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A major security difference between the Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) blockchains has been highlighted amid a hack that led to the loss of $4.13 million. A Cardano DRep, known as "dori" on X, shared the security of Cardano over Ethereum in a post detailing how the compromise took place.
Ethereum MEV design blamed for $4.13 million exploit
According to dori, the hacker exploited a vulnerability on the DeFi protocol, Makinafi, on Ethereum. They argue that Ethereum’s transaction-ordering design allowed MEV bots to profit from the hack before the malicious actor did.
Notably, due to Ethereum’s security structure, the MEV bots reordered the hack transaction and captured most of the profit. This resulted in the loss of approximately $4.13 million, which was split between the hacker and the MEV bot.
Dori insists that it is the Ethereum design that allowed this to happen, as it prioritized profit over security. They compared the development to a "bank robber stealing money, then a government official shows up and takes the money from the robber."
They emphasized that, in a fair system, Ethereum’s priority should have been stopping the hacker or recovering the funds, not allowing them to redirect the money to themselves. Dori blames this lapse on the security architecture of Ethereum, a consequence of relying on a blockchain that prioritizes profit over safety.
Comparing this to Cardano, dori maintained that the blockchain is better as "fair financial infrastructure."
For context, Cardano uses the eUTXO model, where each transaction’s validity is independent of execution order. If transactions are reordered, it does not create profit opportunities and, more importantly, sandwich attacks and MEV extraction are far more limited.
In dori’s view, Cardano would not have allowed the exact situation to occur on its blockchain. As such, they believe that Cardano has a fairer financial system in comparison to Ethereum. This is because Ethereum allows powerful actors to profit when a hack happens, negating its claims to be a "neutral" or "fair" financial system.
Makinafi funds recovery confirmed
It is worth mentioning that despite dori’s stance, Makinafi later recovered most of the stolen funds.
This was done in collaboration with MEV builders and validators, who implemented a restitution plan for affected users.
Interestingly, despite the battle for supremacy between Cardano and Ethereum, in December 2025, a Midnight developer hinted at a possible integration between both blockchains. The idea is to have Ethereum and Cardano wallets connect directly without switching ecosystems.
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