MEV Space 6 Recap: Preconfirmations --the Quiet Revolution of Ethereum

Dissect the Promises of Preconfirmation on Block Markets, and the Future of Ethereum Infrastructure

May 07, 2025

Ethereum’s execution layer is undergoing a quiet revolution. In the sixth MEV Space, three builders at the heart of the movement— Murat Akdeniz(Primev), Drew Van der Werff (Commit Boost/Fabric), and Kevin Lepsoe (EthGas)—came together to dissect the promises and tensions of preconfirmations: validator-signed guarantees of inclusion and execution before a transaction hits the chain.

This isn’t just a latency upgrade. It’s a new market, a new coordination layer, and a redefinition of what “confirmation” even means on Ethereum.

Below are key takeaways from the discussion.

Murat: Building Fast, Fair, and Encrypted Blockspace at Primev

Introduction of MEV Commit

Murat introduced MEV Commit as a significant initiative by Primev, highlighting its presence in roughly 1% of Ethereum blocks, providing pre-confirmations with extremely low latency (approximately 40 milliseconds). He emphasized Primev’s role in pushing Ethereum toward faster and more reliable transaction confirmations, stating they’ve executed over 1,500 pre-confirmations on the Ethereum mainnet.

Historical Context of Pre-confirmations

He provided a valuable historical perspective on pre-confirmations, mentioning their roots trace back to discussions started by Satoshi Nakamoto on BitcoinTalk, who originally proposed the concept of zero-confirmation Bitcoin transactions. Murat also discussed how he and other key individuals, such as Uri from bloXroute, introduced and emphasized the necessity of pre-confirmations specifically within Ethereum’s MEV landscape, laying foundational ideas in late 2023.

Specific Use-cases for MEV Commit

Murat outlined specific use-cases where MEV Commit excels, particularly emphasizing searcher back-running and cross-domain bridging. He explained how pre-confirmations allow searchers to confidently execute trades based on known blockchain states from previous blocks. Additionally, Murat stressed that pre-confirmations reduce risks and significantly speed up bridging between Ethereum and other chains by mitigating inclusion, execution, and reorg risks.

Centralization Risks and Critique of Proposer-centric Approaches

Expressing strong concerns about centralization risks, Murat critically addressed Ethereum’s proposer-centric approaches to pre-confirmations, cautioning that these might consolidate power among sophisticated validators. He argued for a more decentralized, block-builder-first model, asserting that specialized block builders have greater capabilities, such as cross-block operations and rapid adaptations during blockchain reorgs, which traditional validators typically lack.

Unique Design Features of MEV Commit

Murat detailed the unique architectural features of MEV Commit, emphasizing two critical innovations:

Leaderless Auction: MEV Commit’s auction model has no central authority, creating strong incentives against collusion and promoting fair competition among participants.
Encrypted Mempool: Transactions remain hidden (encrypted), preventing malicious front-running and censorship, thus ensuring greater fairness and security.

Drew: Commit-Boost’s Vision for Decentralized Preconfirmation Infrastructure

Overview of Commit Boost and Fabric

Drew described Commit Boost and Fabric as public-goods initiatives aimed at supporting Ethereum’s infrastructure, specifically through the development and facilitation of pre-confirmations. He introduced these projects as critical infrastructure enabling enhanced decentralized applications (dApps) and validators to provide stronger assurances for transaction sequencing.

Historical Development of Pre-confirmations

Providing a thorough historical context, Drew explained that pre-confirmations emerged conceptually through Justin Drake’s 2013 proposal of base sequencing, a system that relies on Ethereum validators rather than centralized rollup sequencers. He illustrated the parallel with traditional systems (e.g., Visa payments as a form of pre-confirmation) to contextualize their practical significance, suggesting pre-confirmations as crucial for improving transaction finality beyond Ethereum’s traditional 12-second slot time.

Democratizing Ethereum Block Space

Drew advocated strongly for using pre-confirmations to democratize block space, stressing that they empower validators by allowing them to constrain builders and involve specialized participants. By opening the market for various specialized services (like Oracle updates and optimized transaction ordering), Commit Boost provides tools for validators to reclaim autonomy and make the Ethereum ecosystem more inclusive.

