MEV refers to the maximum profit that a miner, validator, or other network participant can extract by reordering, including, or excluding transactions within a block. In this article, we will explore the mechanism of MEV and how BNB Chain’s Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) model reshapes the MEV landscape.

What is MEV?

MEV stems from the decentralized nature of blockchain technology. Unlike traditional financial systems where the order of transactions is determined by a central authority, blockchain transactions are ordered according to protocol rules. This provides miners and validators with the opportunity to optimize transaction ordering to gain profits.

MEV incentivizes network participants to maintain and secure the blockchain. By allowing miners and validators to profit from transaction ordering, MEV provides a financial incentive to support the network. This can improve security and stability because participants are more likely to invest in better hardware and infrastructure to maximize their earnings.

MEV-driven activity can improve market efficiency by enabling arbitrage opportunities and liquidity provision, which are critical to the healthy operation of decentralized exchanges and financial protocols. However, MEV also brings challenges, such as potential centralization and unfair transaction priority risks, which must be managed to ensure the balance of the ecosystem.

Common MEV Strategies

In decentralized exchanges (DEX), miners and validators employ a variety of MEV strategies to maximize profits:

  • Arbitrage: Taking advantage of price differences between different markets by front-running other traders.

  • Reverse Trading: Placing a sell order after a large buy order to profit from buying pressure.

  • Sandwich Trading: Placing buy and sell orders around a target trade to profit from price movements.

  • Flash Loans: Borrow and repay funds in a single transaction to enable profitable trades with no upfront capital.

Several strategies have been developed to mitigate the exploitation of MEV, such as the Fair Sorting Service (FSS) for decentralized and fair transaction ordering, off-chain transactions, batching to minimize the impact of transaction reordering, and protocols that allow users to set maximum slippage limits.

Introducing BNB Chain’s MEV solution

To address MEV challenges and take advantage of its opportunities, the BNB Chain ecosystem has developed a comprehensive MEV solution powered by Blockrazor, blocksmith, and NodeReal. The BNB Chain open source repository maintains a list of builders and corresponding RPC endpoints.

Key features of the BNB Chain MEV solution

  • Integrated validator support: About 23 of the 40 active validators on BNB Chain have integrated with MEV providers.

  • Standardized Builder API: This API, proposed in BEP 322, allows validators to accept builder registrations in a permissionless manner, enabling seamless integration with multiple builders and promoting competition.

  • Enhanced transparency: Robust data reporting and transparency mechanisms enable all participants to track and understand MEV activities, which is critical to optimizing the MEV process and maintaining the integrity of the blockchain.

Challenges of Current MEV Solutions

Despite the progress, the current MEV landscape on the BNB chain still has challenges:

  • Complexity for validators: The lack of a standardized builder API requires a unique implementation for each MEV solution, complicating integration and maintenance.

  • Fragmentation and lack of an open market: A single MEV provider leads to fragmentation. An open market for MEV searchers can simplify the process and increase decentralization.

  • Revenue and data opacity: The inability to track and understand MEV revenue generation and participant contributions hinders fair and effective evaluation. Robust data reporting is critical to addressing this issue.


 

New Proposal: BEP 322 MEV Supply Chain Solutions

BNB Chain is enhancing its MEV landscape with the Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) model introduced in BEP 322. This model separates validators from block builders, allowing builders to create blocks and propose them to validators, who then choose the most profitable blocks. Key aspects include:

  • Builder Registration: Permissionless builder registration enables seamless integration with multiple builders.

  • Block construction and proposals: Builders propose blocks using a unified API, streamlining production.

  • Expense Reconciliation: Automated expense reconciliation simplifies the expense process and increases transparency.

  • Fair profit distribution: MEV profits are distributed among searchers, builders, validators, and BNB holders. Builders use a private memory pool to protect users from attacks and provide better pricing.

Advantages of BNB Chain’s MEV solution

For builders

  • Improve profitability: Implement a diversified pricing mechanism, offering free services to searchers while charging verifiers.

  • Competitive Marketplace: Standardized Builder APIs promote competition, innovation, and efficiency.

For Validators

  • Maximize Rewards: Integration with MEV providers can increase profitability by 7% to 15%.

  • Simplified integration: Unified builder API reduces integration complexity, reduces maintenance effort, and minimizes security vulnerabilities.

For wallets and users

  • Improved user experience: Users benefit from better trade execution and reduced risk of front-running.

  • Fairer transaction processing: Standardized and transparent MEV processes promote fair transaction prioritization.

in conclusion

MEV is a natural and important aspect of blockchain technology that improves profitability and efficiency. BNB Chain's PBS model solves common MEV challenges and promotes a competitive, transparent, and fair MEV ecosystem. Builders can maximize profitability through diversified pricing mechanisms, and validators can simplify integration and maximize rewards. Users benefit from improved transaction execution and fairness.