Solana Sandwich Bot Profits $30M from MEV Arbitrage in Two Months

Ben Coverston of MRGN Research has revealed that a Solana-based maximal extractable value (MEV) bot, known as “arsc,” has quietly accumulated around $30 million through MEV attacks in the last two months.

MEV sandwich attacks involve an attacker inserting their transactions around a victim’s transaction to manipulate prices for profit. The attacker buys the victim’s tokens at below-market value and then sells them within the same block for a profit.

Coverston stated in a June 15 post on X that the “arsc” bot has intentionally maintained a low profile while profiting from Solana network users. One of the bot’s main wallet addresses, “9973h…zyWp6,” is believed to be used primarily for cold storage and holds over $19 million, including $17 million worth of Solana (SOL) tokens and $1.1 million in USD Coin (USDC).

Additionally, the wallet contains small amounts of wrapped-SOL (wSOL), Cringe Coin (CRINGE), and Kabosu (KAB). Another active wallet, “Ai4zq…VXKKT,” engages heavily in decentralized finance (DeFi) activities and holds over $9.9 million in non-SOL tokens, converting SOL into USDC via JUP DCA and maintaining positions in Kamino and various liquid staking tokens (LSTs).

Coverston also identified a third wallet, “BCbrp…vi58q,” which he believes is arsc’s primary SOL bank, employing numerous signers and tippers to execute sandwich attacks. Combined, these three wallets hold approximately $29.8 million at current prices.

Coverston noted that the operator behind “arsc” appears to prefer staying out of the spotlight, going to great lengths to obscure their activities and profits. MEV sandwich bots use advanced algorithms to detect and exploit these profitable opportunities, a common practice among MEV bots on Ethereum as well. MEVBlocker reported that over $1.38 billion had been lost by well-meaning Ethereum users as of April 2023.