We are implementing a refund optimization process that will impact how Flashbots Protect shares transactions with other builders and chooses what is sent to the mempool.
Change
If a transaction is received at any point in slot n, it will be shared no later than the beginning of slot n + 1.
Impact
Users who opt into share their transactions with other builders (eg. via “fast” mode) will continue to have access to those builders following the refund optimization process.
Transactions that were previously sent to the mempool will be shared with builders the user selects. The default Protect experience is unaffected otherwise.
Motivation
This change enables Protect to provide better refunds to users. Most immediately, it increases the likelihood that transactions will receive a refund from MEV-Share before they are included. We will also conduct analytics on the impact of this change to inform research and development on improved and expanded refund mechanisms that we plan to introduce following this change.