Extractable Value refers to a wide class of economic attacks to public blockchains, where adversaries with the power to reorder, drop or insert transactions in a block can "extract" value from smart contracts. Empirical research has shown that mainstream protocols, like e.g. decentralized exchanges, are massively targeted by these attacks, with detrimental effects on their users and on the blockchain network. Despite the growing impact of these attacks in the real world, theoretical foundations are still missing. We propose a formal theory of Extractable Value, based on a general, abstract model of blockchains and smart contracts. Our theory is the basis for proofs of security against Extractable Value attacks.

翻译：可提取价值指的是针对公有区块链的一类广泛的经济攻击，其中具有在区块中重新排序、删除或插入交易能力的对手可以从智能合约中“提取”价值。实证研究表明，主流协议（例如去中心化交易所）已成为这些攻击的主要目标，对其用户及区块链网络造成不利影响。尽管这些攻击在现实世界中的影响日益加剧，但其理论基础仍然缺失。我们基于区块链和智能合约的通用抽象模型，提出了一套形式化的可提取价值理论。该理论为抵御可提取价值攻击的安全性证明提供了基础。