The aftermath of the largest theft in cryptocurrency history is producing extraordinary activity on Ethereum, pushing daily fees to levels not seen since April. Investigators report that a Binance exploiter has moved approximately 195,460 ETH into a fresh wallet, with nearly 490,000 ETH traced across attacker-linked addresses.
Decentralized trading and MEV bot activity drove Ethereum fees above $56 million in the 24 hours after the hack, according to DeFi Llama. On the day of the attack, the chain generated more than $44.25 million in daily fees, and activity remained elevated on October 30 with over $10 million recorded by the time of reporting.
Titan Builder was the leading block builder, absorbing $24.65 million in fees over the previous 24 hours, while Uniswap became the main trading venue with over $10 million in fees. KyberSwap emerged as a leading aggregation router, burning 92.58 ETH. The surge also lifted blob fees to a one-month peak after weeks of almost zero demand, with Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum linked to bridging attempts of some stolen assets.
ETH was used as an exit asset, creating significant price dislocations. On decentralized markets like Uniswap, ETH traded as high as $2,700, while some on-chain pricing reportedly reached $3,300. Centralized markets settled around $2,223.25. The dislocations added pressure to derivatives and raised liquidation risks for leveraged whales.
ETH is down about 17.2% in October and is on track for its worst October since inception in 2016. The crypto fear and greed index fell to 28 points, firmly in fear territory. Traders are watching the $2,200 support level closely, with a loss there seen as a signal for a potential decline below $2,000.
