important point
- The number of Ethereum blocks generated by OFAC-compliant MEV-Boost relays fell below the 50% threshold yesterday.
- This metric peaked at 79% on November 21st and has been steadily declining since then.
- Uncensored relays such as BloXRoute Max Profit and Ultra Sound Money are gaining market share from OFAC compliant relays Flashbot.
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As OFAC-compliant MEV-Boost relays continue to build fewer and fewer blocks, the risk of censorship to the Ethereum block generation industry is fading.
steady decline
Ethereum’s censorship problem is gradually improving.
according to To data from MEV watch, the number of Ethereum blocks generated by OFAC-compliant MEV-Boost relays fell below the 50% threshold yesterday. On February 13, only 47% of blocks were generated by such relays. Today, that number has reached 49%.
August 8, 2022, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Added Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based privacy protocol, has been added to the sanctions list, claiming the program is being used to launder money. Major service providers such as Circle and Infura quickly moved to blacklist Ethereum addresses associated with the protocol, as did MEV research organization Flashbots.
MEVs Abbreviation for “maximum extractable value”. The term refers to arbitrage on-chain trading opportunities by reordering transactions within blocks while they are being generated. By offering an off-chain block building marketplace in the form of MEV-Boost, Flashbots claims to streamline the practice and mitigate its negative effects. The organization’s willingness to comply with OFAC sanctions has been met with protests from the crypto community. In response, Flashbots open-sourced the code for its relay, allowing non-OFAC compliant competitors to effectively participate in the Ethereum MEV market.
Nevertheless, two months after Ethereum moved from proof of work to proof of stake, the number of blocks built by so-called “OFAC compliant” MEV-Boost relays surged from 9% to 79%. , prompted censorship.concern from within the community.
However, after peaking on November 21st, the number of blocks generated by censorship relays began to decline. Today, Flashbots built over 46% of all MEV-Boost blocks, while uncensored relays BloXRoute Max Profit and Ultra Sound Money account for a significant portion of MEV-Boost’s market share (23.7% and 16.9%, respectively). %).
Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.