When you send a crypto transaction, it doesn’t instantly go through. It sits in a public pool called the mempool, waiting for a miner or validator to pick it up. That’s when front-running, a practice where traders spy on pending transactions and sneak in ahead of them to profit. Also known as MEV (Maximal Extractable Value), it’s not a bug—it’s a feature of how blockchains work. If you’re trying to buy a new token, a front-runner sees your order, buys it first, then sells it back to you at a higher price. You end up paying more. They don’t need insider info—they just need to watch the public ledger.
This isn’t just theory. In 2023, over $700 million was extracted from DeFi users through sandwich attacks, a type of front-running where a trader buys before your trade and sells after, squeezing you in the middle. The same thing happens on Ethereum, BSC, and other chains where transactions are visible before they’re confirmed. Even big DeFi protocols like Uniswap and PancakeSwap have been targeted. You don’t need to be a hacker to do this—just a bot with a fast connection and a little code.
Some people think front-running is just a problem for retail traders, but it affects everyone. Liquidity providers lose money. Token prices get distorted. And when enough people get burned, trust in the whole system erodes. That’s why projects like Flashbots were created—to give users a way to send transactions privately and avoid being exploited. But most people still don’t use them.
What you’ll find here are real examples of how front-running works, which platforms are most vulnerable, and how you can protect your trades. Some posts show you how fake airdrops and zero-volume tokens are often used to mask front-running schemes. Others explain how exchanges like Kraken and Kyrrex handle transaction ordering differently than decentralized platforms. You’ll also see how blockchain identity and verification tools are starting to help reduce this kind of abuse—not by stopping it entirely, but by making it harder to hide behind anonymity.
This isn’t about stopping innovation. It’s about making sure the system works for you—not just the fastest bots. If you’re trading crypto, especially on DeFi, you need to understand this. Otherwise, you’re not just taking risk—you’re giving money away on purpose.
Front-running and MEV exploitation are hidden costs on blockchains like Ethereum, where bots profit from your trades before they even confirm. Learn how it works, who benefits, and how to protect yourself.
Read More