Happy weekend, everyone! The market has been performing quite well lately, and you all should be in good spirits. Regarding the altcoin sector, the AI + meme segment has seen the largest gains, but it's still far from last year's peak. Regardless, the market shows signs of warming up, which is a good thing. On-chain, the recent traffic has returned to Solana. Yesterday, Solana's largest meme launch platform, pump, sent 110,000 SOL to the Kraken exchange, compared to only 54,000 SOL on the same day last month. This indirectly shows that the market sentiment on the Solana chain is starting to warm up, with more profits from pump; in contrast, the on-chain market for BSC is much bleaker. No need to look at the data; like me, I'm sure everyone has been struggling to find good first-level targets on BSC recently.
Today, let's discuss why BNB Chain is said to have 'suddenly cooled down':
In summary, the 'cooling' is due to the lack of wealth creation effects. Speaking of this, we must mention MEV (maximum extractable value) on-chain; what is MEV? I've discussed it in previous articles. Simply put, it's the 'extra tips' earned by adjusting transaction orders, cutting in line, or booting others. This directly impacts how usable and profitable a blockchain is.
BNB Chain: Feeling a bit cold after being 'siphoned off'.
BNB Chain, once a DeFi star with low fees and high speed, now feels a bit 'cool'. The core issue lies in who is earning from the MEV profits.
The big piece has been taken away by 'outsiders'.
MEV profits on BNB Chain are basically monopolized by a few big players, such as 48 Club and BlockRazor. Data shows that 48 Club holds over 90% of the share in several validator networks (like Turing, Shannon, etc.), while Nodereal and Bloxroute have completely taken over certain networks. These guys are able to earn $145 million in profits annually by staking tens of millions of dollars worth of BNB!
BNB Chain uses the PoSA consensus mechanism, requiring validators to stake a large amount of BNB to participate. It also implemented PBS (proposer-builder separation), allowing builders to focus on assembling blocks while validators select the most profitable ones. However, this strategy has led to MEV profits all going into builders' pockets, leaving CZ and retail investors with little benefit. Some complain: 'The money hasn't gone into CZ's pockets; it's all gone to 48 Club and BlockRazor!'
CZ has been calling out loudly, but retail investors haven't gained much.
CZ and the team (heyi, fourmeme, etc.) have been actively endorsing BNB Chain on X, and retail investors are heavily FOMOing, with trading volume surging, leading to a rise in MEV as well. In February 2025, CZ even held a vote on X, where 80% of the supporters agreed to tackle the MEV issue. But the reality is that the money is all being made by builders, leaving CZ and retail investors with little positive feedback. Who wants to keep sewing clothes for others? Naturally, enthusiasm for the chain has diminished.
Tried for a long time, but the effect isn't great.
BNB Chain is also trying to solve the MEV problem, but it feels like 'treating the symptoms, not the root cause':
PBS: Tried to reduce MEV attacks, but transactions still run through public pools, with money continuing to flow to 48 Club and others. Some sandwich bots (like 0x..e534) have been inactive for over 100 days, but monopolization has worsened.
Goodwill alliance: Set up a filter to prevent malicious MEV, but it only changed builders' earnings from 'MEV + tips' to 'mainly relying on tips'; the MEV pie hasn't been shared with others.
Privacy protection: Collaborated with wallets to implement some protective measures, but they aren't very effective.
Can TEE save the situation? Let's wait and see.
Some say TEE (trusted execution environment) can solve the MEV problem by relying on hardware to encrypt transactions, preventing tampering, and allowing validators to directly accept them. But the issue arises: Intel's SGX has poor concurrency, struggles to keep up, and may be vulnerable to side-channel attacks. TEE specifically designed for blockchain is also being squeezed by AI technology, making it unreliable in the short term.
Solana: MEV is managed well, the ecosystem is thriving.
Let's take a look at Solana; this guy is doing quite well with MEV, enjoying high throughput, low fees, and has introduced many new features in 2025, making the ecosystem vibrant.
How to prevent MEV? Solana has a method.
Solana's methods to combat MEV are quite hardcore:
No public trading pool: Unlike others, Solana's trading pool is not public. Want to cut in line? No chance! Only validators can see pending transactions.
First come, first served: Transactions are processed in order, regardless of how much fee you offer, reducing the chances of line cutting. Competition relies on who has the faster internet speed.
Validator voting: Validators are grouped, and block finality requires votes from everyone, making it difficult for one person to cause trouble.
Jito Labs' magic: The Jito-Solana client (holding 31% of the market) can optimize transaction processing, and Block Engine and Relay can prevent network spam.
New gameplay in 2025:
Dynamic slippage: Jupiter Aggregator has created dynamic slippage, adjusting parameters in real time to prevent sandwich attacks.
Attack-resistant AMM: Ellipsis Labs' Plasma stabilizes pricing, making sandwich attacks unprofitable.
Paladin client: Used by 80 validators, block rewards directly increased by 12.5%!
RFQ system: JupiterZ and Kamino Swap promote no-slippage trading. Low liquidity assets struggle a bit, but it's manageable.
How to split the money? Everyone gets a share.
Solana's MEV profits are distributed quite fairly:
Jito tips: Validators running Jito-Solana can take 100% of the tips given by searchers, earning over $7 million in just one week in March 2024.
JitoSOL staking: Ordinary people staking SOL can earn 7.15% annualized returns while also participating in DeFi.
Liquid staking: JitoSOL allows staked funds to be liquid, with Solana's staking rate at 70% and liquid staking at just 2%, indicating significant potential.
Marinade SAM: Launched a staking auction in June 2024 with a 13.73% annualized return, but some complained that validators attacking with sandwich strategies were bidding too aggressively.
Paladin bonus: In 2025, PAL tokens will incentivize validators, enhancing rewards.
What controversies exist? Further adjustments are needed.
Solana isn't perfect either. In March 2024, Jito paused the public trading pool, and private trading pools emerged, leading to some transparency issues. DeezNode's sandwich bots accounted for nearly half of the attacks, earning 65,880 SOL (around $13.43 million) in 30 days, indicating too much centralization of wealth. In the future, Solana aims to manage MEV better through multi-concurrent leaders (MCL) and atomic account coordination (AAC).
Summary: MEV determines the fate of the chain.
BNB Chain has 'cooled down' for a reason: MEV profits have been siphoned off by a few, with CZ and retail investors seeing little return, making loud calls ineffective. Attempts at PBS and goodwill alliances haven't broken the monopoly, and TEE is still far off. In contrast, Solana's methods against MEV are strong, profit-sharing is fair, and new innovations in 2025 make the ecosystem more vibrant, no wonder it's popular.
BNB Chain looking to turn things around? It could learn from Solana's Jito model by sharing some MEV profits with stakers or implementing TEE. And Solana shouldn't be too complacent; it needs to manage sandwich attacks and transparency quickly, or it could also face setbacks. In short, if MEV is managed well, the blockchain can thrive!