MEV (Maximal Extractable Value)
In DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
Plain English
Extra profit that block producers can make by reordering, including, or excluding transactions in a block. Like a cashier who can see pending orders and places their own order first to get better prices. Can be unfair to regular users but also provides some network benefits.
Technical
Economic value extracted from blockchain block production beyond standard fees and block rewards. MEV strategies include: arbitrage between DEXs, liquidation opportunities, sandwich attacks on large trades, and front-running. While MEV can improve market efficiency, it can also create negative externalities for users. Solana’s design aims to minimize harmful MEV through parallel processing.