Millions Transaction in Ether: Risks of Liquidity

Million-dollar transaction in Ether reveals risks of liquidity pools and MEV bots

8 July 2026 on 08: 29

Reading time: 2 minutes

A recent incident on a decentralized exchange has once again highlighted the risks of liquidity pools and maximal extractable value (MEV) bots. A trader who had exchanged $2,01 million worth of Ether (ETH) received only $14.500 in tokens after his order was routed through a low-liquidity liquidity pool. This allowed an Ethereum block builder to profit significantly from a concurrent arbitrage trade.

The trader in question exchanged 1.126,44 ETH but received only 5.776 Lighter (LIT) tokens in return. According to GoPlus Security, this is a “textbook example of a concurrent backrun extraction.” The biggest winner was Titan Builder, who took home $1,8 million in profit from this transaction, which took place on Monday at 1:59 AM UTC.

This incident highlights the dangers posed by MEV bots and liquidity routers, in addition to the ubiquitous threats from hackers and scammers in the crypto industry.

To minimize the risks of such incidents, crypto trader Ruslan Khairullin advises traders to critically examine the trans route before signing a transaction. “This is what happens when you click confirm faster than you read the route. A painful lesson in real-time,” he notes.

The victim's swap led approximately 1.117 ETH to a low-liquidity AVAIL/WETH pool on Uniswap v3, resulting in an execution price that was about 120 times higher than what AVAIL could be sold for later, according to GoPlus Security. After the transaction, the trader received nearly 6,67 million AVAIL tokens at an artificially inflated price.

The router involved in the transaction, the 0x router, sold a small amount of externally sourced AVAIL into the same pool and thereby withdrew approximately 1.072 ETH. From this operation, Titan subsequently received a builder reward of 1.018 ETH, worth $1,8 million. Ultimately, the AVAIL was exchanged for $14.200 in LIT tokens, representing a loss of 99,3%.

Titan has already generated $112,6 million in revenue from its block building services this year, according to data from DefiLlama. The highest daily revenue this year was achieved in March, when a staggering $34 million in arbitrage profits was recovered from an MEV bot incident on the CoW Protocol.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are maximal extractable value (MEV) bots and how do they influence the crypto market?
MEV bots enable developers and traders to make a profit by manipulating transactions within a block. This can lead to unfair market dynamics, where the profit of one party comes at the expense of another.

Why is it important to check the trans-route before signing?
Monitoring the trans route can help traders avoid unwanted losses by making them aware of potentially harmful liquidity routes and the consequences of certain swaps.

What can investors learn from the recent losses due to a backrun extraction?
Investors must be aware of the risks of automation in the DeFi space and proactively develop strategies to protect themselves against insidious trading dangers, such as a lack of liquidity and unreliable routers.

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