The Ethereum Foundation declares MEV the main front of the cyberpunk war: a new mandate plan
Ethereum Foundation Interim Co-Executive Director Bastian Aue has presented an ambitious plan for implementing the foundation's mandate, in which Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) is described not merely as a technical problem, but as "the next major front in the cypherpunk war." This document, published in response to recent statements by Vitalik Buterin, fundamentally rethinks the organization's priorities.
Aue emphasizes that combating toxic MEV is the core work of the Ethereum Foundation, not a secondary topic of market infrastructure. The foundation intends to strengthen Ethereum as an open infrastructure for user self-sovereignty, focusing on censorship resistance, open source code, privacy, and security. The organization clearly distances itself from short-term speculators and the abandonment of fundamental properties that distinguish Ethereum from permissioned financial systems.
Five Key Risks to Network Neutrality
Aue listed specific threats that, in his assessment, could undermine Ethereum's neutrality:
- Privileged access to the user transaction order flow;
- Cartelization of block builders;
- Dependence on trusted relays;
- Non-transparent transaction routing;
- Narrow supply chain for validators.
According to him, a formally open network can effectively become an intermediary network if users, at the moment of value transfer, depend on a limited number of infrastructure participants.
Limitations of Encrypted Mempools and Point Solutions
Aue warns that individual technical solutions, such as encrypted mempools, may create new risks. They reduce transparency before transaction execution, but simultaneously shift the advantage to new privileged participants, including operators of specialized hardware. Limitations of FOCIL and ePBS are also noted: FOCIL may enhance censorship resistance but create new forms of inter-block MEV, while ePBS should not entrench the builder economy in a way that hinders more long-term solutions.
Privacy, Payment in ETH, and Staking
The second major topic is privacy. Aue advocates for a model where unconditional confidentiality first becomes available at the base layer, with selective disclosure mechanisms added on top. He states: "A public ledger without serious privacy settings by default becomes a surveillance infrastructure with settlement guarantees."
The Ethereum Foundation will gradually shift employee payments and core financial relationships toward ETH and "Ethereum-native" stablecoins to test the infrastructure on itself. Staking concentration is viewed as an infrastructural risk to the protocol, not merely a yield product.
My expert commentary: This plan is a clear signal to the market: the EF is finally moving from abstract values to concrete technical and economic protection mechanisms. MEV is no longer a "side effect" — it is becoming a central threat, and recognition of this fact at the foundation's leadership level could fundamentally change the development direction of the entire Ethereum ecosystem.