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May was a month for shipping. New infrastructure, a major tokenomics conversation opened, the herd crossed $201B in cumulative volume — and a chapter of accountability was quietly, properly closed.

Let's get into it.

#### May by the Numbers


- Monthly Volume - $2.2B

- Cumulative All-Time Volume - $202.14B

- Monthly Trades - 241,368

- Active Wallets - 40.9k

- New Wallets - 26.3k

- Returning Wallets - 14.6k

- DEX Aggregator Market Share - 16.8% (2nd place)

All-time milestones: 
- $202.1B volume 
- 12.3M trades 
- 708.1K wallets 
- $42M DAO revenue 
- $1.21B surplus returned to users

**On market share:** CoW Protocol sits at 16.8% of DEX aggregator volume across all supported chains in May — behind 0x API (18.7%) and ahead of KyberSwap (16.6%) and 1inch Fusion (14.2%). In a competitive, incentive-driven landscape, holding that position on execution quality alone is worth noting.

#### Intents Get an Upgrade: Atomic Bundles

On May 1, CoW Protocol launched Atomic Bundles — a reusable smart contract template that lets developers bundle multiple complex DeFi actions into a single atomic intent. Looping strategies. Repay-with-collateral. Flashloan-powered operations. All executed in one go, all protected.

This expands what an "intent" can do on CoW Protocol. Atomic Bundles turn intents into composable building blocks that allow for more sophisticated on-chain strategies — submitted as a single signed order, executed atomically by solvers competing for the best outcome.

For developers building the next wave of DeFi products, this is the kind of primitive that opens new design space. Watch what gets built on top of it.

#### CoW Protocol Comes to Euler

Euler has integrated CoW Protocol as the swap execution layer for cross-asset position actions on Ethereum mainnet. Multiply positions, swap collateral, repay debt from collateral — all with MEV-protected execution built directly into the flow, powered by Atomic Bundles. Sign one intent. Solvers compete for execution. Position updates automatically.

#### Affiliate Program: $100M in Referred Volume

The CoW Swap Affiliate Program — approved via CIP-84 in March, launched in April — has crossed $100M in total referred volume. Rewards are flowing to affiliates and traders alike. The program is live, it's working, and it's scaling.

Permissionless. Volume-based. Built to last.

### The Tokenomics Conversation

On May 15, the Core Team published CoW DAO's Path to Value Distribution, developed with Aragon under the Value Distribution Mechanism RFP. The context matters: since April 2024, buybacks have totalled 78.6M $COW against 66.6M in solver emissions - net emissions of -12M $COW, negative every quarter. The protocol is already deflationary. But the Core Team is clear that protocol growth alone doesn't create structural token demand. Mechanism design is needed.

Three proposals are on the table: formalising solver bond requirements (20% of weekly rewards into dedicated Solver Bond Safes); a 1:1 burn trial through December 2026, estimated to permanently remove 60-85M COW; and a flexible buyback mandate giving the Core Team authority to scale purchases up to 100% of weekly revenue based on market conditions. A feedback-driven CIP is the intended next step.

### Simplifying the Bonding Pool

A companion CIP-Draft proposes streamlining bonding pool operations: a flat 10% service fee for all solvers from day one, formalised Solver Bond Safes, and a cleaner path to independent operation. Less overhead, more transparency.

### CIP-86: DNS Hijack Victims Made Whole

In April, cow.fi was hijacked via social engineering at the domain registrar. Around 1.2M USDC in user funds were drained during the roughly 4.5 hours the phishing site was live. The protocol itself was never compromised - but CoW DAO chose to act anyway. CIP-86, the discretionary grants program for affected users, passed on May 8 and closed May 31. Every verified claim has been paid in full. CoW DAO wasn't legally obligated to. It paid because trust is infrastructure too.

See you in June. 🐮

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All the latest goings on from CoW DAO in May. 

CoW DAO Monthly Recap: May 2026 


April was a big one. CoW Swap turned five, the protocol crossed $200 billion in cumulative volume, and the herd kept growing - new integrations, new chains, new governance wins, and a security incident we learned a lot from.

Here's everything that happened.

## Five Years. $200 Billion.

Five years ago, we asked a simple question: what if trading could be fairer? This month, CoW Swap turned 5 - and the answer to that question is now written in $200,000,000,000 of cumulative volume. Built trade by trade, wallet by wallet.

The protocol processed $4.0b in volume in April alone, across 292,947 trades and 47.7k active wallets - 29.4k of them new. The numbers tell a story of a protocol that has found its footing and keeps finding new users who need what we are building.

Thank you to everyone who's traded on CoW Swap, built on CoW Protocol, or just spread the word. This is yours too.

## Domain Hijacking Incident

In April, cow.fi was socially engineered away from our registrar, Traficom. It was a domain hijack - not a compromise to the systems we have built.

We moved fast: the domain was recovered, users were kept informed, and we published a full public post-mortem covering exactly what happened, how it happened, and the steps we're taking to make sure it never happens again. We've also assessed migration to cow.finance as a more resilient long-term home.

We believe in saying what happened, why it happened, and what comes next. That commitment doesn't change when things go wrong - it matters most then.

[Read the full post-mortem](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2044924940886163780)

## Product & Integrations

### Affiliate Program Launch

The [CoW Swap Affiliate Program](https://cow.fi/affiliate-program) went live this month following its governance approval in March. Referrals, rewards, and a permissionless structure - built for growth, designed to last.

Early stats are encouraging. More to come as the program scales.

### Lido Integration

Liquidity shouldn't be a waiting game. Fast swaps on [Lido Finance](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2041877138001862910) now route via CoW Protocol, turning "unstake" into instant liquidity across ETH, WETH, USDC, USDT, USDS, WBTC - with no withdrawal queue.

Protected execution and strong pricing, built directly into Lido. This is what CoW Protocol infrastructure looks like when it's embedded where users already are.

### xStocks on BNB Chain

[xStocks are now live on BNB Chain](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2049825893799850349) through the CoW Protocol settlement layer, enabling trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs with market-deep liquidity 24/5 through xChange. Over 50 tokenized assets available at launch, with 100+ coming in the weeks ahead.

Capital markets, onchain, with the best execution. That's the pitch - and it's live.

