How Batched Threshold Encryption could end extractive MEV and make DeFi fair again

Extractive Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) exploits the public visibility of transactions in the mempool before confirmation, leading to practices like frontrunning and sandwich attacks. To combat this, encrypted mempool schemes using threshold encryption (TE) were proposed, where multiple servers collaboratively decrypt data. However, standard TE struggles with scalability due to high server communication load from decrypting each transaction individually.

Batched Threshold Encryption (BTE) addresses this by allowing servers to release a single, constant-sized decryption share to unlock an entire batch of transactions simultaneously, significantly reducing communication overhead. Early BTE versions, like one using KZG commitments, improved efficiency but required frequent system reinitialization and were computationally intensive. Subsequent upgrades, such as the one-time setup BTE and BEAT-MEV, introduced single initial setup ceremonies, making the scheme more practical and epochless.

Further advancements, like Silent Batched Threshold Encryption (SBTE) in BEAST-MEV, removed interactive setup entirely, relying on non-interactive universal setups and parallel processing to decrypt large batches quickly. BTE offers potential integration with existing MEV mitigation tools like batch auctions and layer-2 rollups, promising trustless ordering and end-to-end transaction privacy, with Shutter Network being a key candidate for early adoption.

(Source：Cointelegraph)