Solana DEXs and MEV Relations
Last updated
Last updated
Solana has emerged as one of the most high-performance blockchains, capable of processing up to 65,000 transactions per second at a fraction of a cent per transaction. This makes it the perfect environment for decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Raydium, Orca, and Serum to thrive. These DEXs let users trade directly on-chain, fast, efficiently, and without intermediaries. But their explosive activity also powers a more hidden dynamic behind the scenes: MEV.
DEXs are central to the MEV economy on Solana. Their high volume and real-time price fluctuations create opportunities for sophisticated bots and validators to extract profit through strategies like arbitrage and sandwich trading. Solana’s architecture, specifically its parallel processing and lack of a traditional mempool, gives it a unique MEV profile compared to other chains like Ethereum.
For instance, Solana’s ability to execute atomic transactions (where multiple trades happen together or not at all) makes arbitrage especially efficient. A bot can buy SOL for $100 on Raydium and sell it for $101 on Orca in a single transaction, pocketing the difference with no risk of slippage.
While MEV enables certain efficiencies, like aligning prices across DEXs, it also raises concerns. Sandwich trading, for example, increases slippage for regular users and can feel predatory, especially during high-volatility periods. Some view MEV as a healthy market mechanism. Others see it as a tax on users, benefitting validators and bots at the expense of fairness.
As a result, the community is divided: is MEV a sign of a mature, responsive market, or a structural flaw that needs to be reined in?
The mechanics behind MEV extraction involve multiple actors. Searchers identify opportunities and construct bundles of profitable transactions. These are passed through relayers, who circulate them to block producers. Some Solana solutions, like Jito’s Block Engine, enable validators to auction off blockspace to maximize MEV earnings, sometimes increasing their profits by over 30%.
Solana’s current setup favors these power users. That’s where Toby comes in.
Users stake their SOL and receive tSOL, a liquid tokenized version of their stake.
The Toby Network delegates SOL to validators selected by the Validator Optimizer, prioritizing those that are most efficient at MEV extraction.
MEV flows through searchers, relayers, and a custom Block Chef, which constructs blocks and routes profits back into the system.
Yield, including MEV rewards, is redistributed to stakers and participants in the Toby ecosystem.
This process gives everyday users a passive share of validator-level profits, without needing to run bots, compete in auctions, or monitor mempools.
Toby directly addresses two major challenges facing MEV today:
Lost Profitability: MEV yields used to be 15% higher before network-level restrictions limited opportunities. Toby reclaims this by ensuring free-market access and better validator coordination.
Centralized Control: Many MEV systems are gated or moderated. Toby’s infrastructure opens the market to all players, searchers, stakers, validators, without a single point of control.
Solana DEXs are more than trading hubs, they’re engines that drive one of the most complex and lucrative dynamics in DeFi: MEV. But until now, the value generated through this activity has mostly gone to a small circle of validators and searchers.
Toby is changing that. By integrating liquid staking with MEV-aware validator selection and a truly open MEV marketplace, Toby is opening up new yield opportunities for the entire community. Whether you're a crypto pro or a passive staker, Toby gives you a chance to benefit from Solana’s trading intensity, without needing to understand the underlying mechanics.
