Solana Foundation's Measures Against Sandwich Attacks

The Solana Foundation recently took decisive measures by removing a cluster of validators from its delegation program due to sandwich attacks that exploit crypto manipulation strategies. These attacks, designed to impact Solana users, prompted the Foundation to intervene.

Tim Garcia, Solana Validator Relations Lead, affirmed the removal of operators involved in sandwich attacks through an announcement on the Foundation's Discord server. The actions taken are final and part of an ongoing enforcement process to identify operators enabling such attacks.

Mert Mumtaz, co-founder of Helius, elucidated on the Foundation's decision, highlighting the importance of preventing delegation to validators conducting malicious sandwich attacks on retail users.

Sandwich attacks, explicitly banned on Solana, are front-running exploitations where an attacker strategically places transactions around a victim's transaction to manipulate prices and extract profits. Garcia emphasized a strict stance against operators engaging in activities detrimental to Solana users.

The Solana Foundation's Delegation Program assists validators by delegating SOL tokens, reducing the necessity for large token holdings. Validators are selected based on performance metrics and ethical expectations.

While Solana is a permissionless network allowing participation, validators expelled from the program forfeit SOL subsidies, fostering a more equitable environment. Challenges such as MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) surface when validators rearrange transaction sequences for personal gain, resulting in increased costs for users.

Mumtaz reiterated that while validators retain autonomy, the Foundation's actions aim to curtail exploitation of retail users by withholding subsidies from harmful actors.