10. Conclusion

Through a simple gesture of turning the question of MEV from a purely economic one to a horological one with chronophysical consequences, we offer alternative architectures in addressing the issues with MEV: the discovery of MEV-time has revealed new possibilities for near immediate I/O and even time travel.

Transactions now encompass both spatial and temporal dimensions, creating a verifiable "thenchain" alongside the already existing "nowchain." This temporal distinction allows for onchain oracles, termed MEV-time Oracles, without the same trust issues associated with traditional (i.e, offchain) oracles by keeping all data interactions within the same chain's timeline.

The spatial aspect is enabled with the virtualization of the mempools, by having transactions held onchain (à la Laminator) rather than in traditional prechain mempools. This introduces advanced lifecycle management for transactions, such as with the Time Turner, transitions (which comprise transactions) can be executed based on conditions that rely on future transitions, sending return values or entire calls across from the future to the past. Solving smart transactions is far from trivial, requiring a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses both technical and governance challenges.

Building on the differences in the modes of time — temporality (past-present-future) versus timing (before-after) — is essential for designing effective time travel dynamics. Emphasizing the timing modality ensures that transactions are executed in a logically coherent sequence, respecting the causal consistency relationships between transitions/events while being able to decide transitions based on future ones.

Smart transactions pay MEV and other application specific fees to searchers/solvers and to Third Party Searchers respectively, in exchange for the search results in terms of the quality of the results. It in this specific economic sense, that the infrastructure acts as a virtual matching engine: in the way a search engine does, but one with a time machine at its core, as the search is carried out combing through the different timelines to find the best possible execution of the transactions.

Smart Transactions builds on the mevolution of Nakamoto style Timechains to Time Machines (post MEV), all verifiable and onchain.