Battle of the bots: WTF token launch drains 58 ETH
Fees.wtf is a simple service that shows Ether (ETH) users their lifetime spending amount on Ethereum blockchain transactions by measuring gas. You plug in your wallet address on its website, and it tells you how much gas you spent.
The project released its WTF token in an airdrop Friday. Essentially, users were able to claim WTF tokens as well as a “Rekt” nonfungible token (NFT) for 0.01 ETH. The Rekt NFT grants lifetime access to the pro version of Fees.wtf.
According to its Discord announcement, the initial launch planned to offer 100 million WTF, and the “circulating supply will be the main attraction in the tokenomics.” However, it didn’t quite go as planned.
Following frantic trading behavior between bots in the opening hours of the airdrop, one bot ran off with a reported 58 ETH, or $180,000. According to Etherscan, 58 ETH was drained from the Wrapped ETH (wETH) and WTF liquidity pool.
Social media channels were quick to respond because many airdrop participants lamented losing thousands of dollars in ETH. The WTF team chimed in two hours after the airdrop to calm their ranks:
Basically, within five minutes of the token launch, poor liquidity pool management from the WTF developers left the liquidity pool exposed. As there was low liquidity, bots were able to manipulate the price of WTF to then sell for wETH.
The bots battled it out until one winner took home the pot. In effect, the bot stole from users who provided liquidity to the pool, trying to claim their WTF tokens and Rekt NFT. The victor managed to send an “ultra-fast transaction at 3,000 Gwei,” making a 6x return on their initial investment.
The WTF team sent out another Discord update two hours after the airdrop, stating, “The core contracts are all fine,
Read more on cointelegraph.com
