Ethereum

Can cryptography solve the problem of MEV? 

One approach is an encrypted mempool, where users broadcast encrypted transactions that are only revealed after they are sequenced. 

Hence, a consensus protocol would have to commit to a transaction ordering blindly, seemingly preventing the ability to take advantage of MEV opportunities during the ordering process.
Unfortunately, for both practical and theoretical reasons, we don’t see encrypted mempools providing a universal solution to MEV. 

We outline the difficulties and explore how encrypted mempools might be designed: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/limits-encrypted-mempools/

Glad to see more serious discussion on how to prevent malicious MEV (frontrunning, sandwich attacks). The problem has been ignored and un-solved for far too long!

Head of Commercial at brainbot | Working on @shutter & @paddlebattle

MEV protection is crucial for DeFi's growth. Projects like Flashbots are making progress, but we need more solutions at the protocol level to safeguard users from predatory MEV tactics.