BNB Smart Chain Suffers Record High Sandwich Attacks in November
Heightened Activity on The Network Coincides With Record Surge in Sandwich Attacks Targetinh BNB Smart Chain Users
The BNB Smart Chain faced a surge in sandwich attacks in November last month, setting a new record for attacks. Dune Analytics data shows that these attacks affected approximately 35.5% of all BSC blocks—the highest percentage in the blockchain’s history.
Users initiate transactions on decentralized exchanges; a sandwich attack strategically exploits these transactions, leveraging the transparency and immutability of blockchains.
The attackers place one trade before a user’s transaction and another after on decentralized exchanges in a bid to manipulate prices to their advantage. This eventually allows attackers to buy assets at lower prices and sell them at higher ones, leaving victims with less profitable transactions.
These attacks are majorly common in low liquidity environments like DEXs, where the manipulations can significantly inflate the cost of transactions for unsuspecting traders.
Impact on BNB Smart Chain
The BNB Chain reached an all-time high in sandwich attack occurrences this November. Over 43,000 DEX traders fell victim to these attacks in just one week, marking the highest number in nine months.
Additionally, about 645 active bots carried out these attacks, generating noticeable profits while contributing $1.322 million to the $9.232 million total DEX trading volume during that week.
Nevertheless, these waves of attacks coincided with a 17% surge in the price of BNB, the network’s native token, which reached $656 with a market cap of $94.5 billion that week. This suggests that the heightened activity within the ecosystem may have created more opportunities for the exploiters.
BNB is currently trading at $651.94, up 2.84% over the previous day with a market cap of $93.88 billion according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Mitigation Efforts and Future Outlook
As sandwich attacks intensify, platforms like PancakeSwap are taking steps to counteract malicious activity.
MEV Guard and similar tools actively protect traders by concealing transaction details from attackers. These innovations restore trust in the ecosystem and reduce the financial impact of future sandwich attacks on users.
