MEV Robots Earn $233.8 Million in CEX-DEX Arbitrage Competition is Intense

btccSquare News: The latest research shows that MEV (Miner Extractable Value) robots have obtained a total profit of $233.8 million from centralized and decentralized exchange arbitrage over 19 months. Data on 19 top arbitrageurs indicates a total trading volume of $241 billion, but after paying $143.7 million to block builders, the net profit is only $90.1 million. The profit window is astonishingly short - excess returns for top traders rapidly decay within 0.5-2 seconds. The industry shows high concentration, echoing trends in the block builder market. Despite substantial profits, marginal profits are gradually shrinking year by year as builder competition intensifies. Robots are now deeply embedded in the block building process, forming complex incentive structures. Robots closely related to builders show seemingly thin surface profits, suggesting value transfer to associated parties. Paradoxically, smaller builders can provide higher effective profit rates for collaborative arbitrageurs. Even for top builders, profitability remains razor-thin - proving the hyper-competitive nature of blockchain infrastructure. The data highlights that MEV extraction has evolved into an institutionalized component of the crypto market microstructure.