Ethereum researcher pitches solution to fix centralization woes, eliminate MEV
Ethereum researcher “Malik672” has proposed a solution to democratize Ethereum’s block proposer process which they claim would also eliminate MEV at the block level.
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An Ethereum researcher has pitched a new block proposal solution that aims to democratize Ethereum’s currently centralized block building process by implementing a “shared random algorithm.”
The “Decentralized Random Block Proposal” would leverage Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) to eliminate Maximal Extractable Value at the block level, fully democratize block proposing and possibly accelerate propagation — the process by which transactions are broadcast to network validators — pseudonymous researcher Malik672 said in a March 1 post.
Malik672 said while Ethereum’s proof-of-stake model and the proposer-builder separation feature has migrated Maximal Extractable Value concentration to some extent, it has resulted in builders and relays becoming more centralized.
Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter recently pointed out that two Ethereum block builders — Beaverbuild and Titan Builder — had built 88.7% of all Ethereum blocks in the first two weeks of October.
That figure has since been reduced to around 80%, according to Malik672, which is still far more centralized than what the Ethereum community would like.
“This system flips that: block-building spreads to thousands of clients globally, fully democratizing the process. No single entity dominates—unlike PBS’s builder pool or a centralized mixer—and BFT mitigates mempool variance, ensuring robustness.”
MEV — the value extracted by block proposers by reordering or censoring transactions — has resulted in a range of profit-driven manipulation strategies, such as arbitrage and front-running, which have come at the cost of ordinary network users.
“This undermines Ethereum’s decentralized ethos,” Malik672 said.
Comparison of Malik672’s block proposal system with the current one PBS method. Source: Ethereum Research
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Under Malik672’s proposal, all Ethereum clients — as opposed to a handful of builders — would construct blocks via a cryptographically random algorithm. This random selection would prevent the profit-driven manipulation tactics impacting Ethereum users, the researcher claimed.
Malik672 said the solution would better align with Ethereum’s “trustless roots” while remaining compatible with the Danksharding’s blob requirements — a solution that attempts to scale Ethereum layer 2s.
Malik672 added that the solution may even reduce slot times from 12 seconds to around 6 to 8 seconds.
It comes as Ethereum devs and researchers agreed to start deploying Ethereum upgrades at a faster cadence on Feb. 13 to accelerate Ethereum’s technical roadmap.
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