Jito Labs, a developer of Solana client software, has announced the removal of the mempool feature from the Jito Block Engine following a notable increase in ‘sandwich attacks’ targeting Solana users. These attacks, driven by maximum extractable value (MEV) strategies, exploit pending transactions to gain unfair profits, particularly at the expense of retail traders.
Unlike Ethereum, which has a built-in mempool, Solana previously lacked this feature. However, the introduction of the Jito Block Engine by Jito Labs included its own Solana mempool, inadvertently enabling MEV attacks, despite being against Jito’s terms of service.
A high-profile incident in January saw a Solana-based MEV bot generate $1.8 million in seconds by back-running a trader seeking to acquire the meme coin “dogwifhat” (WIF).
In a statement on X, Jito Labs explained their decision, stating it was made “after deliberate conversations with the Jito Labs team and key Solana ecosystem stakeholders.” The team reiterated their commitment to the long-term success of the Solana network, its applications, users, validators, and stakers.
Jito Labs introduced its governance token in December, which quickly gained traction with $1.1 billion in trading volume on its launch day. The token is currently trading at $2.84, reflecting a 2.30% increase in the past 24 hours as of 5:11 pm EST.