The Solana Foundation has announced the removal of a group of validator operators from its delegation program due to their involvement in sandwich attacks on Solana users. This decision aims to ensure that the foundation does not delegate to validators who engage in malicious sandwich attacks on retail users.
Tim Garcia, Solana Validator Relations Lead, made the announcement on the Solana Foundation’s Discord server, stating that the decisions are “final” and that ongoing enforcement actions will continue as the organization uncovers more operators involved in sandwich attacks.
According to Mert Mumtaz, co-founder of Solana RPC provider Helius, this move will protect retail users from validators who exploit transaction ordering to maximize profits, based on the rules for MEV (Maximal Extractable Value). MEV issues arise when validators manipulate transaction ordering to maximize profits through practices such as front-running and sandwich attacks. These exploits lead to higher costs and slippage for users. The Solana Foundation’s action against validators involved in such practices demonstrates its commitment to protecting users and maintaining the network’s integrity.
Sandwich attacks are a type of front-running exploit where an attacker places two transactions around a victim’s transaction to manipulate the price and profit from the difference.
Previously, the Solana Foundation had outlined rules against such attacks in a May 7 Discord post by Garcia. The post stated that anyone found engaging in what the foundation deems as malicious activity would be rejected from the program, and their stake would be permanently removed from the foundation.
The Solana Foundation Delegation Program was established to support validators by delegating SOL tokens to them, removing the need for validators to hold a substantial number of tokens. Validators are selected based on their performance and are expected to adhere to specific caveats and good practices.
Despite being removed from the delegation program, the operators can still contribute to the blockchain since Solana is a permissionless network. However, they will no longer receive SOL staked to them by the foundation.