Mechanims

This section describes the system-level mechanisms used to constrain MEV behavior by reducing execution uncertainty.

Rather than introducing new theory, it outlines the architectural control surfaces that determine how transactions are included, ordered, and executed under contention.

Execution Proximity

Execution proximity describes how close decision-making occurs to actual block execution.

As the distance between auction resolution and execution decreases, uncertainty is reduced and outcomes become more deterministic. When decisions are made far from execution, participants must reason in terms of expected value rather than price.

Execution proximity is therefore an architectural property, not a tunable parameter.

Inclusion and Ordering

Inclusion determines whether a transaction is executed at all. Ordering determines the relative position of executed transactions.

Coupling these concerns increases execution risk, while separating them allows systems to reason explicitly about failure and priority. Clear inclusion semantics are required for predictable auction outcomes.

Failure Domains

Execution failure arises from multiple independent domains, including state contention, cross-program invocations, and external data dependencies.

When these domains are implicit, failure probability leaks into auctions as hidden uncertainty. Explicitly modeling failure domains bounds execution risk and prevents probabilistic behavior from dominating ordering decisions.

Validator Sovereignty

Validator sovereignty defines the boundary between protocol-defined validator responsibilities and external infrastructure.

Inclusion and ordering decisions may be produced outside the validator, but the validator remains the sole actor responsible for proposing, propagating, and voting on blocks according to the protocol.

Sovereignty is preserved not by where decisions are made, but by the fact that:

  • validators are not forced to accept externally produced blocks

  • all blocks are subject to standard protocol verification

  • consensus rules and fork choice remain unchanged

External infrastructure may construct blocks, but validators retain protocol-level authority.

Summary

  • Execution proximity dominates auction behavior

  • Clear inclusion semantics reduce probabilistic outcomes

  • Explicit failure modeling bounds execution risk

  • Validator control limits externalized uncertainty

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