### cbMEGA on Base

cbMEGA launched on Base with CoW Swap as a Day 1 trading venue. The cb-wrapped asset structure - proven through cbBTC and cbXRP - lets users hold and trade real economic exposure to the underlying asset, bridging TradFi and DeFi without leaving the chain.

### auto.fun Integration

[Auto.fun](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2042238610615796113?s=20) users now get access to CoW Protocol MEV-protected swaps, limit orders, and cross-chain swaps, straight from the Auto experience. Less friction, better execution.

Welcome to the herd. 🐄

### Solver Infrastructure Upgrades

A solver infrastructure update shipped in April, aimed at strengthening solver competition and execution quality. Competition is now hidden until deadline: Solvers can no longer see each other's bids mid-auction. They now compete blind until the clock runs out. Independent strategies = better outcomes for users.

## Protocol Stats (April 2026)

![Screenshot 2026-05-07 at 10.40.40.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Screenshot_2026_05_07_at_10_40_40_b447a7f0e2.png)

Chain breakdown (April volume): Ethereum led at $3.8b, followed by Arbitrum ($115.2m), Base ($83.3m), BNB ($46.9m), Polygon ($12.0m), and Gnosis ($11.9m).

## Financial Stats

The community has been asking - so here it is.

COW buybacks continue to outpace rewards. In Q1 2026, the protocol bought back 2,822,135 $COW against 3,420,726 $COW rewarded. On a cumulative basis since April 2024:

-   Cumulative buybacks: 77,838,232 $COW
    
-   Cumulative rewards: 66,184,798 $COW
    
-   Net emissions: negative across every quarter tracked
    

The mandate was net zero. The reality has been consistently better. Cumulative net emissions charts confirm the protocol remains deflationary across the full measurement window.

## Governance

#### CIP-85: Performance and Consistency Rewards - Approved ✅

CIP-85 passed, establishing a framework for performance and consistency rewards. This reinforces the protocol's commitment to rewarding solvers who deliver reliably over time - not just one-off wins.

#### CIP-Draft: Reimbursements

A reimbursements draft CIP has been posted to the forum.

[forum.cow.fi](https://forum.cow.fi/)

## See You Next Month

April was a month of milestones, upgrades, and accountability. The protocol kept shipping, the community kept growing, and when something went wrong, we said so - clearly and publicly.

That's the standard we hold ourselves to.

See you next month.

CoW DAO 🐮


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All the latest goings on from CoW DAO in April. 

CoW DAO Monthly Recap: April 2026


When most people think about intents in DeFi, they think about swaps. Sign an intent, let a solver find the best route, get your tokens. Clean, simple, effective. But intents were always meant to do more than that.

An intent, at its core, is a signed expression of what you want - not a specific instruction about how to get it. It means the system can optimize for the best outcome across a much broader set of possible actions than a simple token exchange. The question was always: how do you unlock that potential without forcing every protocol to build the execution infrastructure from scratch?

That's what Atomic Bundles solve.

## The problem: every integration started at zero

CoW Protocol has long supported "hooks" - a mechanism that lets protocols attach additional actions to a swap. Need to deposit tokens into a lending protocol after your swap settles? A hook can do that. But hooks have limits. They're not always enforceable. And for more complex workflows - especially anything involving flashloan-based actions or sequences that need to execute around settlement rather than after it - hooks aren't enough.

The result was that protocols wanting to build genuinely sophisticated flows on CoW Protocol had to write custom wrapper contracts. Every new integration. Every new use case. Every team had to figure out the same underlying architecture independently, absorb the same engineering overhead, and coordinate the same moving parts. Some teams did it. Most didn't bother.

That's a significant barrier - and it meant a lot of powerful use cases stayed firmly on the shelf. Atomic Bundles change this calculus entirely.

## The solution: a reusable baseline for advanced integrations

The new template provides a reusable, forkable baseline that any protocol can extend to build advanced intent-based workflows. It handles the execution context that complex atomic flows require "around" CoW Protocol's settlement layer - things like flashloan sequences, loop-borrow-redeposit flows, and repay-with-collateral operations - so protocol teams don't have to rebuild that infrastructure every time.

Instead of each new integration reinventing the wrapper pattern from the ground up, there's now a standard starting point. Fork it, extend it with your use-case-specific logic, and plug into CoW Protocol's solver network for execution. The hard parts are handled.

This matters for a few reasons:

-   It lowers the barrier for sophisticated integrations. Protocols in lending, perpetuals, payments, and adjacent verticals can now offer their users complex atomic flows - without the months of engineering work that would previously have been required.
    
-   It makes intents genuinely composable. An atomic bundle can combine a swap with any surrounding action, executed atomically in a single settlement. That's a meaningful expansion of what intent-based DeFi can deliver.
    
-   It creates a shared standard. As more protocols build on the template, the ecosystem benefits from a common approach - rather than a proliferation of one-off wrapper contracts that can't learn from each other.
    

## What does "around settlement" actually mean?

When CoW Protocol settles a batch of orders, there's a defined sequence: pre-interactions happen, tokens are transferred, post-interactions happen. Hooks let you attach actions to that sequence. But some workflows need more than that - they need to wrap the settlement itself, borrowing liquidity or setting up state before tokens move, and cleaning up after.

That's the gap Atomic Bundles fill. They give protocols a structured way to define logic that executes in that broader execution context, while still benefiting from CoW Protocol's solver competition and batch auction underneath. The swap quality doesn't degrade because you've added complexity. The solvers still compete for best execution on every embedded trade.

## Euler Finance: the reference implementation
Atomic Bundles didn't emerge in a vacuum. Euler Finance prompted the development of the template - and ships as its first production reference implementation.

The Euler integration (covered in detail in its own announcement) delivers one-click looping and collateral swaps for Euler users. What previously required five or more manual steps across multiple apps - borrow, swap, redeposit, repeat - now executes atomically in a single flow, with CoW Protocol's solver network handling execution quality at every step.

This integration is deliberately positioned as a reference implementation. It's not just a product launch; it's a working proof that the wrapper template handles real production complexity. If you're building something in the lending, leverage, or collateral management space, the Euler integration is the closest thing to a blueprint you'll find.


