MEV Didn't Disappear — It Became Visible
With PBS in production and MEV-Boost improvements, the economics of block construction migrated entirely to the off-chain Builder market. Validators now function as neutral proposers, while competition among builders creates pressure to return MEV to users.
The proliferation of user-side MEV protection tools like Flashbots Protect and CowSwap has made retail transactions substantially immune to sandwich attacks.
The Road Ahead
Builder concentration remains elevated, with the top three firms constructing over 70 percent of blocks. Designing a Builder market that balances censorship resistance with ongoing innovation continues to dominate industry discussion.