246: Securing the Mempool: Loring Harkness on Shutter Network’s War Against MEV Attacks

Can encryption make Ethereum more fair? In this episode, I speak with Loring Harkness, the ecosystem lead at Shutter Network, about a crucial — and often ignored — issue: malicious MEV. Loring explains how MEV bots extract value from unsuspecting users through front-running and sandwich attacks — and how Shutter uses threshold encryption to stop it. We talk about encrypted mempools, the recent whitepaper proposing encrypted mempools for Ethereum, and how commit-and-reveal encryption is already protecting DAOs, auctions, and bounties via Shutter’s API. Loring also shares his journey from building financial inclusion tools in Myanmar to becoming a passionate advocate for privacy and credible neutrality in Web3. Whether you're building a dApp, trading onchain, or want a fairer Ethereum — this episode is for you. Key Timestamps [00:00:00] Intro: Sam introduces Loring Harkness and the mission behind Shutter Network [00:01:00] Origin Story: How a coup in Myanmar inspired Loring’s pivot from TradFi to Web3 [00:04:00] What is Shutter?: Commit-reveal threshold encryption explained [00:06:00] Understanding MEV: How front-running and sandwich attacks work [00:08:00] Shielded Trading: How Shutter encrypts transactions to blind MEV bots [00:10:00] Integrations: Shielded trading on Gnosis and plans for Ethereum mainnet [00:11:00] The Cost of MEV: Over $1.3B lost to MEV since 2020 [00:12:00] Ethereum Whitepaper: How Shutter’s proposal was received [00:14:00] The Shutter API: Making commit-reveal encryption accessible to dApps [00:16:00] Game Theory: Loring’s live demo using rock-paper-scissors [00:20:00] Scaling Up: How Shutter supports many use cases and transactions [00:23:00] Real-World Adoption: Shielded voting on Snapshot and Paddle Battle auctions [00:25:00] The Real Threat: Why Ethereum must align with its own values [00:27:00] Community Ask: Why users and developers must demand fairness [00:29:00] Wrap-up: Links and next steps for integrating Shutter Network Connect https://www.shutter.network/ https://x.com/ShutterNetwork https://x.com/LoringHarkness https://www.linkedin.com/in/loringharkness/ Disclaimer Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. Finally, it would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/