1/ 📜 New research just dropped on one of the darkest corners of MEV: CEX-DEX arbitrage. @William33203632 @sui414 @soispoke @malleshpai mapped 7.2M trades and $233.8M in extracted value, using a custom Dune dataset. Here’s what they found 🧵

2/ CEX-DEX arbitrage exploits price gaps between centralized and decentralized exchanges. It accounts for <2% of blockspace, but >15% of block value on Ethereum. That’s a massive slice of MEV most users never see.

3/ From Aug 2023 to Mar 2025, 19 searchers extracted $233.8M across $266B+ in volume.

4/ And the market is highly centralized. The top 3 searchers—Wintermute, SCP, and Kayle—captured ~75% of total extracted value.

5/ Kayle’s rise was dramatic. A minor player until mid-2024, Kayle suddenly exploded in volume, coinciding with Titan’s surge as a builder. Statistical analysis shows a tight feedback loop: Titan wins blocks → Kayle arbs → Titan grows → repeat

6/ Revenue ≠ Profit • Neutral searchers: route trades across multiple builders, bid competitively, and keep more upside. • Exclusive/integrated searchers: share the bulk of revenue with their builder, securing inclusion at the cost of margin.

7/ Wintermute/rsync isn't dying, just evolving. While rsync’s builder share fell below 5%, Wintermute’s profit margin rebounded by targeting only the most profitable trades. They now profit more as a searcher than as a builder.

8/ This research gives us the clearest view yet of the MEV supply chain economics: ✅ Who’s extracting value ✅ Who’s keeping profit ✅ How exclusivity shapes Ethereum’s builder landscape Explore all charts on Dune ⬇️