Thanks to Tina Zhen, Justin Drake, Uri Klarman, Matt Cutler, Alex Tesfamichael, Mike Neuder, Hasu, Fabrizio, Kydo, Alex Stokes, and Barnabé Monnot for invaluable feedback and discussions.Opening remarkOn September 26th, 2023, Blocknative announced its decision to halt its block building and relay operations. When I heard the news ahead of the announcement, I was surprised. Even though I was well aware that companies that were operating the relays for PBS were bleeding cash, I did not expect a...