Solana (SOL) Foundations Takes Action Against Validators Enabling Sandwich Attacks
Sandwiching ensures that retail investors always receive the worst price by executing one order before and another right after the transaction.
Sandwich bots have caused havoc on the Solana network for quite some time. To combat these attacks, the Solana Foundation has removed several validator operators from its delegation program. The decision was issued in response to these operators’ involvement in “sandwich attacks” against Solana users.
Solana Foundation’s Final Word
Tim Garcia, the Solana Validator Relations Lead, stated on the foundation’s official Discord channel that these rulings are definitive, and that enforcement action would continue as long as operators engage in mempool activities that enable sandwich attacks. “Anyone found engaging in such activity will be rejected from the programme, and any stake from the Foundation will be immediately and permanently removed.” According to Mert Mumtaz, co-founder of Solana RPC supplier Helius, this measure is intended to ensure that the foundation does not delegate to validators who undertake malicious attacks against retail users.
Mumtaz explained that sandwich attacks are a malevolent type of maximal extractable value (MEV) attack in which retail users always receive the lowest pricing while the attackers keep all of the profit. While Solana’s design avoids such attacks, some actors tweaked their validators to allow sandwiching. He also suggested that stake pools are likely to adopt similar regulations against sandwich attacks in the future.
“Sandwich Attacks”
The foundation’s decision is a good relief because sandwich attacks are one of the most popular types of MEV, in which bots scan the Sol network for users seeking to buy a token. The bots then move ahead of the transaction queue and place a huge order for that token before completing the user’s order. Such a technique raises Token values. Once the user’s deal is completed at the inflated price, the bots sell their tokens at the new, higher price, benefitting from the fictitious price increase they caused at the expense of the user.
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