What Is MEV in Solana?
MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) is the profit that can be captured by reordering, inserting, or excluding transactions within a block. On Solana, MEV is primarily extracted by searchers who submit transaction bundles through Jito.
MEV on Solana vs Ethereum
On Ethereum, MEV extraction involves a separate mempool, block builders, and proposer-builder separation (PBS). Solana has no public mempool — transactions go directly to the leader. MEV on Solana is facilitated by the Jito Block Engine, which serves a similar role to Ethereum’s block builders.
Common MEV strategies
| Strategy | Description |
|---|---|
| Arbitrage | Profiting from price differences between DEXes by buying low on one and selling high on another |
| Liquidation | Executing liquidations on lending protocols when positions become undercollateralized |
| Sandwich | Placing transactions before and after a victim’s swap to profit from price impact (considered harmful) |
| Backrunning | Placing a transaction immediately after a target transaction to capture price movements |
MEV and tips
Searchers pay tips to Jito validators for including their bundles. Tips represent a portion of the MEV profit shared with validators. This creates a competitive market where higher-value MEV opportunities generate higher tips.
Impact on users
MEV can negatively affect regular users through sandwich attacks that worsen swap execution prices. Using Jito bundles with slippage protection, private RPC endpoints, or MEV-protection services can mitigate this.
FAQ
Is MEV unique to Solana? No. MEV exists on all blockchains with programmable transactions. The extraction methods differ based on the chain’s architecture.
How much MEV is extracted on Solana? MEV revenue varies significantly. During high trading volume, daily MEV tips can reach hundreds of SOL across the network.
Sources
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