Flashbots Research

Flashbots is a research and development organization focused on the impact MEV has on state-rich blockchains such as Ethereum. MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) is a complex research topic involving multiple fascinating disciplines, stakeholders, and tradeoffs. Our research and development operate hand in hand, and have been designed to closely feed into each-other forming a dual engine that propels Flashbots forward. In line with our organization's values, all our research efforts are open to the public and highly collaborative.

We are building Flashbots Research as a research hub for MEV, tackling and uncovering questions relevant to the short, medium and long-term future of the ecosystem. We view this research as essential to help the cryptocurrency industry better understand and deal with MEV. We are currently funded through venture capital but aim to build a sustainable self-funded independent research organization that can become a place where ambitious researchers can work amongst like-minded individuals on the most interesting research questions unencumbered from the usual friction of academia.

Research Topics

Our research covers a wide array of topics centered around the MEV theme. Several of these topics are directly related to our auction system and are meant as initial explorations around problems that will eventually need to be solved for our project to ultimately succeed. Other topics are more loosely related, and are part of our wider effort to illuminate the MEV landscape to level the playing field for all actors involved.

A list of the research topics we are either currently working on, or on which we would like to advance our knowlegde can be found here. You can read some of the research we've released here.

Flashbots Research Proposals

To fuel the collaborative nature of our research, we have a process in place for Flashbots Research Proposal (FRPs), where anybody can submit a research proposal for consideration. Upon community review, proposals will be considered for becoming part of our research, and might become eligible for a grant.

Find out more about our research process, ongoing FRPs and the grants we issue.

Community

Flashbots Research is community-centric and fully virtual. You can interact with us in several ways:

• join us on our Discord #mev-research channel for conversations with the Flashbots community.
• open an issue on this repository to gather input on specific MEV-related topics.
• join the MEV-Roasts & Community Calls where we present new ideas and get roasted by the community.
• join research workshops and other ad hoc events such as research-a-thons that we run, announced in our Discord.

We regularly collaborate with other research organizations. This can take many shapes such as a joint series of research workshops, a cross-organization team formation to work on a specific research question, or a joint grant program for questions that matter to both organizations. We encourage you to reach out if you'd like to discuss a collaboration. We are also actively recruiting for full-time research positions, check out the full job descriptions here.

Resources

• Access past recordings of research workshops and our public appearances on our Youtube channel.
• A selection of research papers and posts on MEV topics can be found in our research vault.