Ethereum
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The blockchain researcher has warned that the Flashbots Mining Value Extraction (MEV) protocol censors all Ethereum transactions originating from the locked Tornado Cash mixer.
Toni Wahrstätter claims that of the 19,436 Flashbots generated blocks generated on Ethereum after the merger, not a single block contained transactions related to Tornado Cash. The expert noted that MEV protocols such as Blocknative, Eden Network, Bloxroute, and Manifold still relay blocks that have Tornado Cash transactions in them.
According to him, this contradicts the statements of Blocknative, Eden Network and BloXroute Regulated that they are complying with the authorities’ sanctions against Tornado Cash. Web3 Labrys, which launched a site that tracks Ethereum block compatibility, expressed concern about the potential for censorship in Ethereum PoS:
“It is alarming to see how quickly and unchecked censorship has grown since the Ethereum merger, and if community awareness is not raised, things will get much worse as more validators use MEV.”
It is likely that the MEV Flashbots protocol strives to comply with regulatory requirements and therefore censors Tornado Cash transactions by default. The observed censorship of the mixer is consistent with the statement made by the Flashbots protocol team that they intend to filter all transactions subject to government sanction in the future.
Miner extractacle value (MEV) is the profit that a miner receives for changing the order of transactions within the block he creates in Ethereum.
In June, the Dutch Financial Police Department (FIOD), responsible for economic crimes (Financial Advanced Cyber Team, FACT), launched an investigation into the Tornado Cash mixer. FACT suspects that the service was regularly used by criminal groups, including those associated with North Korea. After that, the US authorities blocked the mixer.
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