{"id":60863,"date":"2026-06-21T22:49:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T14:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/?p=60863"},"modified":"2026-06-21T23:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T15:05:26","slug":"chapter-5-the-priority-fee-war-the-front-running-fencer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-5-the-priority-fee-war-the-front-running-fencer\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 5: The Priority Fee War &#8211; The Front-Running Fencer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Front-Running-Fencer-Chapter-5-The-Priority-Fee-War-500x333.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Front-Running-Fencer-Chapter-5-The-Priority-Fee-War-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Front-Running-Fencer-Chapter-5-The-Priority-Fee-War-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Front-Running-Fencer-Chapter-5-The-Priority-Fee-War-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Front-Running-Fencer-Chapter-5-The-Priority-Fee-War.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The validator dashboard glowed on Nia\u2019s monitor like a patient in critical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse had seen the dashboard before, during his first visit to the apartment, but he hadn\u2019t really&nbsp;<em>looked<\/em>&nbsp;at it. Now, with the afternoon light filtering through the blinds and the hum of the three mini computers filling the room, he studied every number, every graph, every colored line that told the story of Nia and her brother\u2019s validator pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t a happy story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is us,\u201d Nia said, pointing to a line labeled&nbsp;<em>Pool Revenue (Weekly)<\/em>. The line looked like a seismograph during an earthquake\u2014sharp peaks and deep valleys, but over time, it was trending downward. \u201cThe green line is our pool. The red line is QuickPath.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse leaned closer. QuickPath\u2019s line was a smooth, steady climb. Like a rocket taking off. \u201cWho\u2019s QuickPath?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe biggest validator pool on the network. They have hundreds of nodes, millions in staked collateral, and a team of developers who work full-time on MEV extraction.\u201d Nia\u2019s voice was flat. \u201cThey don\u2019t just participate in front-running. They&nbsp;<em>optimize<\/em>&nbsp;it. They run their own version of The Seeker\u2014probably multiple versions\u2014and they\u2019ve turned sandwich attacks into a science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd they\u2019re making a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re making a&nbsp;<em>disgusting<\/em>&nbsp;amount of money.\u201d Nia clicked to a different view. \u201cLast month, QuickPath earned about three hundred thousand credits in priority fees and MEV extraction. Our pool earned\u2026 let me check.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She scrolled. A number appeared. Jesse did the math in his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not even close,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not even close,\u201d Nia agreed. \u201cWe earned about eight thousand credits. And after electricity, internet, hardware maintenance, and my brother\u2019s loan payment, we cleared maybe two thousand. For the entire month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse looked around the apartment. The validator nodes. The sticky notes. The empty energy drink cans. \u201cSo you\u2019re barely breaking even.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re barely surviving. And every month, QuickPath gets bigger. More validators join their pool. More users send their transactions to QuickPath because they\u2019re faster. It\u2019s a death spiral.\u201d Nia pulled off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. \u201cWe can\u2019t compete with them on speed. We can\u2019t compete with them on scale. The only way we survive is by doing some of the same things they do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFront-running.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFront-running. Not sandwich attacks\u2014we drew a line there. But priority fee front-running? Yeah. We do it.\u201d Nia put her glasses back on and turned to face him. \u201cYou wanted to know how I live with it? This is how. I tell myself we\u2019re not as bad as QuickPath. I tell myself we\u2019re just playing the game to stay in the game. I tell myself that if we ever figure out a fair system, we\u2019ll switch immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She gestured to the dashboard. \u201cBut the truth is, every week we do a little more. Every week the line moves a little closer to QuickPath\u2019s playbook. And I don\u2019t know where it stops anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse didn\u2019t know what to say. He\u2019d come here for answers, for a way to beat The Seeker, for a strategy to win back his sword. He hadn\u2019t expected to find someone drowning in the same system that had robbed him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHave you ever tried to stop?\u201d he asked. \u201cCompletely, I mean. No front-running at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia nodded slowly. \u201cOnce. About six months ago. We called it the FairClock experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She pulled up a folder on her desktop labeled&nbsp;<em>FAIRCLOCK_ARCHIVE<\/em>. Inside were dozens of documents, spreadsheets, and logs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe idea was simple,\u201d she said, opening a document. \u201cFor one week, we would order every transaction by timestamp of arrival. No gas fee priority. No front-running. No MEV extraction of any kind. Just pure first-come, first-served.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe first two days were fine. Our inclusion times were a little slower, but nothing catastrophic. We had a small group of users who appreciated the fairness\u2014collectors, mostly. People who were tired of getting front-run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia opened a log file from the third day. The screen filled with timestamps and transaction IDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDay three is when it fell apart. QuickPath must have noticed what we were doing. They started targeting our users specifically\u2014offering lower fees, faster confirmations, and priority inclusion for anyone who switched away from our pool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She pointed to a graph. \u201cSee this? Our transaction volume dropped by sixty percent in twenty-four hours. Users didn\u2019t care about fairness. They cared about speed. And QuickPath was faster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo you turned front-running back on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe had to. My brother called me from college, panicking. He said if we didn\u2019t recover the revenue, he\u2019d have to sell the nodes. So I re-enabled the priority fee sorting. The volume came back. But the guilt never left.