Blocknative Halts MEV-Boost Relay as Expected Gains Fall Short

Blocknative's recent decision to halt its MEV-Boost Relay services, a software employed by Ethereum network validators, follows extensive internal discussions among the company's leadership and board of directors. Users have been duly notified to remove the Blocknative Relay from their validator configurations by September 27, a directive outlined in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

CEO Matt Cutler assured that Blocknative will continue to prioritize its core services, encompassing mempool exploration, transaction simulation, Ethereum gas estimation, and Polygon estimation, as outlined on the company's official website.

In an interview with Bitsday, Cutler elucidated that the performance of the MEV-Boost Relay service fell short of the company's initial economic projections. He remarked:

 "What initially appeared as a financially promising opportunity eventually proved to be less economically enticing. We've made persistent efforts, both publicly and privately, to introduce economic incentives at the relay layer, but they haven't materialized as anticipated."

After considerable internal debate and in consultation with our Board of Directors, effective Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 8am PST Blocknative will suspend our MEV-Boost Relay and associated Ethereum Block Builders. Our Relay Data API will remain available for data downloads…

— Blocknative | mempool.eth ???? (@blocknative) September 26, 2023

MEV, or Maximal Extractable Value, is commonly known as an "invisible levy" collected by validators and builders through the rearrangement or addition of transactions before their incorporation into the blockchain.

Validators on the Ethereum network chiefly accrue MEV via MEV-Boost, a middleware crafted by the research and development firm Flashbots. This middleware empowers validators to request blocks from a network of builders.

Cutler stressed that managing a relay and furnishing block-building services demands a significant investment of time, expertise, and engineering prowess. Yet, there is limited economic motivation, especially for a company like Blocknative, which operates as a credibly impartial entity.

Blocknative has played a pivotal role in furnishing tools for MEV-Boost and has been instrumental in the proposal of over 90% of blocks on the Ethereum network. However, apprehensions have been voiced on X regarding the escalating centralization within the MEV-Boost sphere.

Cutler voiced his reservations, stating:

"We're not particularly enthused about some of the developments we're witnessing in this domain, particularly concerning the centralizing dynamics and the exceedingly small pool of participants involved."

98% of ETH blocks are proposed by putting *complete* trust in 5 entities
-bloXroute
-Flashbots
-Ultrasound (@drakefjustin et al)
-Agnostic (@koeppelmann et al)
- B̶l̶o̶c̶k̶n̶a̶t̶i̶v̶e̶

now it's 4.
why?
because proposals to pay Relays small % remained "in the air"????????
1/3 https://t.co/0ynLS3hunB pic.twitter.com/w47XPZTU8e

— Uri // klarman.eth ???? (@uriklarman) September 26, 2023

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