Solana MEV Bot Amasses $30 Million in Two Months

A well-known MEV bot on the Solana network has amassed approximately $30 million in two months through arbitrage “sandwich attacks.”

Over the past 1-2 months, arsc, the infamous sandwich bot on Solana, has pocketed over $30 million ?!

Their profits are largely sitting in the following two wallets:? pic.twitter.com/N1JavgScC7

— Ben (@HypoNyms) June 15, 2024

According to an investigation by on-chain analyst known as Ben, the bot’s earnings are distributed between two main wallets.

The first holds 114,352 SOL, valued at approximately $16.5 million. This address appears inactive and likely functions as a storage or reserve.

The other wallet associated with the bot shows activity in Solana’s DeFi segment. It periodically converts SOL tokens into USDC stablecoins via the DEX Jupiter.

The analyst noted that the address holds significant positions in the Kamino lending protocol and on various liquid staking platforms.

According to the researcher, the MEV bot operators attempt to conceal their activities and income due to unwanted attention on the network. Recently, they moved all major operations to another address.

Additionally, the bot uses multiple signers and “tippers” to mask transactions.

Andrew Wong, head of Dune Analytics, noted that at the end of April and early May, this bot accounted for about 15% of all volume on DEX in Solana. However, its share later dropped to 0.5%.

They also made up like 15% of all solana dex volume origination around end of april/early may lol, before disappearing to like 0.5% suddenly by mid may. https://t.co/R7lyYVno1O

— ilemi (@andrewhong5297) June 15, 2024

Earlier, several Solana validators were excluded for participating in “sandwich attacks” against users. CoinDesk reported that most of the blocked network participants were Russian citizens.

Co-founder of the network, Vitalik Buterin, has identified MEV as one of the three main threats to decentralization of the network, alongside liquid staking and the cost of launching a full node.

The EU regulator has called the technology a striking example of market abuse.