative tactics and executes more sophisticated multi-layered sandwich attacks on DeFi protocols. These attacks are more complex and potentially more damaging than those carried out by the bot in its previous vendettas.

The bot operates as an automated trading system, exploiting vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols to generate profits. Its latest attacks involve executing multiple transactions within the same block to manipulate exchange rates in a Uniswap V3 pool. This manipulation results in profits for Jared’s bot at the expense of other users, who are left at a disadvantage.

The new MEV bot uses more advanced techniques, such as adding and removing liquidity in the DEX pool as part of the sandwich attack. This makes it more difficult to analyze and track the profitability of its strategies. As EigenPhi noted in their report, “Jared 2.0 would use adding liquidity transactions as the front piece and/or the centerpiece and removing liquidity transactions as the back piece.”

Mapping out the new MEV sandwich attacks. Source: EigenPhi

Jaredfromsubway Contract Address Heats Up

The activity on the original jaredfromsubway contract address, which is used to unleash the bot’s trading strategies, has also seen a significant increase. Over a two-week period beginning August 1, the contract address paid out around $2.2 million to other bots or traders. The volume of sandwich attacks has exceeded $17 billion over the past month, pointing to a record upswing in the bot’s activity.

Activities of MEV types by volume. Source: EigenPhi

The MEV bot’s name, “jaredfromsubway.eth,” is a reference to the disgraced former spokesperson for the fast-food chain Subway, Jared Fogle. Fogle was convicted in 2015 on charges related to sexual conduct with a minor and possession of child sexual abuse material. And while no direct connections have been established between the bot and Fogle, the choice of name is a glaring agreement to the former spokesperson’s infamy. This adds a layer of intrigue to the bot’s activities and serves as a reminder of the darker side of the internet.