# The MEV Letter #120 **URL:** https://collective.flashbots.net/t/the-mev-letter-120/5467 **Category:** The Flashbots Ship **Tags:** the-mev-letter **Created:** [January 7, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://collective.flashbots.net/t/the-mev-letter-120/5467 "2026-01-07T22:43:16Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Fred](https://collective.flashbots.net/user_avatar/collective.flashbots.net/fred/32/1288_2.png) [@Fred](https://collective.flashbots.net/u/Fred) #### Post date: [January 7, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://collective.flashbots.net/t/the-mev-letter-120/5467/1 "2026-01-07T22:43:16Z")
_ **The MEV Letter** _ is a weekly collection of papers, articles and resources related to MEV. The intention of this letter is to provide a comprehensive summary of the latest research, discussions, and developments in the space, with links for further reading. -[_Explore all previous editions via The MEV Letter explorer_](https://collective.flashbots.net/t/explorer/100). * * * # Papers & Articles - [FlowProxy: Approaching Optimality](https://engineering.chainbound.io/flowproxy-approaching-optimality) by [Lorenzo](https://x.com/thedevbirb) and [mempirate](https://x.com/mempirate) presents a quantitative analysis of order losses and latencies across [BuilderNet](https://buildernet.org/), and outlines a series of optimizations to[FloxProxy](https://github.com/BuilderNet/FlowProxy) that reduce both latencies and resource consumption. - [Forum post](https://collective.flashbots.net/t/flowproxy-approaching-optimality/5459) by[mempirate](https://x.com/mempirate) - [Thread](https://x.com/mempirate/status/2008141628729643416) by[mempirate](https://x.com/mempirate) - [The CoinAlg Bind: Profitability-Fairness Tradeoffs in Collective Investment Algorithms](https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00523) by [Andrés Fábrega](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andresfabrega/), [James Austgen](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/~james/), [Samuel Breckenridge](https://x.com/sjbreck), [Jay Yu](https://jayyu.xyz/), [Amy Zhao](https://x.com/theamyzhao), @sarah.allen, [Aditya Saraf](https://adityasaraf.github.io/), and [Ari Juels](https://www.arijuels.com/) presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of _Collective Investment Algorithms_ (CoinAlgs), showing that any such system necessarily incurs a tradeoff between protecting investor fairness, and maximizing trading profitability. - [Thread](https://x.com/initc3org/status/2008562283363041350) by [IC3](https://www.initc3.org/) - [Post](https://x.com/0xfishylosopher/status/2008664154576744612) by [Jay Yu](https://jayyu.xyz/) - [Second Thoughts: How 1-second subslots transform CEX-DEX Arbitrage on Ethereum](https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00738) by [Aleksei Adadurov](https://arxiv.org/search/q-fin?searchtype=author&query=Adadurov,+A), [Sergey Barseghyan](https://arxiv.org/search/q-fin?searchtype=author&query=Barseghyan,+S), [Anton Chtepine](https://x.com/kawahwookiee), [Antero Eloranta](https://x.com/antsae_), [Andrei Sebyakin](https://arxiv.org/search/q-fin?searchtype=author&query=Sebyakin,+A), and [Arsenii Valitov](https://arxiv.org/search/q-fin?searchtype=author&query=Valitov,+A) examines the effects on CEX-DEX arbitrage activity if Ethereum slot times were reduced to 1-second subslots, showing a 535% increase in transaction count and 203% increase in volume due to reduced execution risk. - [Architecting Ethereum’s Future](https://www.nethermind.io/blog/architecting-ethereums-future) by [Nethermind](https://www.nethermind.io/) highlights their contributions to the Fusaka upgrade with EIPs to improve data availability, execution efficiency, fee predictability, and more. - [Thread](https://x.com/Nethermind/status/2007027842169614608) by [Nethermind](https://www.nethermind.io/) - [Non-Reactive Finance (NoRFi) - A Deterministic Foundation for DeFi](https://ethresear.ch/t/non-reactive-finance-norfi-a-deterministic-foundation-for-defi/23794) by[Matt Hooft](https://x.com/hooftly/) outlines an alternative DeFi design that replaces oracle-triggered liquidations and reactive auctions with explicit commitments and time-based state transitions. - [Post](https://x.com/hooftly/status/2008294323000123716) by [Matt Hooft](https://x.com/hooftly/) - [The State of Interop for 2026](https://li.fi/knowledge-hub/the-state-of-interop-for-2026/) by [Arjun Chand](https://x.com/arjunnchand) details the evolution, and current landscape of cross-chain interoperability infrastructure. - [Thread](https://x.com/lifiprotocol/status/2008169157188292901?s=20) by [LI.FI](http://li.fi) # Posts & Threads - @dataalways published a [thread](https://x.com/dataalways/status/2008246604810350813) sharing data on CL client diversity by proposers connected to the [Flashbots Relay](https://boost-relay.flashbots.net/), with [Lighthouse](https://lighthouse.sigmaprime.io/) being the most prevalent. - [Vitalik Buterin](https://vitalik.eth.limo/) published a [post](https://x.com/vitalikbuterin/status/2006737662942871574) reflecting on Ethereum’s technical advances in 2025, and outlines remaining challenges for the network to serve as censorship-resistant, civilizational infrastructure. - [Vitalik Buterin](https://vitalik.eth.limo/) published a [post](https://x.com/vitalikbuterin/status/2007559523528233041) describing the 10-year journey culminating in [PeerDAS](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7594) and [zkEVMs](https://ethproofs.org/), evolving Ethereum into a fundamentally new network and solving the blockchain trilemma. - [Toni Wahrstätter](https://toniwahrstaetter.com/) published a [post](https://x.com/nero_eth/status/2007002188199973039) revisiting [Is it worth using MEV-Boost?](https://ethresear.ch/t/is-it-worth-using-mev-boost/19753) with new data, finding that blocks from MEV-Boost still have 3-4 times higher rewards compared to locally built blocks. - [Ethereum Foundation](https://ethereum.foundation/) published a [thread](https://x.com/ethereum/status/2008958120035283285) highlighting the successful BPO2 upgrade on mainnet, increasing the number of blobs per block to target 14 and max at 21. - [Post](https://x.com/ralexstokes/status/2008707458563535022) by [Alex Stokes](https://stokes.io/) # Talks & Discussions - [Defi Today](https://defi-today.xyz/): [Enhancing Liquidity through RFQs and AMMs](https://youtu.be/tpjuOJOQydg?si=ZDXVcMFgkhbEA_A9) with [Danning Sui](https://x.com/sui414), [Nicolas Baum](https://x.com/keith_emerson), [Nikita Ovchinnik](https://x.com/NovaOvchinnik), and [Kenneth Ng](https://x.com/nkennethk) discussed how RFQ systems and AMMs interact to improve liquidity for users. - [Post](https://x.com/ethconomics/status/2008979489435603257) by [Defi Today](https://defi-today.xyz/) - [All Core Devs - Execution (ACDE) #227](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B03r5t03bU) hosted by [Ansgar Dietrichs](https://twitter.com/adietrichs) covered [ACD process updates](https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1854#issuecomment-3708564165) and discussed [Glamsterdam scoping](https://notes.ethereum.org/@ansgar/glamsterdam-el-pfi-eips). - [Agenda](https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1854) by [nixo.eth](https://x.com/nixorokish/) - [Notes](https://etherworld.co/highlights-from-the-all-core-developers-execution-acde-call-227/) by [Yash Kamal Chaturvedi](https://x.com/YashKamalChatu1) # Other - [Contender v0.7.0](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/releases/tag/v0.7.0) by [Flashbots](https://www.flashbots.net/) introduces [async cache processing](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/396), [campaigns](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/389) to run multiple scenarios in parallel, [manual gas price override](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/400), and more. - [Post](https://x.com/zeroXbrock/status/2008582710957322411) by @brock - [bids.pics](https://bids.pics/) by [Toni Wahrstätter](https://toniwahrstaetter.com/) is a live view of block builders bidding in the MEV-Boost auction. - [Post](https://x.com/nero_eth/status/2008855572590760381?s=46&t=bwfc-DbyfIS2TcIVQ-U_Fw) by[Toni Wahrstätter](https://toniwahrstaetter.com/) - [xof.pics](https://xof.pics/) by [Toni Wahrstätter](https://toniwahrstaetter.com/) is a block explorer that categorizes transactions based on whether they were broadcast to the public mempool, or sent as private orderflow. - [Post](https://x.com/nero_eth/status/2008855572590760381?s=46&t=bwfc-DbyfIS2TcIVQ-U_Fw) by [Toni Wahrstätter](https://toniwahrstaetter.com/) - [ePBS Fork Choice Payload Extension and Reorgs](https://hackmd.io/@tchain/epbs-fc-reorgs-payload-ext) by [Terence Tsao](https://twitter.com/terencechain) outlines how the [ePBS](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7732) fork choice rule is influenced by execution payload status, proposer boost behavior, and reorg interactions. - [Post](https://x.com/terencechain/status/2008198330309124341) by [Terence Tsao](https://twitter.com/terencechain) * * * ✉ [**Sign up here**](https://flashbots.net/the-mev-letter) if you’d like to get The MEV Letter straight to your inbox! 🔮 [Explore previous editions via The MEV Letter explorer](https://collective.flashbots.net/t/explorer/100) ⚡ [Join Flashbots](https://www.flashbots.net/jobs)