Solana Bot Earns $30M from MEV Arbitrage

According to Ben Coverston of MRGN Research, the Solana-based MEV automaton has been actively striving to maintain a low-profile

According to Ben Coverston of MRGN Research, the Solana-based MEV automaton has been striving to maintain a low profile. In the past two months, the infamous “arsc” maximal extractible value (MEV) sandwich program has embezzled approximately $30 million from Solana users through MEV attacks.

An MEV sandwich attack is a type of attack in which an assailant “sandwiches” a victim’s transaction between their own two transactions to manipulate the price and profit from the user. They generate revenue by purchasing the victim’s token at a price lower than the market value and reselling it within the same block.

In a post on X on June 15, Ben Coverston, the founder of cryptocurrency firm MRGN Research, stated that the sandwich bot “arc” has “gone to great lengths” to avoid attention while generating profits from Solana network users.

Coverston thinks that “9973h…zyWp6” is one of the bot’s largest wallet addresses and is predominantly utilized for cold storage.

Coverston stated, “It is remarkably inactive and, based on its conduct, is almost certainly a cold, locked-down wallet.”

The SolanaFM explorer site reports that the wallet contains slightly more than $19 million in funds, including $17 million in Solana SOL and $148 in Solana SOL.

Tokens and $1.1 million in Circle’s USD Coin, a stablecoin priced at $1.00.

Additionally, it contains tiny quantities of Kabosu (KAB), Cringe Coin (CRINGE), and wrapped-SOL (wSOL).

Coverston stated that an additional primary wallet, identified by the address “Ai4zq…VXKKT,” is significantly more engaged in decentralized finance activities. “It is gradually converting SOL into USDC through JUP DCA and holds substantial positions in Kamino and various LSTs.”

According to SolanaFM, the total funds in the account exceed $9.9 million, with most of the funds comprising non-SOL tokens.

Coverston has identified a third wallet address, “BCbrp…vi58q,” which he believes is the “main SOL bank” of ARSC. This is because it employs dozens of various signers and tippers to execute the sandwich attacks.

Coveston thinks that the operator responsible for ARSC is attempting to maintain a low profile, as the three purses collectively contain $29.8 million at current prices.

“It seems they don’t enjoy the attention, as they’ve recently gone to great lengths to hide their activities and profits.”

Intelligent algorithms are frequently implemented by MEV sandwich machines to identify and capitalize on these profit opportunities. They are also a prevalent practice among maximal extractible value algorithms on Ethereum.

On or before April 2023, MEVBlocker reported that Ethereum users who were “well-intentioned” had lost more than $1.38 billion.