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The Monad Foundation is aware that several ecosystem teams are building extra-protocol systems that enable participants to express transaction ordering preferences. The Foundation recognizes that there may be some benefits to the presence of such systems, such as reducing spam and allowing participants to express ordering preferences that economically benefits stakers. At the same time, it is extremely early in the life of the public Monad network; none of these systems are battle-tested; and there is a wide variety of possible system designs with different implications on decentralization and risks to network robustness. In light of the VDP’s Objectives, the Monad Foundation has adopted the following policy:
  • Systems that centralize order flow, giving a third party power to route the order flow to the highest bidder, are counter to the objectives of the VDP. The VDP will not delegate to validators that peer with centralized order flow routers.
  • Systems that give a third party authority over block building are counter to the objectives of the VDP. The VDP will not delegate to validators that give authority to a third-party block builder.
  • Third parties might be tempted to build modified versions of the Category Labs client to facilitate integration with their systems. At this early stage in the network’s life, the VDP is not prepared to accept risks to network liveness or security that arise from validators running a modified version of the Category Labs client. Consequently, the VDP will not delegate to validators running a version of the client software modified by a third party.