## What this means for builders

The primary audience for Atomic Bundles is protocol teams who want to offer their users advanced DeFi workflows - without building the execution layer themselves. If you're building in any of these verticals, there's now a faster path to production:

-   Lending and leverage protocols can offer one-click looping, repay-with-collateral, and collateral swap flows - strategies that users want but that have historically been too operationally complex to execute safely.
    
-   Perpetuals protocols can build atomic open/close flows that combine swaps with position management in a single settlement.
    
-   Payments and treasury tools can construct multi-step atomic flows that don't expose users to mid-execution risk.
    

In each case, the solver network underneath means that every embedded swap gets competitive execution - not just whatever route happens to be convenient when the transaction fires.

## Getting started

The Atomic Bundles template is available on GitHub, alongside documentation covering the concept, when to use it, and a full integration checklist. If you're evaluating whether this is the right fit for your use case, the docs are the best starting point.

If you're a protocol team and want to explore a wrapper-based integration before the workshops, reach out directly. We're particularly interested in conversations with teams building in the lending, perps, and payments verticals.

Read the docs →  [docs.cow.fi](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/reference/contracts/periphery/wrapper)

Fork the template →  [Github](https://github.com/cowprotocol)

Talk to the team →  [Discord](https://discord.gg/7h4gv4gA)

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CoW Protocol's intent infrastructure just got a significant upgrade. Atomic Bundles are now live - a reusable template that lets any protocol build advanced, atomic DeFi workflows on top of CoW Protocol's execution layer. 

Intents can now do more: Introducing Atomic Bundles

March moved fast. New integrations, a governance win, a transparency moment on tokenomics, and a platform upgrade - here's everything that happened across the CoW ecosystem this month.

Let's get into it.

## Product & Integrations

### Arcadia Integration: CoW Protocol Powers LP Automation

CoW Protocol is now powering swaps for [Arcadia](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2031428445884813669), bringing intent-based execution to LP automation strategies. For liquidity providers, this means better routing and MEV protection baked directly into their automation workflows - not bolted on after the fact.

### Bitget Wallet Integration Ships

CoW Swap is now accessible through Bitget Wallet, one of the fastest-growing wallets in the space. More wallets, more users, more protection. Simple as that.

### Solvers Page Launches on Explorer

We launched a dedicated [Solvers page on Explorer](https://explorer.cow.fi/solvers), surfacing real-time information on solver teams, their networks, and deployment status.

This is transparency in action: you can now see exactly who is competing to give you the best execution on every trade.

### Docs Go LLM-Ready

Our documentation is now structured for LLM consumption at [docs.cow.fi/llms](https://docs.cow.fi/llms) - making it meaningfully easier for developers and AI tools to build on, integrate with, and reason about CoW Protocol.

If you're building with AI agents or intent-aware tooling, this one's for you.

### CoW Swap v3.0.5 & Explorer 4.0.5 Released

Several releases shipped across CoW Swap and Explorer this month. Highlights include:

-   Orderbook API version now visible in the footer
    
-   BTC/Solana address handling added (not yet enabled)
    
-   Reworked address handling and bug fixes throughout
    

Full changelogs:

-   [CoW Swap releases](https://github.com/cowprotocol/cowswap/releases/tag/cowswap-v3.0.5)
    
-   [Explorer releases](https://github.com/cowprotocol/cowswap/releases/tag/explorer-v4.0.3)
    

## Governance

### CIP-84: CoW Swap Affiliate Program Framework - Approved ✅

The [CoW Swap Affiliate Program](https://snapshot.org/#/s:cow.eth/proposal/0xfc6e96cf715be1ca1b36ca65892d8505222368a741933c828a30c6b3e224de28) passed governance last month month. The framework creates a permissionless referral structure with clear reward mechanics and governance oversight - built for growth, designed to last.

Watch this space.

## Tokenomics Transparency

### Setting the Record Straight on Buybacks

The community had questions about our buyback program. We answered them - publicly and in full.

Here's the short version:

[CIP-38](https://snapshot.org/#/s:cow.eth/proposal/) mandated converting protocol fees into $COW to offset solver emissions, targeting net zero. Our Treasury Committee set the operational target at weekly emissions plus a 20% buffer.

The reality? We've consistently gone further than that.

Since April 17, 2024:

-   Buybacks executed: 74.6M $COW
    
-   Solver emissions: 61.7M $COW
    
-   Net emissions: -12.9M $COW
    

Emissions are negative. The gap has grown every quarter.

When we said "aiming for net zero," that was the mandate. The operational reality has been better. That's something we should have been saying louder - and we will going forward.

A broader value distribution framework is coming in the next few weeks. Treasury allocation targets are published in KPC communications and managed by the Treasury Committee.

Thanks to everyone in the community who pushed on this. Accountability like this is what makes CoW DAO stronger.

## A trading incident post-mortem

A trading incident occurred this month, and we published a full post-mortem with transparent communication across all channels. You can read the [full breakdown here.](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2032959076502581623)

We believe in saying what happened, why it happened, and what we're doing about it. That commitment doesn't waver.

## Community & Visibility

The herd keeps growing. March also saw continued growth in teams building on top of CoW Protocol, using intents, solver competition, and MEV-protected execution as core infrastructure for their products.

## Team

We've welcomed a new Research Team Lead to the herd this month. 🐮

And we're still hiring. Open roles:

-   Integration Engineer
    
-   Lead Visual & Brand Designer
    
-   Senior Backend Engineer (Rust)
    

Not just a job - an opportunity to shape the infrastructure that protects DeFi users at scale.

👉 Careers: [https://cow.fi/careers](https://cow.fi/careers)

Know someone great? Refer them and earn up to $6,000 in USDC or USD.

👉 Refer-to-earn: [https://cow.fi/careers/refer-to-earn](https://cow.fi/careers/refer-to-earn)

March was a month of shipping, transparency, and governance wins. The protocol keeps getting stronger - and so does the community around it.

See you in April.

CoW DAO 🐮

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All the latest goings on from CoW DAO in March 2026

CoW DAO Monthly Recap: March 2026

![Moo&Earn.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Moo_and_Earn_d40db4a362.png)

You already tell your friends about CoW Swap. Now you can get paid for it.

CoW Swap has always been about better outcomes for traders - best prices, MEV protection, no surprises. Today, we're extending that same logic to the people who spread the word. Meet the CoW Swap Affiliate Program: a 6-month pilot that rewards you for bringing new traders into the herd.

## So, how does it work?

Simple. You generate a unique referral link from the CoW Swap interface and share it with whoever you think would benefit from trading on CoW Swap. When someone clicks your link and starts trading, they become your referred trader. When their trading volume hits certain milestones, you both earn USDC rewards. Yep. Both you and the trader you referred, get rewarded. No winner-takes-all. No one left out.

There's no application process, no gatekeeping, no approval committee. The program is completely permissionless - generate your code, share your link and go.

## What do I actually earn?

Here's the breakdown:

-   10 USDC for every $250,000 in cumulative qualifying volume generated by your referred traders
    
-   Rewards are paid in USDC, weekly, directly on-chain
    
-   Both you (the Affiliate) and the trader you referred split the reward - 10 USDC each at every milestone
    

Rewards are calculated based on the USD value of trades at the time of execution and are distributed automatically via batch transfer. No chasing, no waiting on manual payouts. The minimum payout threshold is 10 USDC - anything below that rolls over to the next weekly cycle.

## Attribution

Once someone clicks your referral link and completes their first qualifying trade, their wallet is bound to you for up to 90 days. During that window, all qualifying volume they generate counts toward your milestones.

A few things to keep in mind:

-   A trader can only be attributed to one Affiliate at a time
    
-   Once attributed, they can't be re-referred by someone else during the 90-day window
    
-   Rewards stop counting once a referred wallet exceeds $50,000,000 in cumulative volume (a high bar, but worth knowing)
    

## Where can I track everything?

You get a dedicated dashboard to monitor your performance:

-   Affiliates: Head to swap.cow.fi/#/account/affiliate to see your referred volume, referred traders, and all-time earnings.
    
-   Traders: Head to swap.cow.fi/#/account/my-rewards to see your all-time earnings.
    

Rewards data refreshes every 24 hours, so you won't be left in the dark.

## A few ground rules

The program is built on fairness - the same principle behind everything CoW Swap does. That means a few things are off the table:

-   **No self-referrals:** You can't refer wallets you control. The system is designed to detect and disqualify circular or fraudulent referral patterns.
    
-   **Not all swaps qualify:** Trades that are economically non-meaningful, suspected wash trades, or fall below minimum protocol-fee thresholds won't count toward volume. Quality matters.
    
-   **Honesty in marketing:** Misleading claims, spam, or "guaranteed income" language aren't allowed. If you're running paid ads with your referral link, make sure they comply with local regulations and platform rules.
    

Rewards that have already been distributed on-chain can't be reversed - that's just how blockchains work. But unpaid rewards can be withheld if abuse is detected, so play it straight.

## Which chains are supported?

The Affiliate Program runs on all supported CoW Swap chains, with the exception of Ink and Sepolia. Payouts default to Ethereum Mainnet, with additional chains added as operationally feasible.

## How long does this run?

This is a 6-month pilot program, governed by CoW DAO. Any renewal or material expansion will require a new governance proposal (CIP) - because in CoW's world, the community has a seat at the table.

## Ready to start?

1.  Go to [swap.cow.fi](https://swap.cow.fi/)
    
2.  Generate your unique referral code
    
3.  Share it - in posts, threads, group chats, wherever you live online
    
4.  Watch the rewards roll in as your referred traders hit milestones
    

For support, updates, and community discussion, join the dedicated Affiliate Discord channel. All official program updates will be shared there, and the team handles support publicly so everyone benefits from the answers.

When reaching out for help, have your referral wallet address, referral link, and any relevant transaction hashes ready - it helps the team investigate quickly.

The CoW Swap Affiliate Program is a straightforward, on-chain, community-first rewards program. No smoke, no mirrors - just real USDC for real referrals.

You believe in better DeFi. Now there's a way to grow it and get rewarded for doing so.

Generate your link. Share the herd. Earn together.

👉 [Get started at](https://swap.cow.fi/) [swap.cow.fi](http://swap.cow.fi)

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Meet the CoW Swap Affiliate Program: a 6-month pilot that rewards you for bringing new traders into the herd.


Moo & Earn: Introducing the CoW Swap Affiliate Program

![aprilfools.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/aprilfools_338b92b9a5.png)
The tokenisation of real-world assets is one of the most significant developments in crypto right now. Treasuries, stocks, real estate, private credit, commodities - the world's most valuable assets are moving on-chain, and the market is growing fast.

  

At CoW Protocol, we've been watching this space closely. And we think the industry is missing something obvious.

  

Today, we're proud to introduce USDC - the Unified Simple Dairy Coin - the world's first milk-backed RWA token, built on CoW Protocol's settlement infrastructure and backed 1:1 by liters of fresh cow's milk held in certified dairy reserve vaults across four continents.

  

This isn't a stablecoin gimmick. This is real-world asset tokenisation - for the world's most milky asset.

## How It Works (Technical Overview)

We know you want the details. USDC is structured as a fully-reserved commodity token. Every token in circulation corresponds to exactly one liter of verified, grade-A cow's milk held in a registered CoW Dairy Reserve Vault. Here's how it works:

**1. Purchase**

Users acquire USDC through CoW Protocol just like they would any other RWA from Ondo or xStocks - swap any supported token for USDC at the prevailing market rate. Simple. You know how to do this.

**2. Reserve acquisition**

Upon each issuance, CoW Protocol's treasury operations team sources the equivalent volume of physical milk from our network of approved dairy operators and routes it into a registered vault aka silo. This mirrors the reserve model used by leading fiat-backed stablecoin issuers - the difference being that our reserve asset is tangible, refrigerated, and frankly more interesting.

**3. Attestation**

Vault levels are verified continuously by our proprietary MilkLink IoT sensor array, which monitors volume, temperature, and bacteria count in real time and publishes signed attestations every six hours.

**4. Yield (Cream Layer)**

In unhomogenised milk, cream naturally rises to the top. CoW Protocol's vault operators harvest this cream on a rolling basis and sell it into wholesale dairy markets, generating a net yield of approximately 2% annually, distributed pro-rata to USDC holders. We call this the Cream Layer. It is, to our knowledge, the only yield mechanism in DeFi resulting from truly organic processes!