Clarification on Validator Delegation Design

He further clarified that Commit Boost was carefully designed to avoid validator centralization, emphasizing its architecture which allows validators to delegate complex tasks to specialized actors (“sophisticated actors”). Drew emphasized that while sophisticated validators might self-build blocks, Commit Boost’s broader goal is to provide a low-barrier entry for validators who prefer delegating tasks, thus maintaining decentralization and competition.

Long-term Importance of Pre-confirmations

Drew predicted the enduring relevance of pre-confirmations, explaining that even if Ethereum significantly reduces block times (to as low as 2 seconds), the blockchain will not likely reach the extremely low latencies that pre-confirmations (sub-50 milliseconds) can offer. Thus, he positioned pre-confirmations as an essential long-term component of Ethereum infrastructure, necessary for maintaining rapid and reliable transaction confirmation.

Kevin: Emergence of the Ethereum Block Futures Market

Introduction of EthGas and Block Futures

Kevin introduced EthGas as a pioneering initiative, describing it as a block space futures platform. This concept allows traders or entities to purchase Ethereum blocks well in advance, enabling innovative financial and trading strategies. He compared this functionality to traditional commodity futures markets (e.g., energy trading), thus highlighting EthGas as a bridge between DeFi innovation and traditional financial market mechanisms.

Broad Use-cases for Pre-confirmations

He elaborated on various practical use-cases, categorizing pre-confirmations as either inclusion (guaranteeing placement in a block) or execution guarantees (ensuring specific outcomes). Further, Kevin introduced advanced concepts like sequencing rights (control over transaction order within a block) and the potential for entities to trade entire blocks or parts thereof, thus creating a dynamic market for Ethereum’s block space.

Economic Implications and Market Transparency

Kevin provided insights into the economic impact and transparency that pre-confirmations could bring to Ethereum. He discussed how pre-confirmations might help price Ethereum block space more efficiently, revealing intrinsic market values. Kevin emphasized how understanding these dynamics (such as the relatively low current daily block-buying cost of approximately $300,000) might significantly inform and evolve Ethereum’s economic models.

Complex Ethical Implications: Censorship and Exclusion Lists

He thoughtfully discussed complex ethical scenarios, including the controversial but theoretically possible applications of exclusion lists—transactions that intentionally prevent competitors or specific actions from occurring. Kevin raised the nuanced ethical point that some censorship might be beneficial (e.g., preventing theft during hacks), thereby challenging the community to carefully consider guidelines and mechanisms for ethical management of Ethereum’s block space.

Unique Design of EthGas: Block Sequencing Rights and Commodity Model

Kevin detailed EthGas’s unique approach, emphasizing the platform’s functionality around buying sequencing rights and entire blocks. Blocks are conceptualized as commodities that can be purchased ahead of time, traded speculatively, or strategically managed to optimize transaction inclusion. He noted that blocks purchased can later be subdivided, allowing the block owner flexibility to include their transactions or delegate portions of block space to others, thereby adding considerable strategic depth to Ethereum block management.

Why Preconfirmation Matters

Preconfirmations aren’t just a scalability fix—they’re a rearchitecture of Ethereum’s economic engine. Whether you’re a validator, a builder, a searcher, or a protocol dev, the implications touch every layer:

New monetization paths for validators
Lower latency and certainty for traders
Programmable inclusion and execution logic
Decentralized coordination for the block supply chain

And yet, these benefits bring new risks: centralization, censorship vectors, and opaque power shifts.

This is why voices like Murat, Drew, and Kevin are crucial—not only for what they build, but for how they’re thinking about Ethereum’s incentives and values.

As Kevin put it:

“We’re all trying to make the system more efficient—but also more honest.”

Expect this topic to evolve fast. As the pectra upgrade lands and infra stabilizes, preconfirmations may soon be in every block.

Listen to the recording of this MEV Space.

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