Related papers: A theoretical basis for MEV
We introduce the Clockwork Finance Framework (CFF), a general purpose, formal verification framework for mechanized reasoning about the economic security properties of composed decentralized-finance (DeFi) smart contracts. CFF features…
As restaking protocols gain adoption across blockchain ecosystems, there is a need for Actively Validated Services (AVSs) to span multiple Shared Security Providers (SSPs). This leads to stake fragmentation which introduces new…
We identify a subtle security issue that impacts the design of smart contracts, because agents may themselves deploy smart contracts (side contracts). Typically, equilibria of games are analyzed in vitro, under the assumption that players…
We study optimal auction design for Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) auction markets on Ethereum. Using a dataset of 2.2 million transactions across three major orderflow providers, we establish three empirical regularities: extracted values…
Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies are gaining unprecedented popularity and understanding. Meanwhile, Ethereum is gaining a significant popularity in the blockchain community, mainly due to the fact that it is designed in a way that enables…
Extreme value theory (EVT) provides an elegant mathematical tool for the statistical analysis of rare events. When data are collected from multiple population subgroups, because some subgroups may have less data available for extreme value…
Blockchain is a distributed ledger, which is protected against malicious modifications by means of cryptographic tools, e.g. digital signatures and hash functions. One of the most prominent applications of blockchains is cryptocurrencies,…
Most blockchain platforms from Ethereum onwards render smart contracts as stateful reactive objects that update their state and transfer crypto-assets in response to transactions. A drawback of this design is that when users submit a…
Smart contracts extended blockchain functionality beyond simple transactions, powering complex applications like decentralized finance (DeFi). However, this complexity introduces serious security challenges, including price manipulation and…
In the realm of smart contract security, transaction malice detection has been able to leverage properties of transaction traces to identify hacks with high accuracy. However, these methods cannot be applied in real-time to revert malicious…
EMV is the global standard for smart card payments and its NFC-based version, EMV contactless, is widely used, also for mobile payments. In this systematization of knowledge, we examine attacks on the EMV contactless protocol. We provide a…
Blockchain systems often rely on rationality assumptions for their security, expecting that nodes are motivated to maximize their profits. These systems thus design their protocols to incentivize nodes to execute the honest protocol but…
We propose a model suggesting that honest-but-rational consensus participants may play timing games, and strategically delay their block proposal to optimize MEV capture, while still ensuring the proposal's timely inclusion in the canonical…
Blockchains face inherent limitations when communicating outside their own ecosystem, largely due to the Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) 3f+1 security model. Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) are a promising mitigation because they allow…
Model extraction (ME) attacks represent one major threat to Machine-Learning-as-a-Service (MLaaS) platforms by ``stealing'' the functionality of confidential machine-learning models through querying black-box APIs. Over seven years have…
The asset trading volume on blockchain-based exchanges (DEX) increased substantially since the advent of Automated Market Makers (AMM). Yet, AMMs and their forks compete on the same blockchain, incurring unnecessary network and block-space…
The use of blockchains for automated and adversarial trading has become commonplace. However, due to the transparent nature of blockchains, an adversary is able to observe any pending, not-yet-mined transactions, along with their execution…
We introduce the MoveEVM Weakness Classification (MWC) system -- a dedicated vulnerability taxonomy for smart contracts built with Move and executed in EVM-compatible environments. While Move was originally designed to prevent common…
Extreme value theory (EVT) is well suited to model extreme events, such as floods, heatwaves, or mechanical failures, which is required for reliability assessment of systems across multiple domains for risk management and loss prevention.…
Block space on the blockchain is scarce and must be allocated efficiently through block building. However, Ethereum's current block-building ecosystem, MEV-Boost, has become highly centralized due to integration, which distorts competition,…