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The release is the first step towards Flashbots’ SUAVE vision.
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A few months ago, I wrote about Flashbot’s Single Unifying Auctions for Value Expression(SUAVE), a new architecture that addresses some of the important challenges in the maximal extractable value(MEV) space. Conceptually, SUAVE introduces a new architecture based on a plug-and-play mempool and decentralized block builder. Steadily, Flashbots has been getting ready for Centauri, the first major release towards the SUAVE vision. Recently, they unveiled some details about the Centauri release which I would like to explore in more details.
To enable the Centauri release, Flashbots focus on two key components:
1. The MEVM chain.
2. The Centauri release itself.
To understand Flashbots’ SUAVE, it might be good to approach it from the use case angle. SUAVE has set its focus on a range of utilization scenarios tied to the MEV supply chain, encompassing:
· Deployments necessitating confidential data access, such as auctions and block construction.
· Situations mandating synchronized operations within block intervals, as seen in block construction, trade pathing, and execution.
· Applications reliant on real-time off-chain data, like trading strategies predicated on centralized exchange valuations or transactions contingent on prior transactions.
· Operations deemed impractical to conduct on-chain due to resource-intensive computations, for instance, block construction.
SUAVE constitutes a decentralized framework meticulously crafted to facilitate the development of these applications, each tailored to their requisite attributes: low latency, confidentiality, verifiable computation, and composability. This framework offers the developers within the existing MEV supply chain an avenue to restructure their applications as intelligent contracts on SUAVE, enabling them to harness its decentralized nature and verifiable computation capacities. Central to this framework is the MEVM, which presents a straightforward, adaptable, and familiar interface for developers — the EVM, along with its accompanying toolset (solidity, foundry, etc.).
MEVM
The MEVM, a potent adaptation of the EVM with newly integrated precompiles catering to MEV use cases, is an innovation that merits attention. Through the MEVM, developers are empowered to encode MEV applications as intelligent contracts, all within a flexible, expressive programming milieu, akin to the conventional EVM. The MEVM’s aspiration lies in rendering every component of the MEV supply chain as a precompile, effectively transforming any existing centralized MEV infrastructure into a smart contract on a decentralized blockchain. A cursory overview of the MEVM and its alignment with SUAVE’s objectives will precede an illustrative code example, accompanied by the reference architecture of SUAVE.
The MEVM seamlessly advances several of Flashbots’ overarching objectives. By substantially lowering the hurdles to engender novel MEV applications, it fosters heightened competition across diverse mechanisms. This, in turn, envisions a proliferation of varied block construction paradigms (e.g., PROF) and orderflow auction strategies (e.g., MEVBlocker) on SUAVE. This culture of unbridled innovation holds the promise of enhancing end-user outcomes and refining block proposals. The MEVM’s comprehensive expressiveness empowers the utilization of every facet within the MEV supply chain within smart contracts. Ultimately, it plays a pivotal role in decentralizing the MEV supply chain, paving the way for centralized infrastructure entities (builders, relays, centralized RFQ routing, etc.) to be encoded as smart contracts on a decentralized blockchain.
Centauri
Centauri can be seen as the first release of the SUAVE Devnet , scheduled fro the forthcoming quarter of this year (2023), introducing the initial rendition of the MEVM. The establishment of this developmental network serves the purpose of accommodating community-driven experimentation and rigorous stress testing, preluding the imminent mainnet launch as an integral facet of the ensuing SUAVE Andromeda release.
In a macroscopic perspective, the preliminary Centauri release is underpinned by the subsequent architectural framework:
Image Credit: Flashbots
The following components are part of the architecture:
· Execution Node: This node functions as a purveyor of credible and confidential off-chain computation, extendable to smart contracts within SUAVE via specialized precompiles. Initially, the responsibility of running an execution node will be assumed by Flashbots or an alternate third-party entity. In due course, the landscape envisions the incorporation of trusted execution environments and cryptographic mechanisms, thereby dispensing with the reliance on centralized entities.
· Confidential Data Repository: This designated repository serves as a repository for safeguarding confidential data, earmarked for utilization within execution nodes.
· Bids: Representing a novel transaction type within SUAVE, bids encompass confidential data that users seek to be executed, along with an index of contracts granted permission to interact with the said confidential data.
· SUAVE Chain: An adapted EVM chain, thoughtfully tailored with MEV-specific precompiles, catering to concurrent credible off-chain execution enabled by execution nodes. This chain assumes the role of a conduit for smart contract deployments and cooperative interactions among stakeholders. In the days ahead, the chain’s scope will extend to encompass fund escrow for payment preferences, oracle updates, and data availability.
From the role perspective, Centauri includes the following participants:
1. Developers: These architects of innovation contribute to the creation of smart contracts atop the SUAVE Chain, delineating the regulations underpinning MEV applications like Order Flow Auctions (OFAs) and block construction. This endeavor empowers developers with a streamlined and efficient avenue for crafting applications, coupled with access to user order flow that would otherwise remain inaccessible.
2. Users: Participants within this category engage in the submission of bids to SUAVE. Each bid encapsulates confidential data alongside an array of contracts, affording the user authority to interact with their respective bids. Confidential data finds its abode within an off-chain confidential data repository. Users stand to benefit from SUAVE’s market of competitive mechanisms, vying to deliver optimal execution. Moreover, this ecosystem allows users to engage with MEV applications sans the need to navigate RPC switches as is customary.
3. Executors: Tasked with the execution of bids, Executors operate via intelligent contracts that prescribe the permissible interactions with users’ confidential data. This engagement can involve employing a backrun contract to facilitate arbitrage transactions aligned with users’ preferences. Executors reap dividends through bid execution, alongside the strategic leverage of order flow access that might otherwise remain elusive.
4. Proposers: This contingent monitors SUAVE for fully-fledged blocks, deriving value from their access to invaluable blocks within the system.
The Centauri release will be the first step towards the SUAVE release. This release is definitely going to push the frontiers of the MEV space.
A Deep Dive Into Flashbot’s SUAVE Centauri, the First Implementation of the New Vision for MEV was originally published in IntoTheBlock on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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