Arbitrum and Solana co-founders clash again over transaction costs: Steven emphasizes MEV protection, while Toly questions fees and spreads.

BlockBeats News, September 6 - Arbitrum co-founder Steven Goldfeder and Solana co-founder Toly engaged in a debate over on-chain transaction fees, MEV protection, and the single sequencer model.

Steven stated that one cannot simply compare surface-level fees. Arbitrum One and Robinhood Chain proactively guard against front-running and most harmful MEV, while some chains claiming lower fees incur higher MEV costs, including front-running targeting retail investors. He said he would rather pay explicit fees upfront than suffer hidden losses such as front-running and sandwich attacks in exchange for lower fees.

Toly countered that Arbitrum currently offers less favorable bid-ask spreads and higher fees. He noted that even the 10% cut it takes from fees, when converted to basis points, already exceeds the loss rate from sandwich attacks—estimated at roughly 10 times that figure—and this does not yet account for spread impact. He emphasized: "A single sequencer maximizing shareholder value can never outperform permissionless competition."