Too Long; Didn't Read
Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) is responsible for up to $666 million in extracted value from the Ethereum Network since January 1st 2020. It is when miners/validators/bots determine the order of when transactions are processed on the blockchain and exploit that power to their advantage. MeV exploits have become a very well-established income stream for bad actors, miners, and validators. The process looks like this: MEV searchers sift through the public mempool looking for MEV opportunities. Once a profitable opportunity is identified, they send a bribe to miners to process first.