Frontrunning in Decentralized Exchanges, Miner Extractable Value, and Consensus Instability

Explore the complex world of decentralized exchanges (DEXes) and their vulnerabilities in this 17-minute IEEE conference talk. Delve into the widespread deployment of arbitrage bots in blockchain systems and their impact on fair trading ecosystems. Examine how these bots exploit inefficiencies, engage in frontrunning, and participate in priority gas auctions (PGAs) to gain advantages. Understand the concept of miner extractable value (MEV) and its potential risks to consensus-layer security in Ethereum. Gain insights into the adaptation of traditional financial market exploitation techniques to blockchain economies and the challenges they pose to smart contract security.

Intro
The Promise of Blockchain Exchanges
Decentralized Exchanges (DEXes)
Frontrunning in action
Security by Example - When Bots Collide
Modeling - Priority Gas Auctions (PGAs)
Modeling Conclusions - PGAs
Time-bandit attacks