New Progress in Ethereum Block Construction Research: Exploring Longer Participation and Efficiency Improvement

Recently, the Ethereum market has shown a volatile trend, with prices slightly declining and trading volume decreasing. Technical indicators suggest that Ether may be in an oversold state, indicating that the market may adjust.

On August 7, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik shared the latest research results on Ethereum block construction on social media. He pointed out that the industry widely agrees that having multiple participants contribute transactions that must be included in a block is a good direction. However, there is still controversy about how to avoid the "last mover" problem. Vitalik believes that the topic of block construction is approaching a breakthrough. Additionally, he mentioned a new design scheme called Braid.

Key Concept Analysis

Block construction

Block construction is the process of forming new blocks in a blockchain, involving the verification and packaging of transactions, and adding them to the irreversible sequence of the blockchain. This process is crucial for the operational speed, scalability, and security of the blockchain network.

longer participation in transaction contribution

Multi-Party Contribution to Transactions (MPCT) means allowing multiple participants to contribute transactions to the Block. This approach helps enhance the decentralization and security of the blockchain while improving transaction processing efficiency and network stability.

Compared to traditional methods, MPCT has the following advantages:

1. Enhance decentralization and security
2. Improve transaction processing efficiency
3. Enhance fairness and inclusivity

"Last Actor" issue

"Last actor" refers to nodes or participants who attempt to add transactions at the last moment when a block is about to be formed or has already been formed. These participants may face a highly competitive environment, where their transactions may be delayed in confirmation or excluded from the new block.

Braid design

Braid is a new blockchain design scheme that operates multiple Ethereum consensus instances simultaneously as its core concept. This approach aims to significantly enhance network efficiency and throughput, which could have a substantial impact on the future development of Ethereum.

The core concept of the Braid design is to implement multiple parallel running block proposers on the Ethereum network. This design aims to enhance network performance and address congestion and latency issues that may arise during high transaction volumes.

MEV Issues and Solutions

Miner Extractable Value (MEV) refers to the ability of miners or validators to gain additional profits by reordering transactions within a block. This practice can lead to unfair transaction processing, network congestion, and increased gas fees.

The negative impacts of MEV include:

• Network congestion
• Fees rise
• Fairness issues

Regarding the MEV issue, Vitalik proposed the following solutions:

1. MEV Isolation
2. MEV Minimization
3. Included List
4. Standardized Node Requirements

The concept of MPCT has a positive effect on alleviating the MEV problem:

1. Reduce the possibility of transaction reordering.
2. Enhance Trading Predictability
3. Promote fairness and reduce network congestion

Overall, MPCT, as a technical means, can alleviate the challenges brought by MEV to a certain extent. However, this is not the ultimate solution to MEV, and other technologies and community consensus still need to be considered comprehensively. Vitalik's research provides some directions for the future development of Ethereum, but the actual implementation effects remain to be seen.