**5. **Redemption****

USDC holders can redeem tokens for physical delivery at any time. Minimum redemption is 500 liters (one standard chilled pallet). CoW Protocol has partnered with a leading cold-chain logistics provider for eligible regions, with a target delivery window of five to seven business days.

**6. Liquidation**

In the event of spoilage (force majeure), affected vault tokens are replaced from a cross-collateralised Emergency Cheese Reserve - because cheese is just aged, tokenised milk.

 
![cow-usdc-table-hires.jpg](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/cow_usdc_table_hires_0d807fa89d.jpg)

## The USDC Reserve Vaults

DeFi talks a lot about transparency. Nobody shows you the actual milk. We do. CoW Protocol’s Dairy Reserve Network now spans 12 countries and 47 certified milk vaults, from the rolling fields of Wisconsin to the alpine meadows of Switzerland, the vast dairy plains of New Zealand, and yes - a surprisingly productive facility just outside Rotterdam.

Each vault is:

-   **IoT-connected** - every silo is fitted with real-time level sensors, broadcasting reserve data on-chain via our proprietary MilkLink oracle
    
-   **Fully audited** - third-party pasteurisation audits happen quarterly. Proof of Dairy = Proof of Stake
    
-   **Geographically diversified** - no single-region milk dependency. We call this our Multi-Udder Architecture
    

Current global reserves: 4.2 billion liters. All on-chain. All verifiable. Try doing that with gold.


## The Dairy Drop

The first 5,000 people who post a video chugging a full liter of milk get airdropped 1 USDC. But there’s more:

-   🥛 1 liter = 1 USDC
    
-   🥛🥛 2 liters, no stopping = 3 USDC + rare Bessie NFT
    
-   🥛🥛🥛 3 liters, filmed in one take = 10 USDC + lifetime Cream Layer yield boost + invitation to the first DaFi governance call
    

Lactose intolerance? We've got you. Oat milk submissions earn 0.3 USDC - enough to acknowledge the effort, not enough to threaten monetary stability.

DeFi has always promised a fairer financial system. We're just also making it a more delicious one. USDC is live. The vaults are open. The cows are ready. Don't have a cow - have a CoW.

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We built the vaults. We counted the cows. We did the math. CoW Protocol's milk-backed RWA is now a full reserve system - and the numbers are udderly impressive.


CoW Protocol launches CFTC-compliant stablecoin


February didn't just fly by - it shipped. From expanding across new infrastructure to sharpening governance frameworks and leveling up our grants program, here's everything that moved across the CoW DAO ecosystem this month.

Let's get into it.

## Product & Integrations

### CoW Protocol Launches on Ink

We've officially launched on [Ink](https://cow.fi/learn/cow-swap-lands-on-ink-gasless-mev-shielded-cross-chain-ready), expanding CoW Protocol's presence across new infrastructure and giving even more users access to MEV-protected trading.

Ink's growing ecosystem now gets access to CoW Protocol's intent-based architecture - meaning better execution, aggregated liquidity, and protection from harmful MEV.

### Powering Tydro Swaps on Ink

We're now powering [Tydro swaps on Ink](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2025972960998113697), broadening where and how CoW Protocol is used in production environments.

This is what IntentFi looks like in practice:

-   Users sign intents
    
-   Solvers compete
    
-   Surplus gets returned
    
-   Execution happens seamlessly
    

Under the hood, it's a coordination layer. On the surface, it's just smooth swaps. And that's exactly how it should feel.

## Governance

February saw serious momentum on governance design - both on growth mechanisms and solver incentives.

### CIP-Draft: CoW Swap Affiliate Program Framework

A new draft CIP proposes a structured [CoW Swap Affiliate Program](https://forum.cow.fi/t/cip-draft-cow-swap-affiliate-program-framework/3375/3), introducing a referral framework with governance guardrails.

The goal? Enable growth while preserving protocol integrity. Key focus areas include:

-   Transparent referral structure
    
-   Clear reward mechanics
    
-   Governance oversight
    

Community discussion is ongoing on the forum, and feedback is actively shaping the proposal. [Join the discussion](https://forum.cow.fi/t/cip-draft-cow-swap-affiliate-program-framework/3375/3).

### CIP-Draft: Performance and Consistency Rewards

This proposal rethinks how solver rewards are distributed. Instead of purely performance-based competition, the draft suggests splitting rewards between:

-   Performance (price competition)
    
-   Consistency (reliable participation across all trades)
    

Performance rewards would be capped at 50% of protocol revenue, with the remainder allocated to incentivize broader, dependable solver behavior.

Why this matters: Competitive pricing is critical, but reliability across all market conditions is equally essential. This proposal aims to balance both.

[Join the discussion.](https://forum.cow.fi/t/cip-draft-performance-and-consistency-rewards/3377)

## Grants Program

### RFP: CoW Protocol Integration Documentation

We launched a new RFC focused on improving CoW Protocol's integration documentation. The objective:

-   Reduce partner friction.
    
-   Streamline order creation.
    
-   Make integrations easier and faster.
    

We're inviting proposals for:

-   AI-driven documentation upgrades
    
-   Targeted documentation improvements
    
-   Developer-focused clarity enhancements
    

Applications are open. Learn [more about it here](https://forum.cow.fi/t/cow-protocol-integration-documentation/3360).

### RFP: CoW Value Distribution Mechanism

After a detailed evaluation process, the Grants Council (in collaboration with the Core team) has selected Aragon to lead the CoW Value Distribution Mechanism engagement.

This marks an important step in formalizing how value flows within the ecosystem - and strengthening governance infrastructure for the long term.

More [details can be found here.](https://forum.cow.fi/t/rfp-cow-value-distribution-mechanism/3328/10)

## Community & Visibility

The herd keeps growing. Our social teams have been doing great work building the herd. In February we saw:

-   12,000 members on Discord
    
-   66.8K followers on Twitter
    

Intent-based architecture is no longer a niche concept - it's a live conversation.

Jacopo, CoW DAO’s marketing manager, spoke on a NEAR panel exploring intents and the future of trading infrastructure alongside ecosystem peers. [Watch here.](https://x.com/therollupco/status/2024275732130652667)

We also celebrated [CoW DAO Independence Week](https://x.com/CoWSwap/status/2021957805079515317), marking four years of governance, product evolution, and building user-protective infrastructure in DeFi.

The TL:DR? From early experiments to 73M+ transactions and hundreds of billions in protected volume - the journey continues.

## Team

We're hiring! CoW DAO has open roles for the following positions

-   Research Team Lead
    
-   Smart Contract Engineer
    
-   Lead Visual Designer
    

If you're not just looking for a job - but a real opportunity to shape DeFi infrastructure - we want to hear from you.

👉 Careers:  
[https://cow.fi/careers](https://cow.fi/careers)

Know someone great?

Refer them and earn up to $6,000 in USDC or USD through our referral program.

👉 Refer-to-earn:  
[https://cow.fi/careers/refer-to-earn](https://cow.fi/careers/refer-to-earn)

Intent-based trading isn't theoretical anymore. It's live. It's scaling. And it's getting sharper every month. See you in March.

CoW DAO 🐮

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A round up of partnerships, releases and news from CoW DAO in February

CoW DAO Monthly Recap: February 2026


CoW Swap is live on [Ink](https://inkonchain.com/) - Kraken's new Layer 2 positioned as the "[House of DeFi](https://inkonchain.com/about)" for the Superchain.

Traders can now make their first move on Ink with a gasless, MEV-shielded, and completely seamless experience, powered by CoW Protocol's solver network.

It's the smoothest way to enter the ecosystem empowering onchain builders to deploy new and innovative DeFi protocols for the next billion users.

### The House of DeFi, Without the Headaches

Ink runs on the Optimism Stack, bringing EVM-native speed and low fees to users transitioning from CeFi. But moving on-chain often comes with "new chain jitters": gas juggling, route anxiety, and the fear of getting rekt by MEV. CoW Swap removes these barriers.

On CoW Swap, you don't need to hold the native token to pay for gas. Swaps and approvals are handled via signatures, creating a smooth "one flow" experience that feels just like centralized trading - but with full self-custody.

### Built for the Superchain

For users arriving from Kraken or other centralized ramps, CoW Swap offers the simplest way to trade staples and majors on Ink.

-   **Gasless UX** → No native-token juggling; just sign and swap.
    
-   **Better Prices** → Solvers compete to find the best execution, so you don't have to check multiple DEXs.
    
-   **MEV Shield** → Batch auctions protect you from sandwich attacks and bad fills.
    

How? Behind every trade, CoW Protocol's solvers compete to find the best route across Ink's liquidity sources - meaning you get better execution without the hassle of comparing pools.

### One Flow. Any Chain.

Ink's place in the OP Superchain makes interoperability key. CoW Swap allows users to Swap-and-Bridge in a single transaction.

Whether you're moving value across chains or just entering the ecosystem, you get the best swap route and the best bridge route without tab-juggling. All in one place.

### CeFi Smoothness, DeFi Freedom

Ink brings the users; CoW Swap brings the experience. It's the safest, smoothest way to trade on the House of DeFi.

Try it today at [swap.cow.fi](https://swap.cow.fi/) - now live on Ink.

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CoW Swap heads to Ink Chain bringing best-in-class MEV protection to Kraken's Layer 2 Chain. 

CoW Swap lands on Ink: gasless, MEV-shielded, cross-chain ready


Happy New Year, CoW herd! 🐮

2026 is off to a running start. From expanding to new chains to renewing our commitment to community governance, January set the pace for what promises to be a massive year for intent-based trading.

Here is everything that happened in the CoW ecosystem this month.

### Product & Integrations

#### CoW Swap Lands on Plasma 
We kicked off the year by becoming the first DEX aggregator live on Plasma Network. This launch brings CoW Protocol's signature gasless, MEV-protected trading experience to Plasma's stablecoin-focused ecosystem.

-   Read the full announcement [here](https://cow.fi/learn/cow-swap-launches-on-plasma-network).
    

#### MEV Blocker Sale 
The MEV Blocker sale has successfully concluded. We saw strong demand and incredible support from the community, validating our mission to protect users from the dark forest of Ethereum.

#### New Integrations 
CoW Protocol is now powering more flows across the ecosystem. This month we shipped integrations with:

-   **HeyElsaAI:** Bringing intent-based swaps to AI agents.
    
-   **Ondo Finance:** Streamlining institutional-grade asset swaps.
    
-   **TokenPocket:** Expanding mobile access to CoW Swap.
    

### Protocol Economics & Solver Rewards

We closed out 2025 with strong numbers regarding solver incentives and token buybacks.

-   **2025 Review:** The protocol generated net buy pressure of 4.7M COW (0.5% of total supply) over the course of the year.
    
-   **Buybacks vs. Emissions:** We emitted 32.9M COW in solver rewards while buying back 37.6M COW via protocol revenue.
    
-   **Consistency:** The protocol saw net buy pressure in 11 out of 12 months in 2025.
    

Looking ahead to 2026, we project solver emissions to reach 60M-72M $COW. Based on current revenue models, we do not foresee any need to request extra funds from the DAO to run these incentives-buybacks are expected to remain fully sustainable.

### Governance

The DAO has been active with key votes ensuring our operational stability for the year ahead.

-   **[CIP-82 (Approved)](https://snapshot.org/#/s:cow.eth/proposal/0xe84793f122f1c9faa2bb9194faf71567ffd236df616bd60c300eead541f25304):** The CoW DAO Grants Program has been renewed for 2026, ensuring we continue to fund the builders and researchers pushing our ecosystem forward.
    
-   **[CIP-83 (Approved):](https://snapshot.org/#/s:cow.eth/proposal/0x52407329d3861f0e263eacc3ad98f0b1c29b3cd5513c26846f9aad11005f8e8b)** The community has approved the renewal of the Core Team Grant Allocation, this time with stricter, performance-linked milestones to align contributor incentives with protocol success.
    

Join the ongoing discussions on grant structures and DAO incentives on the [forum](https://forum.cow.fi/).

### Grants Program: Value Distribution RFP

We are taking a major step toward defining the protocol's economic future. The Grants Program has published a Request for Proposal (RFP) on Value Distribution.

Note: Submissions are now closed, and proposals are currently under review.

This work is a key part of building CoW Protocol’s long-term sustainability.

