1. Why Base L2 Gas Economics Transform EVM Draining
On Ethereum mainnet, if a victim holds $40 in random shitcoins, a drainer operator won't bother sweeping because gas burns $15 per transaction. On Base, OP Stack gas costs less than $0.005. That single economic shift makes every single dust balance, Uniswap v3 NFT, and Aerodrome gauge profitable to wipe.
2. Aerodrome Gauges & Permit2 Exploitation
How do attackers harvest liquidity pool positions on Base?
- Permit2 Gasless Trap: The frontend presents an EIP-712 typed signature disguised as an airdrop claim or staking portal. In MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet, the pop-up shows 0 gas and neutral balance changes.
- Gauge Unstaking: The attacker's relayer contract calls
gauge.withdraw()to pull the victim's LP tokens out of the Aerodrome reward pool. - Atomic DEX Liquidation: The relayer executes a multicall to burn the LP tokens, swaps both underlying tokens back to ETH or USDC on Uniswap/Aerodrome, and routes the proceeds out.
3. Frequently Asked Base Draining Queries
Can drainers unstake locked veAERO or NFT gauge positions?
Standard unlocked LP gauges can be unstaked and swept immediately via multicall once approval is granted. Locked veNFTs with hard time-locks cannot be transferred until expiration, but all claimable bribes and rebase rewards get swept automatically.
Why didn't Coinbase Wallet alert me to the Aerodrome permit?
Because Permit2 uses off-chain typed data that creates an allowance rather than executing an immediate transfer. Wallet simulation tools only evaluate the immediate balance delta, which registers as +$0.00.
Read our full technical analysis of EVM wallet drainers or explore our EVM drainer engine.