Solana Overtakes Ethereum in Metrics, But Research Suggests Bot Activity
Solana, the rising star in the cryptocurrency world, has been making headlines this week as it overtakes Ethereum on various metrics. However, a recent research article has shed light on a concerning trend – most of this activity may be driven by bots.
Published by pseudonymous researcher Flip Research on July 30, the article highlighted a suspiciously high count of daily transactions per user on Solana. The data showed that Solana recorded an average of 217 transactions per user on July 26, while Ethereum only recorded less than three transactions per user on the same day.
“What’s clear is there’s a massive discrepancy, combined with a high amount of MEV and wash trading,” Flip Research told Cointelegraph.
According to Blockworks Research, Solana’s total fees in the week of July 22 surpassed Ethereum’s total fees, with Solana also leading in decentralized exchange (DEX) volume. Raydium, Orca, and Phoenix were among the top players in Solana’s DEX trading volume.
However, the research suggests that a significant portion of Solana’s transactions may be driven by inorganic trading activities and bots. Analysis of Raydium’s liquidity pools revealed that many pools had little to no liquidity but generated unreal trading volumes.
Flip Research’s analysis pointed to rug-pulled projects, a type of exit scam that has been on the rise among memecoin scammers. One project analyzed had $10.8 million in volume from just $48 in liquidity, with bots conducting thousands of transactions to generate fake volumes before rug-pulling investors.
Despite efforts to address congestion issues with mainnet updates, the research indicates that bot activity is still rampant on Solana. Bots, with their ability to operate at a pace beyond human capability, have been pumping volumes on the network throughout the year.
As Solana continues to attract attention and activity, the presence of bots raises concerns about the network’s health and integrity. The cryptocurrency world will be closely watching how Solana addresses these challenges and maintains its position in the market.
