Why You Should Be Optimistic About MEV - Shea Ketsdever

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

Shea Ketsdever from Flashbots presents an optimistic outlook on MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) in Ethereum, focusing on the evolution of block building. She explains how block builders determine transaction inclusion and ordering, and how MEV has historically caused issues like spam and centralization. Innovations like Flashbots' MEV-G and MEV-Boost, and the introduction of Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS), improved privacy and competition but led to new centralization risks via exclusive order flow deals. The latest breakthrough, Builderet, leverages Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) for verifiable, private, and decentralized block building, enabling orderflow sharing, permissionless refunds, and multi-operator resilience. Builderet addresses centralization, improves market efficiency, and supports Ethereum’s goals of scalability, user experience, and interoperability. Shea highlights Builderet’s role in scaling, reducing spam, enabling programmable block building, and supporting institutional adoption, positioning Ethereum ahead of competitors like Solana. 00:00 Introduction 00:34 Speaker Introduction: Shea from Flashbots 01:12 What is Block Building? 02:27 MEV Challenges in DeFi 03:16 Flashbots and MEV-G: Private Transactions 04:14 Limitations and Centralization Risks 04:38 Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) and MEV-Boost 05:25 Relays and the Block Builder Market 06:23 Centralization via Order Flow Deals 08:26 The Trust Bottleneck in Block Building 08:45 Flashbots’ Breakthroughs: Trusted Execution Environments 09:55 Builderet: Decentralized, Verifiable Block Building 11:05 Multi-Operator Model and Orderflow Sharing 12:06 Permissionless Refunds and Market Improvements 13:07 Block Building as a Market 13:38 Builderet’s Broader Applications 13:59 Competing with Solana and Upgrading Ethereum 15:03 Institutional Adoption and Custom Block Space 16:45 Programmable Block Building on Ethereum 18:02 Scaling Ethereum: Reducing MEV Spam 19:51 Improving User Experience and Interoperability 22:30 Conclusion and Call to Action _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes* Pragma Cannes 2025 was held on July 3rd at the Carlton Cannes in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6jZYPY5-YIBzvMtUT3ajjI ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _