ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Summary: In this episode, Christine D. Kim and Nixo Rokish chat with Mike Neuder, a PhD student at Princeton studying blockchain design and economics. Together, they discuss the design behind enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS), one of the main features that will be activated on Ethereum through the Glamsterdam upgrade. Mike argues for understanding ePBS through the lens of game theory and the hidden incentives that may drive how MEV actors interact with the feature.
This episode was recorded on October 6, 2026.
Timestamps:
(00:29) Introducing Mike Neuder, a PhD student at Princeton
(3:47) Glamsterdam testing updates
(6:09) How block proposals work today
(10:27) How ePBS changes things
(17:41) Why trusted payments were built into ePBS
(19:20) The role of relays in ePBS
(25:21) The role of MEV-Boost in ePBS
(31:24) Why the focus of ePBS shifted to scalability
(34:57) The free option problem in ePBS
(55:08) What core devs need to know about ePBS
(56:46) What MEV stakeholders need to know about ePBS
(59:51) Was ePBS worth its complexity?
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