Exclusive data shows that MEV attacks hit hundreds of traders on Ethereum each month and continue to result in millions in losses. Maximal extractable value (MEV) refers to the economic value diverted from users by block builders through the manipulation of transaction ordering. The most harmful type of MEV are sandwich attacks, where an attacker simultaneously frontruns and backruns a victim’s swaps. This gives the victim a suboptimal execution price while the attacker pockets a spread. Most MEV activity occurs on Ethereum because it has high activity on DEXs and features an open block-building market that exposes order flow to searchers. In this article, Cointelegraph Research provides insights into sandwiching activity from November 2024 to October 2025, based on a data set of more than 95,000 sandwich attacks exclusively provided by the data platform EigenPhi. Our research indicates that, despite the slowdown in sandwich extraction, the risk to ordinary users persists. While attacks result in about $60 m...
The website of the Pepe memecoin has been hit with a front-end attack, and users are encouraged to stay clear of the website. The official website for the Pepe (PEPE) memecoin has been compromised by attackers, who are redirecting users to a malicious link. “Blockaid’s system has identified a front-end attack on Pepe. The site contains a code of inferno drainer,” the cybersecurity company said on Thursday. Blockaid’s Threat Intelligence Team told Cointelegraph: Inferno Drainer is a suite of scam tools that is employed by threat actors, including phishing website templates, wallet drainers and social engineering tools. The price of PEPE did not react immediately to the hack. The memecoin is up by about 4% over the last 24 hours, but is down by more than 77% over the last 12 months, according to CoinGecko. Read more
The European Commission plans to expand ESMA oversight of MiCA crypto companies and trading venues, aiming to streamline EU markets and narrow the gap with the US. The European Commission has proposed expanding the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) over crypto and broader financial markets in a bid to narrow the competitive gap with the United States. Published Thursday, the package would transfer “direct supervisory competences” for key pieces of market infrastructure, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), trading venues and central counterparties, to ESMA and strengthen its coordination role in the asset management sector. The proposal still needs approval from the European Parliament and the Council, where it is under negotiation. Read more
Onchain data points to a major Bitcoin price drop in the making, while a bearish technical structure projected a drop to $68,000. Bitcoin (BTC) is flashing early signs of a deeper correction, as the latest recovery pauses at $93,000. New analysis shows Bitcoin’s “market structure” increasingly resembles the first quarter of 2022, which marked the beginning of the bear market. Key takeaways: Bitcoin's onchain structure mirrors early 2022, risking a deep bear market if key levels are lost. Read more
Argentina’s state oil company, YPF, is reportedly exploring crypto payments at its fuel stations as adoption of digital assets rises, following the recent rollout of US dollar transactions. Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), Argentina’s state-controlled energy company, is reportedly considering allowing drivers to pay for gasoline and diesel with cryptocurrency, as digital assets continue to gain traction in everyday transactions across the country. The plan could rely on a third-party processor rather than direct wallet payments, including local and international platforms such as Lemon, Ripio or Binance to handle conversions, local news outlet La Nación reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The review comes two months after YPF began accepting US dollar payments at its stations, a step that made it the country’s first fuel chain to price and process sales in US dollars. The policy came amid a broader push by Economy Minister Luis Caputo to encourage the circulation of hard curre...
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was on the cypherpunk mailing list, can code in C++ and had every reason to want to invent Bitcoin. But did he? Over the years, weve explored some intriguing theories about who (or what) created Bitcoin, ranging from the top government spy agency in America to a time-traveling AI and even the lizard people. However, some are adamant that the creator of Bitcoin is much more human and has been under our noses this whole time, sporting a guru beard, sandals, and wearing a T-shirt with Satoshi written on it in large letters: the billionaire Twitter and Block founder Jack Dorsey. I believe that Jack has been outwardly signaling that hes Satoshi for more than a decade, deBanked chief editor Sean Murray tells Magazine. Read more
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was on the cypherpunk mailing list, can code in C++ and had every reason to want to invent Bitcoin. But did he? Over the years, weve explored some intriguing theories about who (or what) created Bitcoin, ranging from the top government spy agency in America to a time-traveling AI and even the lizard people. However, some are adamant that the creator of Bitcoin is much more human and has been under our noses this whole time, sporting a guru beard, sandals, and wearing a T-shirt with Satoshi written on it in large letters: the billionaire Twitter and Block founder Jack Dorsey. I believe that Jack has been outwardly signaling that hes Satoshi for more than a decade, deBanked chief editor Sean Murray tells Magazine. Read more
Portal to Bitcoin raised $25 million and launched an HTLC-based atomic OTC desk aimed at enabling trustless, crosschain large trade settlement. Bitcoin-native interoperability protocol Portal to Bitcoin has raised $25 million in funding amid the launch of what it describes as an atomic over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk. According to a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the company raised $25 million in a round led by digital asset lender JTSA Global. The fundraise follows previous investments by Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, Arrington Capital and others. Alongside the fresh funding, the company rolled out its Atomic OTC desk, promising “instant, trustless cross-chain settlement of large block trades.” The newly deployed service is reminiscent of crosschain atomic swaps offered by THORChain, Chainflip, and more Bitcoin-focused systems such as Liquality and Boltz. Read more
A new wave of self-custodial smart accounts aims to eliminate seed phrases, introduce card-based spending and remove the fear of losing access to crypto forever. Crypto’s longstanding user-experience hurdle, the dreaded seed phrase, is facing a serious challenge. As wallet providers experiment with programmable smart accounts and simplified recovery, the debate about self-custody is shifting from technical responsibility to everyday usability. In this week’s episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, host Nathaniel Whittemore, Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson, and Ready (formerly Argent) CEO Itamar Lesuisse address how privacy, self-custody, Bitcoin-backed borrowing and seed-phrase-free wallets are converging to reshape how people store and spend digital assets. One recurring concern among crypto newcomers and veterans alike is the fragility of seed-phrase security. As Jenkinson noted, users often underestimate how easy it is to lose access: Read more
US stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act are splitting global liquidity with Europe, creating regional markets and potentially leading to cross-border friction, a report says. The United States’ new approach to stablecoin regulation is reshaping global liquidity flows and driving a sharp structural split with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime, effectively creating separate US and EU stablecoin liquidity pools, according to a new report from blockchain security auditor CertiK. The report finds that the US digital asset market entered a new phase of regulatory clarity in 2025, with federal legislation and administrative reforms now broadly aligned around how digital assets are issued, traded and custodied. At the center of that shift is the GENIUS Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in July, which establishes the first federal framework for payment stablecoins. The law imposes strict reserve requirements, bans yield-bearing stablecoins, and formally integrates stablecoin ...