Solana Sandwich Bots Extracted $29.7 Million Before Costs, Mostly via Pump.fun

WHY IT MATTERS

When you trade on a decentralized exchange, your transaction is usually visible to others before it is finalized. A sandwich attack works like someone cutting in line at a store: a bot sees you are about to buy something, buys it first to push the price up slightly, then sells it back right after your purchase at the higher price, pocketing the difference. This costs regular users money on every affected trade without them necessarily realizing it. The $29.7 million figure shows how much value these bots have been siphoning from everyday traders on Solana, particularly on platforms where small, speculative tokens are traded frequently. For newcomers, this is a reminder that trading on decentralized platforms carries risks beyond just price volatility, including invisible costs from automated exploitation.