Solana client Jito Labs axes mempool function following increase in MEV attacks

Jito JTO -1.69% Labs, a Solana SOL -5.75% client developer, has axed the mempool offered through the Jito Block Engine after weeks of heightened 'sandwich attacks' on Solana users. 

In a sandwich or MEV (maximum extractable value) attack, a sophisticated bot which spots certain types of pending transactions can design its own trades to take advantage of that knowledge, profiting at the expense of retail traders. While MEV attacks are common on Ethereum, which has a built-in mempool, Solana does not have its own mempool. However, Jito Labs's introduction of the Jito Block Engine introduced its own Solana mempool, making such attacks possible, though they were against Jito's terms of service. 

In January, one such attack saw a Solana-based MEV bot earn $1.8 million in seconds after back-running a memecoin trader looking to acquire the coin dogwifhat (WIF). 

Jito Labs, in a thread on X explaining the decision, noted that the move was made "after deliberate conversations with the Jito Labs team and key Solana ecosystem stakeholders," and noted the team remains "extremely dedicated to the long term success of the Solana network, including the applications, users, validators, and stakers." 

Jito Labs unveiled its governance token this past December; the token saw $1.1 billion in trading volume in the first day of its launch. The token is currently trading at $2.84, up 2.30% in the past 24 hours, as of 5:11 pm EST.