Unlike Bitcoin, where transactions are ordered on a first-come, first-served basis, Ethereum and Solana rely on a set of validators to confirm transactions and add them to the next block. This process allows flexibility, as users can speed up their transactions by paying higher fees.
At the protocol level, prioritizing transactions based on gas fees has inadvertently led to the rise of complex maximum extractable value (MEV) bots on Solana and Ethereum. By exploiting the system, these bots have become an important factor in the debate over gas fees.
MEV Bots Pushing Gas Fees Higher on Ethereum?
Now, the controversy surrounding validators, gas fees, and the impact of MEV bots on Solana and Ethereum is escalating. Mert Mumtaz, co-founder of Solana RPC provider Helius, heads to X, Highlight The role of one sandwich bot, Jaredfromsubway, which was the main source of gas fees on Ethereum.
This bot alone is responsible for a staggering 142 ETH per day, which exceeds the fees paid by major players like Coinbase.
Since this MEV bot is the highest source of gas fees on Ethereum, the co-founder argues that by not supporting validators, the Ethereum Foundation is indirectly endorsing MEV bot operators to continue to “rip off” retail traders.
As it stands, Ethereum, which is notorious for scalability issues, is the most expensive network to operate on. Although on-chain scaling is a concern, the proliferation of MEV bots, as we saw with Jaredfromsubway, can contribute significantly.
Does Solana do a better job of handling MEV bots?
In light of this, the analyst points out that Ethereum developers have failed to address the MEV threat despite years of research and custom solutions at different protocol levels.
Because of this ongoing issue and the coordinated and extensive research that continues to fail on Ethereum, the analyst believes that Solana is doing a much better job of dealing with the impact of MEV bots on gas fees.
Solana currently actively supports most of its endorsers. The subsidy, absent in Ethereum, penalizes operators involved in MEV operations, discouraging this behavior. However, it is important to know that the subsidy is based on voting costs and not on the cost of hardware and operation.
However, some believe that this approach is the only one Offers First aid solutions. If anything, they claim that Solana “invented” and “weaponized” electric mobility vehicles. There are other claims that SOL holders such as Multicoin Capital prioritize chains based on their MEV capture potential.
Recently, some of these sponsored validators were caught enabling MEV to “sandwich” users. While the Solana Foundation quickly… Removal their share, remains for be seen Whether MEV attacks will stop.
Featured image from Canva, chart from TradingView