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse stood up and walked to the validator nodes. They hummed quietly, oblivious to the moral weight of their existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat if you didn\u2019t have to compete on speed?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhat if you competed on something else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLike what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLike trust. Like reputation. Like being known as the validator that won\u2019t rob you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia laughed\u2014not bitterly this time, but with genuine amusement. \u201cYou sound like my brother when he started this pool. He used to say, \u2018Build a validator people believe in, and they\u2019ll come.\u2019 But belief doesn\u2019t pay the electricity bill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo, but it might attract users who are tired of getting sandwiched. There have to be others like me. People who\u2019ve lost so much to front-running that they\u2019d rather wait longer than get robbed again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia was quiet for a moment. Then she opened a forum page on her laptop\u2014a community board for digital artifact collectors. The most recent post was titled:&nbsp;<em>\u201cIs ANYONE actually trying to fix front-running?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The replies were a mix of anger, despair, and technical jargon. But one reply stood out, posted by a user named&nbsp;<em>Cipher_Actual<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are. But we\u2019re losing. Join the Fair Sequencing DAO if you want to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse pointed to the screen. \u201cWhat\u2019s that? The Fair Sequencing DAO?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia\u2019s expression shifted. She looked almost\u2026 embarrassed. \u201cIt\u2019s a group I joined a few months ago. Validators who\u2019ve pledged to order transactions fairly. No gas fee priority. No front-running. No sandwich attacks. We meet once a week to share ideas, test new protocols, and complain about how much money we\u2019re losing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHow many validators?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAbout forty. Most are tiny\u2014smaller than us. A few are medium-sized. No one like QuickPath, obviously. They wouldn\u2019t be caught dead in a fairness meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse pulled up a chair next to her desk. \u201cYou never mentioned this before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t think you\u2019d be interested. It\u2019s mostly technical discussions. Cryptographic primitives, ordering algorithms, network latency models. Not exactly thrilling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m interested.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia looked at him sideways. \u201cYou\u2019re interested in cryptographic primitives?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m interested in anything that might help me buy my sword without getting robbed.\u201d Jesse paused. \u201cAnd I\u2019m interested in the fact that you\u2019ve been trying to fix this for months, and you never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia shrugged, but her cheeks flushed slightly. \u201cI didn\u2019t know you. Not really. I knew you as \u2018that guy who nodded at Collector Con.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know you were someone who would actually care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYeah,\u201d Nia said quietly. \u201cI\u2019m starting to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>She opened a calendar on her laptop. \u201cThere\u2019s a DAO meeting tomorrow night. Eight o\u2019clock. Virtual. I can get you in as a guest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat happens at the meetings?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUsually? Someone presents an idea. Everyone else explains why it won\u2019t work. Then we argue about gas fees and network incentives for an hour. Then someone cries. Then we adjourn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSomeone cries?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLast week it was me.\u201d Nia\u2019s voice was matter-of-fact. \u201cWe had a proposal to implement a commit-reveal scheme, but we couldn\u2019t agree on the reveal window. I got frustrated and cried. It happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse didn\u2019t know what to say to that. So he said, \u201cI won\u2019t cry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The next day, Jesse showed up at Nia\u2019s apartment an hour before the meeting. She\u2019d told him to come early so she could brief him on the DAO\u2019s history, its members, and its many failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\u2019d set up a second monitor on her desk\u2014an old screen she\u2019d borrowed from the closet\u2014and connected it to her laptop. Two chairs. Two energy drinks. Two people about to walk into a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOkay,\u201d Nia said, pulling up a slide deck she\u2019d titled&nbsp;<em>FAIR SEQ DAO 101<\/em>. \u201cHere\u2019s what you need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first slide showed a timeline. The DAO had formed eight months ago, after a particularly bad wave of sandwich attacks had driven dozens of collectors off the network. The founding members had hoped to build a fair ordering protocol within three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eight months later, they still hadn\u2019t succeeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy not?\u201d Jesse asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause every solution creates new problems.