-   **Read the RFP:** [RFP: CoW Value Distribution Mechanism](https://forum.cow.fi/t/rfp-cow-value-distribution-mechanism/3328)
    

### Community & Visibility

**Near Intents Day:** Anna represented CoW DAO [on the panel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsH_GClaxeQ) at Near Intents Day, discussing the future of intent-based architectures and how CoW DAO is leading the charge on UX abstraction.

**Community Presence:** You may have noticed faster responses and more activity across our Discord and Twitter. We have ramped up our community presence to ensure you get the support and routing you need, faster than ever.

### Team Updates

The herd is growing! Please welcome our new BD Lead, Community Manager, DevOps Engineer and Senior Frontend Engineer to the team.

We are still looking for top talent to join us. Current open roles include:

-   Research Team Lead
    
-   Smart Contract Engineer
    
-   Senior Visual Designer
    

**Apply here:** [cow.fi/careers](https://cow.fi/careers)

Know someone who’s not just looking for a job, but a real opportunity to grow?

Refer them and earn up to $6,000 in USDC or USD. → [https://cow.fi/careers/refer-to-earn](https://cow.fi/careers/refer-to-earn)

Here's to a bullish (and bullish-on-CoW-Protocol) February.

Keep milking it, CoW DAO

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A round up of announcements, releases and partnerships from January 2026. 

CoW DAO Monthly Recap: January 2026


[Special Mechanisms Group](https://www.mechanism.org/) (SMG), a division of Consensys [announced the acquisition of MEV Blocker RPC](https://www.smg.org/memo/mevblocker), the most widely adopted and effective MEV protection RPC on the market. SMG is the mechanism design powerhouse at Consensys and has been a long-standing research leader in the MEV space. Consensys is the blockchain software company behind MetaMask, Linea, and Infura, serving millions of users across the Ethereum ecosystem.

  

SMG delivers cutting-edge MEV product solutions that are fair and censorship-resistant to all users. MEV Blocker is recognized for returning MEV to users and delivering industry-leading transaction speed, as shown in [benchmark studies](https://arxiv.org/html/2505.19708v1). Since its inception it has served more than 4.5 million unique users and [delivered 6,177 ETH in rebates](https://dune.com/cowprotocol/mev-blocker) to users.

  

“SMG have long respected the MEV Blocker RPC. We’ve watched MEV Blocker set the standard for user-aligned MEV protection. Bringing it into SMG lets us build on what’s already working and push it further. By blocking exploitative MEV and replacing it with transparent, user-aligned backrunning auctions, MEV Blocker further drives SMG's vision: markets that work for users, not against them”, says Wanyi Dai Li, Head of SMG.

  

By blocking exploitative MEV and replacing it with transparent, user-aligned backrunning auctions, MEV Blocker puts SMG's vision into practice: markets that work for users, not against them.

  

This acquisition is a concrete step toward stronger transaction integrity-giving builders better guarantees, users fairer outcomes, and Web3 a system that's more open, equitable, and actually usable.

  

“It was important for us to find a buyer that was technically-excellent and mission-aligned to steward the continued development of MEV Blocker on behalf of its users,” says Anna George, co-founder of CoW DAO. “We are happy that SMG will continue to develop MEV Blocker and bring top-tier protection from frontrunning and sandwich attacks to even more users.”

  

CoW DAO, a pioneer in the field of MEV Protection and co-creator of MEV Blocker, will support the transition of MEV Blocker into the Consensys ecosystem, ensuring continuity and collaboration between teams. The DAO continues its commitment to providing class-leading MEV protection for DeFi users through its core products: CoW Protocol and CoW Swap.

  

CoW DAO was the first DAO to create an MEV protected DEX, RPC and AMM. The DAO continues its commitment to providing class leading MEV protection for users across the DeFi space and will focus on scaling the DEX protection mechanism to the masses.

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MEV Blocker RPC brings advanced backrunning auctions to SMG-strengthening its MEV expertise and accelerating its mission to deliver a more accessible, user-centric Web3.


SMG Acquires MEV Blocker RPC to Advance State-of-the-Art Backrunning Auction Infrastructure

Aave Labs and CoW DAO have joined forces to bring solver-powered, MEV-protected trading to Aave's lending ecosystem. The partnership unlocks a new generation of DeFi use cases - from collateral swaps to debt rebalancing - enabled by Aave's swap adaptors and CoW Protocol's intent-based flash-loans. Together, Aave and CoW Swap are bringing solver-powered execution, MEV protection, and one-click simplicity to millions of users across DeFi.

## From Commands to Intentions

Until now, DeFi has been command-driven: users had to tell blockchains exactly what to do. Approve this token. Swap that asset. Bridge over here.

  

With the CoW DAO Aave partnership, that logic has shifted. Users simply express what they want – "repay my loan," "rebalance my position," "swap this for that" – and CoW Protocol’s solver network competes to make it happen efficiently and fairly. It's DeFi that feels less like coding and more like expressing a goal.

And because solvers compete for each execution, every transaction benefits from price discovery and surplus delivery – meaning users consistently get more value than they would through a single-route DEX or bridge.

## A Smarter Foundation for Lending

When users interact with Aave, every action – from swapping collateral to repaying loans – creates a chain of sub-transactions. Each one costs gas, time, and exposure to MEV.

  

By building CoW Protocol directly into Aave's architecture, those frictions disappear. Now, users can manage the entire lifecycle of their positions – collateral swaps, debt swaps, and even "repay with collateral" – in one smooth flow, right within the Aave interface.

  

Behind the scenes, CoW Protocol's solver network does the heavy lifting. Solvers compete in batch auctions to deliver the best possible price, lowest gas, and most efficient route – all while protecting users from frontrunning and sandwich attacks.

  

The same system already processes over $10 billion in monthly trade volume on CoW Swap, saving users millions in extracted MEV value. Now, that same infrastructure safeguards every Aave swap.

  

The result: fewer steps, lower costs, and a new default for user protection in DeFi.

## New Tools for Builders

This collaboration isn't just for everyday users. It also unlocks an entirely new design space for developers - including intent-based flash loans.

CoW Protocol integrated Aave's swap adaptor framework directly into its solver architecture, creating "wrappers" that let flash loans run inside intent-based transactions. In practice, this means solvers can borrow, swap, and repay - all in one atomic flow.

