mev-toolkit/random-notes

Notes on MEV

How the blockchain works 101

• Each block in the blockchain contains a list of transactions in a particular order, enconding a sequence of updates to the blockchain sate (world state).
• Anyone can broadcast a transaction to the network, which means that the transaction is public. A broadcast is a request. In order for that request to be carried out, someone must place the transaction in a block and add the block to the blockchain.
• Anyone can listen for transactions being broadcast and gather them into a list. In order to a turn a list into a block, it needs to be validated. Validation creats a mathematical (cryptographic) proof that the state changes are consistent.
• In a proof-of-work blockchain, block producers are miners. In a proof-of-stake blockchain, they are validators.
• The act of converting a transaction into a block is called settlement. The process of block production is called settlement layer or consensus layer.