Analyze MEV Economics Driving Cross-Chain Bridge Exploits

Cross-chain MEV extraction follows Nomad’s $190M feeding frenzy, where the initial exploiter earned $36M, but copycats made $100 to $10M each. Multichain’s July 2023 USDC crashed to $0.60, enabling 30-40% arbitrage spreads. Validators earn $50,000+ daily; bridge exploit bribes can exceed $100,000 per block. Gas wars saw fees over 5,000 gwei and $50M lost post-Nomad, with 70