Rewritten Article: Solana Foundation's Actions Against Validators

The Solana Foundation has taken decisive action against a group of validator operators accused of engaging in sandwich attacks against users. This move comes as part of the foundation's stringent rules against malicious activities, as conveyed by Tim Garcia, the Solana Validator Relations Leader, through a Discord post on May 7.

Crackdown on Mempools Facilitating Sandwich Attacks

Continuing its enforcement efforts, the Solana Foundation is closely monitoring and identifying operators involved in mempools facilitating sandwich attacks. In a message shared on the Solana Foundation’s Discord server, Tim Garcia emphasized the finality of decisions and ongoing enforcement actions against operators who enable sandwich attacks.

Mert Mumtaz, the co-founder of Helius, stressed that this measure ensures that the foundation does not support validators engaged in harmful activities. The removal of these validators from the program underscores the foundation's dedication to protecting individual users from exploitative practices.

Sandwich attacks involve manipulating transaction order to benefit from price differentials by placing two transactions around a victim's transaction. This blatant front-running exploit violates Solana Foundation's regulations that prohibit validators from participating in special mempools to conduct such attacks. Tim Garcia reiterated that operators engaging in malicious activities like joining a special mempool for sandwich attacks will face zero tolerance from the delegation program.

The Solana Foundation's Delegation Program aims to assist validators by delegating SOL coins to them, removing the need for validators to hold a large number of coins themselves. Validators are chosen based on their performance, but adherence to ethical behavior and best practices is mandatory. Violations lead to immediate and permanent removal from the program, with all delegated stakes being forfeited.

Despite being expelled from the delegation program, the affected validators can still contribute to the Solana Blockchain since it operates on a permissionless network. However, they will no longer be entitled to benefits from the foundation's subsidies.

MEV Issues in Solana

Solana has been grappling with issues related to Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) as validators exploit transaction sequencing to maximize profit, including front-running and sandwich attacks. These practices exploit transactions to benefit from price fluctuations, resulting in increased costs and slippage for users. The recent actions of the Solana Foundation highlight its commitment to addressing and mitigating MEV-related concerns to uphold a fair and secure network environment.

By enforcing strict rules and removing violators from the delegation program, the Solana Foundation aims to safeguard the network's integrity and shield users from exploitative practices. This strategic approach is critical in fostering a dependable and efficient Blockchain ecosystem where only ethical and high-performing validators receive support from the foundation.