Flashbots call the absence of a neutral MEV-Boost relay in Ethereum a failure.

The absence of a neutral MEV-Boost relay on the Ethereum network, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is a “failure” of the ecosystem, according to Hasu, Flashbots’ director of strategy.

It’s a failure of the Ethereum ecosystem that one month after the merge, there is still no neutral relay. All the relays that exist are vertically integrated builder relays.

— Hasu⚡️🤖 (@hasufl) October 17, 2022

The expert lamented that, a month after The Merge, the dominant position is held by relays integrated with block builders.

He attributed the situation to distrust of block builders among many developers. This stems from concerns that the latter may prioritise their own transactions over those of network participants.

According to mevboost.org, almost 60% of blocks in the Ethereum network were generated using maximum extractable value (MEV), providing validators with additional staking rewards.

Flashbots’ share stands at 80.74%. The service operates in the United States and censors all transactions linked to the sanctioned Tornado Cash protocol list.

The growing share of “filterable” operations by relay services prompted Flashbots co-founder Stefan Gosselin to resign.

„In the short term, validators will avoid connecting to relays that censor. Providers of blockchain space exerting economic pressure on censorship will play a major role in ensuring it does not become widespread,” he explained to The Block of his decision.

After Gosselin’s departure, Flashbots announced it would launch the open-source SUAVE protocol, aimed at gradually decentralising the block-building process.

For the last year, we have been developing the next generation of Flashbots under the codename “SUAVE” pic.twitter.com/Km2Awm8YoR

— Hasu⚡️🤖 (@hasufl) October 14, 2022

Product chief Robert Miller said the service is working to reduce its dominance by routing blocks to other relays. The team will fund a grant to build a relay monitor, through which users can evaluate the MEV market.

After a year of R&D mev-boost shipped and enabled validators of all sizes to outsource their block construction to an open and competitive marketplace of relays and builders.https://t.co/xyevKvK7AE

— @bertcmiller ⚡️🤖 (@bertcmiller) October 5, 2022

Earlier, ForkLog published a special feature on MEV and censorship by relays.

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