\u201d Nia clicked to the next slide. \u201cRandom ordering is fair, but it\u2019s unpredictable. Users hate unpredictable confirmation times. Commit-reveal adds delay. Users hate delay. Encrypted mempools are computationally expensive. Users hate high fees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo users hate everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUsers hate being robbed more. But they also hate waiting and paying more. Finding the balance is\u2026 hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next few slides showed profiles of the DAO\u2019s key members. There was&nbsp;<em>Cipher_Actual<\/em>\u2014a developer who refused to reveal their real name or location, always joined meetings with a voice modulator, but had the most technical expertise. There was&nbsp;<em>BlockGuild<\/em>, a validator operator who ran a medium-sized pool and was constantly threatening to leave the DAO because fairness was \u201ceconomically unsustainable.\u201d There was&nbsp;<em>ValidatorMom<\/em>, a fifty-year-old former teacher who\u2019d gotten into crypto as a hobby and now ran a small node from her basement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBlockGuild is going to be a problem,\u201d Nia said. \u201cHe thinks we should give up and just accept MEV as a fact of life. He comes to meetings to argue, not to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy do you let him stay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause he\u2019s right about some things. Fairness&nbsp;<em>is<\/em>&nbsp;economically unsustainable if you\u2019re a validator. The only reason we\u2019re still in the DAO is that we haven\u2019t found a solution. The moment we do, BlockGuild will either get on board or get left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The meeting link went live at 7:55 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia joined first. Jesse sat next to her, positioned so his face wouldn\u2019t appear on camera. He was a guest. He was supposed to listen, not speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The virtual room filled with avatars\u2014some with real names, some with handles, some with profile pictures of cartoon animals or geometric shapes. The audio was a chaos of hellos and how-are-yous and can-you-hear-me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then a voice cut through the noise\u2014calm, measured, slightly robotic from a voice modulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWelcome, everyone. Let\u2019s begin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Cipher_Actual<\/em>. Their avatar was a simple silhouette, featureless and gray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The meeting followed a familiar pattern. First, updates from each validator about their revenue, their transaction volume, and their struggles. Most reported losses. Some reported that users had left for QuickPath. A few had turned off their nodes entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m down thirty percent this month,\u201d said a voice identified as&nbsp;<em>ValleyValidator<\/em>. \u201cI can\u2019t keep doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJoin QuickPath,\u201d BlockGuild said. His avatar was a brick wall\u2014appropriate, Jesse thought. \u201cIf you can\u2019t beat them, join them. That\u2019s what I\u2019m considering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t start this DAO to join QuickPath,\u201d Nia said. Her voice was steady, but Jesse could see her hands shaking slightly. \u201cWe started it to build something better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd how\u2019s that working, Nia?\u201d BlockGuild\u2019s tone was sharp. \u201cYou\u2019ve been here six months. What have you actually built?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The room went quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia took a breath. \u201cWe\u2019ve built a testnet implementation of a commit-reveal scheme. We\u2019ve documented three different VRF-based ordering algorithms. We\u2019ve started research on time-lock encryption for mempool privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cResearch,\u201d BlockGuild said. \u201cNot production. Not working code. Just research. Meanwhile, QuickPath is processing a million transactions a day and laughing all the way to the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThen leave,\u201d Cipher said quietly. \u201cNo one is forcing you to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another silence. BlockGuild didn\u2019t respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cipher continued. \u201cWe have a guest tonight. Nia, would you like to introduce him?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia glanced at Jesse. He nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is Jesse,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s a collector. He got front-run on the Emberheart sale last week. Lost his sword to The Seeker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A ripple of murmurs went through the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Jesse,\u201d said ValidatorMom. \u201cThat sale was a bloodbath. We saw the block.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know,\u201d Jesse said, leaning toward the microphone. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m here. I want to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BlockGuild snorted. \u201cWhat can a collector do? No offense, kid, but this is cryptography. Not gaming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse felt his face get hot. But he\u2019d expected this. He\u2019d prepared for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI can tell you what it feels like to lose,\u201d he said. \u201cI can tell you that I almost quit collecting entirely. I can tell you that a lot of people like me&nbsp;<em>have<\/em>&nbsp;quit. And every time someone quits, the network loses a user. Fewer transactions. Lower fees. Less revenue for validators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He paused. \u201cYou\u2019re all worried about losing to QuickPath. But you\u2019re also losing to&nbsp;<em>despair<\/em>. People are giving up on this network because they don\u2019t believe it can be fair anymore. If you don\u2019t fix that, there won\u2019t be anything left for QuickPath to dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The room was silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then Cipher spoke. \u201cHe\u2019s not wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The rest of the meeting was different. The usual arguments were still there\u2014BlockGuild still complained about economics, ValleyValidator still worried about revenue\u2014but there was a new energy in the room. A sense that maybe, just maybe, the problem wasn\u2019t just technical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem was that no one had