The notorious MEV sandwich bot nicknamed “arsc” has managed to siphon off approximately $30 million from Solana users in the past two months through MEV attacks.
During an MEV sandwich attack, the attacker strategically places the victim’s transaction between their own two transactions to manipulate prices and make a profit. By purchasing the victim’s token at a lower price than the market value and selling it in the same block, the attacker profits from the user’s transaction.
Ben Coverston, the founder of the cryptocurrency firm MRGN Research, revealed in a post on X dated June 15 that the “arsc” sandwich bot has been operating discreetly to avoid detection while capitalizing on the Solana network users.
One of the bot’s primary wallet addresses, “9973h…zyWp6,” appears to be predominantly used for cold storage, according to Coverston. The wallet, with a total fund of over $19 million, holds $17 million worth of Solana (SOL) tokens, $1.1 million in Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin, as well as smaller amounts of wrapped-SOL (wSOL), Cringe Coin (CRINGE), and Kabosu (KAB).
Another active wallet with the address “Ai4zq…VXKKT” is heavily involved in decentralized finance activities, converting SOL into USDC via JUP DCA and holding significant positions in Kamino and various LSTs. The total fund in this wallet exceeds $9.9 million and mainly consists of non-SOL tokens, as per SolanaFM.
Coverston also identified a third wallet address “BCbrp…vi58q” as arsc’s primary SOL bank, utilizing multiple signers and tippers to carry out the sandwich attacks. These three wallets collectively hold $29.8 million at current prices, and Coverston suspects that the operator behind arsc is deliberately maintaining a low profile.
MEV sandwich bots, like arsc, leverage sophisticated algorithms to identify and exploit profit opportunities. This practice is not exclusive to Solana, as MEV attacks are prevalent among maximal extractible value bots on Ethereum as well. MEVBlocker reported that over $1.38 billion was drained from well-intentioned Ethereum users by April 2023.
In conclusion, users should exercise caution when venturing into Solana memecoins due to the risks associated with MEV attacks.