Ethereum Researchers Propose New Solution to Mitigate Maximal Extractable Value

A recent research proposal called Flash Freezing Flash Boys (F3B) seeks to address the issue of MEV (maximal extractable value) on Ethereum by applying threshold encryption to transactions. This approach involves encrypting each transaction with a lightweight symmetric key, which is then used to decrypt the transaction itself.

The F3B protocol has been shown to have minimal performance overhead in tests, with delays of only 197-205 milliseconds after finality. However, its deployment on Ethereum is unlikely due to the complexity of integration, which would require modifications to the execution layer and a hard fork.

F3B represents an important milestone in research towards mitigating MEV, but it also has potential applications beyond Ethereum. Its trust-minimized mechanism for sharing private transaction data could be applied to emerging blockchain networks and decentralized applications that require delayed execution.