Flashbots Warning: MEV Becomes the Biggest Bottleneck for Blockchain Scalability

Research organization Flashbots warned in a recent report that Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) has become a major bottleneck for blockchain scalability. MEV bots generate a large amount of junk transactions, occupying block space faster than network expansion, almost offsetting recent throughput breakthroughs.

Flashbots found that junk bots consumed over 50% of gas on the OP-Stack's Rollup but only paid less than 10% of the total fees, resulting in increased basic transaction costs for ordinary users. On Coinbase's Base network, just two bots accounted for over 80% of the junk transactions and consumed an additional 11 million gas/second between November 2024 and February 2025—equivalent to the capacity of three Ethereum mainnets.

This issue is not limited to Ethereum's layer two networks. On Solana, MEV bots occupied about 40% of block space. Flashbots indicated that data suggests the real limit to blockchain scalability is not technical bandwidth, but economic congestion.

To address this issue, Flashbots proposed a two-stage design to replace gas-based bidding mechanisms: MEV bots would bid off-chain in dedicated auctions, using a trusted execution environment to protect users from front-running attacks. This model could alleviate congestion, reduce fees, and free up space for new applications.