The Solana Foundation has expelled several validation operators from its influential delegation program. This action is attributed to their involvement in executing “sandwich attacks” against unsuspecting network users, a form of predatory trading that undermines the integrity of the network. The decision adds a new layer to the growing rivalry between Solana and ethereum, highlighting broader concerns about network governance and the ethical dimensions of validators' operations.
Tim García, validator relations leader, made the announcement via Discord, emphasizing the finality of the Foundation's decision: “A group of operators in the Solana Foundation Delegation Program have been removed from the program due to violations ( …) Decisions in this matter are final. “Enforcement actions are ongoing as we detect operators participating in mempools that enable sandwich attacks.”
Mert Mumtaz, founder and CEO of Helius Labs, provided a detailed overview x.com/0xMert_/status/1799955514786234751″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>explanation of the issues that concern us. He described a sandwich attack as a manipulative trading strategy in which malicious actors exploit the order of transactions to harm retail investors, ensuring they receive the worst possible prices.
“This is not possible natively in Solana because the client does not have a mempool,” Mumtaz explained. “Certain actors have added modifications to their validators to allow interleaving in Solana.” He highlighted that the main objective of the SOL Foundation is to protect retail users from these attacks, reinforcing that while the ousted operators can still operate on the network, they will no longer benefit from the Foundation's subsidies.
Solana vs. ethereum rivalry heats up
The incident has drawn harsh criticism from ethereum community stalwarts, including Ryan Berckmans, an esteemed investor known as ryanb.eth. He criticized SOL's approach to solving MEV-related problems, questioning the seriousness of the network as a settlement layer.
“The Solana Foundation provides financial support to many validators because running a Sol validator costs more than $65,000 a year. Now, the next step in their plan to solve MEV was to get financial support from validators who mine MEV. Solana is not a serious settlement layer”, Berckmans x.com/ryanberckmans/status/1799959740421734605″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>he claimed.
Countering Berckmans' criticism, Mumtaz highlighted the financial and operational disparities between Solana and ethereum validators. “You haven't done the work necessary to have an informed opinion,” Mumtaz replied, noting that while Solana validators have lower setup costs compared to ethereum's 32 eth minimum stake requirement.
“You may be forgetting that with the 32 eth minimum, it costs ~120k for eth, double Solana – *and* while SOL validator revenue has surpassed eth several times in the last month. This is not getting “support from validators who do mev,” he stated, clarifying that the SOL Foundation “is simply not giving subsidies to malicious validators who interleave, steal retail, and then pocket all the rewards with the network 0/ in the protocol.” distribution: it is purely extractive.”
Driving the dialogue, Lucas Bruder, CEO of Jito Labs, x.com/buffalu__/status/1799962607677526378″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>defended the Foundation's position, emphasizing the alignment of interests between the Foundation and the broader network. “The Solana foundation participates in the network. Stakeholders should want the network to succeed. Why would they support something that decreases the likelihood of the network being successful? she postulated.
However, Bruder also acknowledged the prevalent nature of memecoin trading and the potential risks of alienating this user base. “Most of the activity on Solana is memecoin trading, so if you screw up the core user base of the blockchain, they'll leave and we'll all be sitting here with less usage wondering why we didn't do anything,” he argued. . , highlighting the need for long-term solutions to network challenges.
Ryan Berckmans doubled down on his criticism, stating: “So if the Solana Foundation doesn't use its centralized power to incentivize validators to stop mining the maximum MEV, then memecoin traders may get fed up and switch to a fast and cheap chain with less potential for MEV Mining, like Base ethereum L2, and then Solana would be a ghost chain. I think this story writes itself. The SOL/eth ratio greatly exaggerates the durability of Solana as a serious competitor to eth L1 or our best L2s.” .
This ongoing debate highlights the heated rivalry between SOL and eth, as well as the complexity of governance in decentralized networks, the technical challenges associated with MEV, and strategic decisions that can significantly affect the perceptions and functionality of blockchain ecosystems.
At press time, SOL was trading at $158.03.
Featured image of CoinDCX, chart from TradingView.com
