Oracle Extractable Value (OEV) is like a smart way for blockchain projects to keep more money in their own pocket, instead of losing it to middlemen. Imagine you're selling lemonade and find a way to cut down the cost of lemons and sugar without sacrificing quality. That's what OEV does but for blockchain and DeFi projects.
Normally, when blockchain apps need to know something from the outside world, like the current price of Ethereum, they ask an oracle. But this process can be wasteful and expensive. OEV is a new approach that updates this info only when absolutely necessary, making it cheaper and more accurate. Plus, it can make these updates smartly by auctioning the right to update the information, putting the money back into the app's ecosystem, instead of it going elsewhere.
So, for traders and investors, OEV means the projects they're putting money into could run more efficiently and potentially become more profitable, thanks to saving on costs and capturing value that used to slip through the cracks.
WorksCited: Burak Benligiray, Litepaper: "Oracle extractable value (OEV)", Nov. 2022.