MEV
Also: Maximal Extractable Value · Miner Extractable Value
The value a block producer can capture by choosing which transactions to include and in what order, over and above fees and issuance.
Whoever assembles a block decides the sequence of transactions in it. That ordering has value: a trade placed just before a large known order profits from the price it causes, and the right to place it belongs to whoever builds the block.
The distribution is what matters
MEV is not spread evenly across blocks. Ethereum Foundation data for the first half of 2026 puts the top 0.1% of slots at roughly a quarter of all extractable value, concentrated in blocks worth hundreds of ETH. Almost every slot is worth very little, and a handful are worth a great deal.
That skew is why settlement mechanics get so much design attention. A system where value is evenly spread tolerates a sloppy payment path; a system where one slot in a thousand carries a quarter of the money does not, because that is exactly the slot somebody will test.