told the story of what front-running actually did to people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the meeting ended, Cipher stayed behind in the virtual room with Nia and Jesse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not a coder,\u201d Cipher said to Jesse. It wasn\u2019t a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut you\u2019re a strategist. You think in systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse nodded. \u201cI play a lot of strategy games. You have to think about rules, counters, exploits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cipher was quiet for a moment. Then they said, \u201cGood. Because the technical solution alone isn\u2019t enough. We also need a&nbsp;<em>social<\/em>&nbsp;solution. A way to make fairness valuable. A way to make users choose fair validators even if they\u2019re slightly slower or slightly more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what I can help with,\u201d Jesse said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Cipher said. \u201cI believe you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>After the call ended, Nia closed her laptop and leaned back in her chair. The validator nodes hummed in the darkness. The only light came from the streetlamp outside the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou did good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCouldn\u2019t tell.\u201d She smiled\u2014a real smile, tired but genuine. \u201cYou sounded like you\u2019d been coming to those meetings for years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMaybe I\u2019ve just been losing for years. There\u2019s a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia stood up and stretched. \u201cSo what\u2019s next? You heard Cipher. They want a social solution AND a technical solution. That\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse thought about it. The whiteboard in Nia\u2019s apartment still had the three components written on it: VRF ordering, commit-reveal, encrypted mempool. But now he realized that those were just the tools. The real challenge was making people&nbsp;<em>care<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNext,\u201d he said, \u201cwe figure out how to build all three. And then we figure out how to convince everyone to use them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nia nodded slowly. \u201cOne problem at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne problem at a time,\u201d Jesse agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He looked at the validator nodes one last time\u2014the blinking lights, the whirring fans, the silent labor of processing the network\u2019s endless transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Somewhere out there, The Seeker was still scanning. QuickPath was still extracting. And the Fair Sequencing DAO was still losing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for the first time, Jesse felt like the fight wasn\u2019t hopeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was just beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong><em>Table of contents:<\/em><\/strong><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/the-front-running-fencer-science-fiction-story\/\">Introduction<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-1-the-mempool-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 1: The Mempool<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-2-a-transaction-in-the-dark-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 2: A Transaction in the Dark<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-3-the-gas-auction-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 3: The Gas Auction<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-4-the-sandwich-attack-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 4: The Sandwich Attack<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-5-the-priority-fee-war-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 5: The Priority Fee War<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-6-a-fair-ordering-protocol-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 6: A Fair Ordering Protocol<\/a> <strong>&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt; NEXT<\/strong><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-7-the-commit-reveal-scheme-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 7: The Commit-Reveal Scheme<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-8-the-encrypted-mempool-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 8: The Encrypted Mempool<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-9-the-time-weighted-consensus-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 9: The Time-Weighted Consensus<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/chapter-10-a-just-sequence-the-front-running-fencer\/\">Chapter 10: A Just Sequence<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div><p id=\"pvc_stats_60863\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"60863\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p><div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The validator dashboard glowed on Nia\u2019s monitor like a patient in critical care. Jesse had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_60863\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"60863\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60292],"tags":[60332,58994,60293,58992,60294,60295,60333,60335,60334,60297,60296,60336,61157,61158,61159,61160,61161,61163,61162,60330,60331],"class_list":["post-60863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-fiction","tag-children-novel","tag-crypto","tag-crypto-story","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-cryptocurrency-story","tag-science-fiction","tag-science-fiction-novel","tag-science-fiction-novel-for-children","tag-science-fiction-novel-for-young-adult","tag-science-fiction-story","tag-science-fiction-story-for-children","tag-science-fiction-story-for-young-adult","tag-the-front-running-fencer","tag-the-front-running-fencer-science-fiction-novel","tag-the-front-running-fencer-science-fiction-novel-for-children","tag-the-front-running-fencer-science-fiction-novel-for-young-adult","tag-the-front-running-fencer-science-fiction-story","tag-the-front-running-fencer-science-fiction-story-for-children","tag-the-front-running-fencer-science-fiction-story-for-young-adult","tag-ya-novel","tag-young-adult-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60898,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60863\/revisions\/60898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nightfame.com\/style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}