{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,3]],"date-time":"2025-12-03T18:14:10Z","timestamp":1764785650372,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,12]],"date-time":"2025-06-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1749686400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Major Key Project of PCL","award":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"]}]},{"name":"Shenzhen Science and Technology Program","award":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"National Key R&amp;D Program of China","award":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PCL2024A05","KJZD20231023094701003","62372137","U2268202","62176135","2023YFC3304802"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BDCC"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Decentralized blockchains have grown into massive and Internet-scale ecosystems, collectively securing hundreds of billions of dollars in value. The complex interplay of technology and economic incentives within blockchain systems creates a delicate balance that is susceptible to significant shifts even from minor changes. This paper underscores the importance of conducting thorough, data-driven studies to monitor and understand the impacts of significant shifts in blockchain systems, particularly focusing on Ethereum\u2019s groundbreaking builder\u2013proposer separation (PBS) as a pivotal innovation reshaping the ecosystem. PBS revolutionizes Ethereum\u2019s block production, entrusting builders with block construction and proposers with validation via blockchain consensus, with significant impacts on Ethereum decentralization, fairness, and security. Our empirical study reveals key insights, including the following: (a) A substantial 261% increase in proposer revenue underscores the effectiveness of PBS in promoting widespread adoption, significantly enhancing block rewards and proposer incomes. (b) The small profits garnered by builders, comprising only a 3.5% share of block rewards, raise concerns that the security assumptions based on builder reputation may introduce new threats to the system. (c) PBS promotes a more equitable distribution of resources among network participants by reducing proposer centralization and preventing centralization trends among builders and relays, thereby significantly enhancing fairness and decentralization in the Ethereum ecosystem. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of Ethereum PBS adoption, exploring its effects on revenue redistribution among various participants and highlighting its implications for the Ethereum ecosystem\u2019s decentralization.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bdcc9060156","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,12]],"date-time":"2025-06-12T07:44:23Z","timestamp":1749714263000},"page":"156","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["An Empirical Study of Proposer\u2013Builder Separation (PBS) Effects on the Ethereum Ecosystem"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-1627-5811","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Liyi","family":"Zeng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of New Networks, Pengcheng Laboratory, Shenzhen 518000, China"}]},{"given":"Zihao","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100190, China"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100190, China"}]},{"given":"Zhaoquan","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of New Networks, Pengcheng Laboratory, Shenzhen 518000, China"},{"name":"School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen 518000, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"5","article-title":"Ethereum white paper","volume":"1","author":"Buterin","year":"2013","journal-title":"GitHub Repos."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2020, June 11). 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