In a groundbreaking move, Flare has put forth a governance proposal that would enable the network to capture maximal extractable value (MEV) at the protocol level, a first for a layer-1 blockchain. This approach would redirect revenue currently flowing to a select group of specialized actors who profit from transaction ordering on major chains. MEV refers to the income generated by block builders through reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block, effectively imposing a hidden tax on users through front-running, sandwich attacks, and arbitrage.

Estimates suggest that MEV revenues reach tens of millions on networks like Arbitrum, upwards of $500 million on Ethereum, and as much as $1 billion on Solana. Flare's proposal outlines a three-stage plan to integrate this revenue into the network's token economics. Initially, block building would be handled by a designated entity, with a fallback to the current model if needed.

The process would then become publicly auditable through Flare Confidential Compute, and finally, the builder and proposer would merge, transitioning existing validators to a verification role. The proposal also introduces FIRE, an entity tasked with collecting revenue from various protocol sources, including fees, and using it to reduce the FLR token supply through open-market buybacks and burns.

Upon approval, several changes would take effect, including a reduction in annual FLR inflation from 5% to 3%, a hard cap decrease from 5 billion to 3 billion tokens per year, and a 20-fold increase in the base gas fee. This would significantly raise the estimated annual FLR burn, from approximately 7.5 million to 300 million, at current transaction volumes. Notably, Flare has strong ties to the XRP ecosystem, having distributed its initial token supply to XRP holders in 2023, and its FAssets system has produced over 150 million FXRP, aiming to bring smart contract functionality to assets on blockchains like XRPL. As of late March 2026, the network reports over $160 million in total value locked, with more than 887,000 active addresses.