Agnostic Relay Takes Over Spot 1 and Delivers Most Blocks

Four month ago we released the "Agnostic Relay" with the goal to reduce censorship on Ethereum.
Today Agnostic took over spot 1 and delivered the most blocks!
🧵 how we became part of the game but how we also think the game is broken and it needs to change fundamentally! https://t.co/9nn3lF3UqJ pic.twitter.com/iUfzco8VtM

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

Lets start with a quick reminder: every 12 sec it is the turn of a specific validator to produce the next block. They can either do that locally ("vanilla block") or use mev-boost and query different relays to give them the best block that will likely have a larger payout. pic.twitter.com/ZG7FrgB4H6

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

When we decided to join only very few relays existed and the most important ones had a policies to never deliver a block that would contain transactions that touched specific addresses. Up to 80% of the blocks were effected threatening the neutrality of Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/XiT4MchzFF

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

With us and @ultrasoundmoney launching our relays end of November, on the surface that situation has improved dramatically and I once again want to thank Flashbots for their support launching the Relay. However - we still see 2 major issues with the current situation:

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

Issues:
1) Fragility of censorship resistance
2) Value distribution at the cost of user

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

Lets start with 1)
The truth is, the situation can flip immediately with just 3 entities either colluding or simply coming to a different legal conclusion than right now:https://t.co/esB3CEdUEI

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

This is why more systemic solutions are necessary for credible neutrality. On @gnosischain we have deliberately not build MEV-boost infrastructure and instead are working first with @project_shutter on a solution to include transactions in the chain while they are sill encrypted.

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

We are building it as a "opt-in" solution for validators that could be used on Ethereum as well and could even eventually become part of the core protocol of both chains.https://t.co/UjaZpXmBAN

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

Now to issue 2) (Value distribution)
In the last week blocks delivered via Agnostic payed >4000 ETH to validators and this is the way to compete as a relay: deliver the block with the highest payout! Still, our goal is to have a competitive relay but actually REDUCE that number!

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

I applaude the @bloXrouteLabs effort of an "Ethical" relay that prohibits MEV extraction at the direct cost of user (frontrunning/ sandwiching) but ultimately if we can protect user with code and not goodwill of validators the system will be much stronger.

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

At Gnosis we have always worked on solutions that intended to protect users going back all the way to DutchX, Gnosis Protocol, Gnosis Auction eventually resulting in the spin-out of @CoWSwap, a now leading solution for users to get the best price MEV protected.

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

Now, with a couple of partners, we are going the next step and are offering soon a similar solution for any Ethereum transaction (not just a direct token swap like on CoWswap). The goal is the same: give more value to the user!

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023

The concept is outlined here: https://t.co/6GsGgwP5yL
If you are: a wallet, a RPC endpoint, a builder or a searcher you can DM me already for early access! For everyone else: more to come very soon!

— Martin Köppelmann 🇺🇦 (@koeppelmann) March 17, 2023