A detailed walkthrough of the first half of the MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) supply chain on Ethereum. Covers the four key nodes: opportunity sources (public mempool, private orderflow, MEV-Share), searcher bot strategies (arbitrage, sandwich, liquidation, JIT liquidity), flash loan providers (Aave, Uniswap, Balancer) that remove capital constraints, and Flashbots bundle construction that guarantees atomic execution order. Explains how sandwich attacks work, why flash loans are the preferred capital source for MEV, and how validator tips replace gas auctions for block inclusion priority.
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