The trial of two MIT-educated brothers, accused of fraud and money laundering related to a $25 million Ethereum exploit, has ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. 

Anton and James Peraire-Bueno were accused of using maximal extractable value (MEV) bots to manipulate blockchain transactions, allegedly tricking users into trades and extracting millions in just 12 seconds.

Prosecutors argued that the brothers engaged in a “bait and switch” scheme, defrauding users by posing as legitimate MEV-Boost validators.

The defense countered that their actions were akin to “stealing a base in baseball,” asserting that no fraud or conspiracy occurred, and that their actions were simply exploiting the system as designed.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

The fact that jurors remained deadlocked after the three-week trial has sparked debate within the crypto community about the legal boundaries of MEV activities.

“MEV is ugly, but Ethereum’s protocol allows it,” wrote Coin Center Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburgh in an X post last week.

“If that’s something that bothers you, then work towards changes to that protocol, don’t make a golem of the SDNY prosecution to do your dirty work, that golem will come right back on you in short order.”