In just two months, the MEV sandwich bot “arsc” exploited Solana users to rake in $30 million. Ben Coverston, founder of MRGN Research, revealed the bot’s activities on June 15, 2024.
The bot primarily operates from a wallet labeled “9973h…zyWp6,” which holds more than $19 million in funds. Another active wallet, “Ai4zq…VXKKT,” has over $9.9 million, mostly in non-SOL tokens. A third wallet, “BCbrp…vi58q,” serves as the bot’s main SOL bank, collectively holding $29.8 million in tokens.
MEV sandwich attacks manipulate transaction prices to profit, similar to activities seen on Ethereum. For example, the Ethereum bot 2Fast made $1.8 million from a single transaction bundle.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is now investigating MEV as potential market abuse, highlighting its regulatory importance. This scrutiny could shape the future of crypto-asset markets.
