Consensus 2025
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CoinDesk Podcast Network

UNCHAINED: Why the DOJ Doesn’t Want These MEV Exploiters to Get Away With It

Evan Zinaman breaks down why the government’s indictment of the Bueno brothers for their $25 million MEV exploitation is a “vanilla fraud,” but still may shed light on potential compliance considerations for block-building participants.

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In this episode, Evan Zinaman, founder and principal at Trailbreak, delves into the first-of-its-kind case of the Bueno brothers, who face Department of Justice charges for exploiting Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) in a cryptocurrency scheme. Accused of manipulating transaction ordering to create an arbitrage opportunity, the brothers are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud as well as wire fraud itself.

Zinaman explores the broader implications of MEV exploitation and addresses critics who say that the MEV exploiters just got a taste of their own medicine, and the need for block-building participants to consider their legal and compliance responsibilities.

Show highlights:

  • What the charges against the Bueno brothers are about
  • How block building works on Ethereum and how the relay was manipulated by the Bueno brothers
  • The different types of MEV and which ones are acceptable
  • Why these charges could be seen as a "vanilla fraud," according to Evan
  • Whether the benefits of MEV outweigh the cons of it
  • The lack of terms of service in the MEV space
  • How the regulators' attention to the space has changed over time

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com.

First Bits + Bips episode: Bits + Bips: Does Macroeconomics Point to a Potential Crypto Supercycle?

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Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.

HOST

Laura Shin

Laura Shin is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (Public Affairs, 2022). Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 15 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum.

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors from Stanford University and has a master of arts from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She lives in New York City.

Laura Shin