Ethereum Seeks to Shield Transactions from Predatory Trading Bots

Ethereum developers are exploring ways to prevent predatory trading bots from exploiting pending transactions on the public mempool.

The problem arises from Ethereum's transparent waiting room, where automated traders can spot profitable orders and place their own transactions around them, extracting value from users before a trade settles.

This practice has become most closely associated with sandwich attacks, which involve bots buying the same asset first to move the price against the user, then selling immediately after the victim's trade executes at the worse price.

Researchers are scheduled to discuss proposals designed to conceal transaction contents until their position in a block has already been committed. One leading proposal is EIP-8184, known as LUCID, which would require block builders to commit to sealed transactions containing a chargeable ticket and encrypted payload without knowing what the transaction does.