The meme coin’s developers allegedly blacklisted the first address to buy the wildly popular Pepe token.
A Twitter user by the username @0xBobie shared a BSC scan screenshot showing an address, 0xAf2358e98683265cBd3a48509123d390df54534, had been blacklisted for suspicion of being an MEV bot.
MEV bots can profit from their information and influence over transaction ordering by employing various techniques such as front-running, back-running, arbitrage, and liquidation.
Their growth has also prompted worries about Ethereum’s security and fairness, as they can hurt users by raising gas fees, front-running transactions, and generating network congestion.
The move to blacklist addresses suspected of being MEV bots comes at a time when PEPE has become one of the fastest-moving trading objects on the Ethereum network, right alongside fellow meme coin newcomer Wojak (WOJAK).
Per data from EigenPhi, PEPE registered a transaction volume of about $250 million in the last week, with WOJAK having slightly less than half of that at $120 million.
More importantly, EigenPhi also had data indicating that MEV robots profited substantially from PEPE and WOJAK trades. According to the DeFi data platform, an MEV bot controlled by a user going by the pseudonym jaredfromsubway.eth made off with about $1.5 million in profits from PEPE trading pairs and more than $2.8 million in WOJAK.
As reported by crypto.news, jaredfromsubway.eth’s MEV bot has been very successful the last few days, raking in more than $2.3 million in cumulative profits.
PEPE jumps 1000% in three days
PEPE’s value grew by more than 1,000% in the last few days, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The meme coin’s market value had increased to around $146 million by April 19 and had attracted more than 24,500 unique holders.
Additionally, PEPE, launched on April 16, had grown by over 21,000% in the last four days, clocking $30 million in Uniswap trading volumes and attaining a market valuation of $33 million by April 18.
Furthermore, the coin’s trade volume varied between $152 million and $164 million, a 174% increase in the previous 24 hours. It has a total circulating quantity of 429 trillion, of which 93.1% has already been burned, renounced, and sent to the liquidity pool, leaving only 6.9% for CEX listings, bridges, and liquidity pools.