By combining Aave's programmable liquidity with CoW's intent engine, builders can now design more efficient and composable strategies for arbitrage, refinancing, and liquidation - without custom routing or gas gymnastics.

Nearly two years in the making, the partnership builds on a shared vision of safe, transparent, and user-first DeFi.

## Turning Principles into Performance

  

Both Aave and CoW DAO have earned their place in DeFi by holding the same line: decentralization, transparency, and user protection come first.

  

This partnership turns those shared principles into real-world performance – faster execution, fairer pricing, and stronger security for millions of users. Aave users can start experiencing these benefits now at [aave.com](https://aave.com/).  
  

CoW Swap traders can also swap aTokens directly on [cow.fi](https://cow.fi/) - accessing interest-bearing assets without ever leaving the CoW interface.

  

Because the future of DeFi isn't about more clicks. It's about better intentions.

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Intent-based architecture, MEV protection, and solver competition are coming to Aave - unlocking a smarter, safer DeFi experience for its users. 

Aave x CoW DAO: Building user-first DeFi

CoW Swap is live on Linea. Traders can now swap and send tokens without worrying about gas - while benefiting from better prices, advanced order types, and full MEV protection. It's the easiest way to trade on Ethereum's equivalent L2.

### Do More With Less

Linea is designed to make Ethereum simple - fast, low-cost, and aligned with the network's values. But trading there still comes with a few familiar headaches: holding ETH for gas, repeating approvals, and limited order flexibility.

CoW Swap fixes that. With CoW Swap on Linea, every swap is gasless by default, and trades are executed through auctions where solvers compete to find the best available price across all liquidity sources.
No juggling native tokens. No extra steps. Just smoother, cheaper trades.

### Built for Real Traders

With Linea's low fees and fast transactions, traders can now pair that speed with CoW Swap's gasless trading, advanced orders, and multi-step swaps - all in one simple flow.

CoW Swap brings all of that to Linea:

- **Market Orders** → Instant execution at the best aggregated price.
- **Limit Orders** → Set your target and let solvers do the work.
- **TWAP Orders** → Execute large trades gradually to avoid slippage.
- **Swap & Send** → Swap and send tokens to another wallet in one flow.

Behind the scenes, CoW Swap's solver network competes to deliver the best possible execution for every trade. That means stronger pricing, no sandwiching, and no wasted gas.

### Ethereum Aligned
Linea was built by Consensys - the same team behind MetaMask - to bring Ethereum's trust model to a Layer 2 network. CoW Swap complements that mission perfectly: it's fully Ethereum-aligned, open-source, and non-custodial.

For MetaMask users, it's a natural fit too. Connect your wallet, pick your tokens, and swap. No gas tokens, no hidden steps, no CEX bridge detours. You get Ethereum-level security with Linea-level simplicity - powered by CoW Protocol's battle-tested auction system.

### The Smarter Way to Trade on Linea

Whether you're a casual trader or managing larger positions, CoW Swap gives you a smarter way to move your funds on Linea. Gasless swaps. MEV protection. Advanced orders. One transaction.

Try it today at [swap.cow.fi](https://swap.cow.fi/#/59144/swap/WETH/0x176211869cA2b568f2A7D4EE941E073a821EE1ff) - now live on Linea Network.


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CoW Swap is live on Linea. Traders can now swap and send tokens without worrying about gas - while benefiting from better prices, advanced order types, and full MEV protection.

CoW Swap is now live on Linea 

Cross-chain has gone from niche to normal. You bridge to chase yield on Arbitrum, swap back for gas on Base, and move funds to Optimism for that next airdrop. It's part of everyday DeFi life - and it's... kind of exhausting.

Because even for seasoned users, the dance still, in 2025, looks like this: Open one app to bridge. Wait. Pay gas. Open another to swap. Wait again. Pay more gas.  And if you're unlucky, prices shift mid-hop, or MEV bots front-run you while you're still approving the second leg.

Every chain might be "interoperable," but every extra step costs you - in gas, in time, and in risk.  
Cross-chain trading shouldn't feel like juggling tabs or praying your tokens arrive safely on the other side.

That's why CoW Swap is evolving - from DEX aggregator to Bridge aggregator too.  Now, you can [swap and bridge](https://cow.fi/learn/cow-dao-unveils-seamless-cross-chain-swaps) in one seamless flow: one intent, one signature, the best route? That’s now automatic. Across multiple bridges. With more to come. 

This post breaks down how it works, why it matters, and what "one-flow cross-chain" means for the future of DeFi.

## From DEX Aggregator to Bridge Aggregator

CoW Swap began with a simple idea: if multiple solvers compete for your trade, you win. That's the logic behind CoW Protocol's [batch auctions](https://cow.fi/learn/understanding-batch-auctions) - where professional solvers bid to fill your order at the best possible rate, saving you from slippage, gas inefficiency, and [MEV attacks](https://cow.fi/learn/what-are-mev-bots-and-how-do-they-make-money).

It's aggregation, but smarter - and it made CoW Swap the most efficient way to trade within a chain. Now, that same principle applies across chains too. Because DeFi didn't stop at one ecosystem, and neither did we.

CoW Swap now aggregates bridges the way it already aggregates DEXs. When you initiate a cross-chain trade, CoW Swap automatically:

1.  Finds the best swap route via solver competition,
    
2.  Chooses the optimal bridge route from trusted providers like Bungee and Near Intents.
    
3.  Bundles it all into one seamless, gasless transaction.
    

You no longer have to think about bridging or swapping in separate steps - CoW Swap just finds the best total route from point A to point B.

## Existing problems with bridge and swap 

Three steps, three gas fees, three chances to mess it up. Let's be honest - bridging between chains has always been a bit of a faff.

You start with your token on Arbitrum, bridge it to Base, then open a new tab to swap it for whatever you actually need. Three steps later, you've paid gas three times, signed three approvals, and spent more time checking block explorers than actually trading.

And in between?

-   Price risk: tokens can move while your bridge is still confirming.
    
-   MEV risk: every leg of your trade is exposed to frontrunning.
    
-   UX risk: one wrong click, wrong chain, or stuck transaction, and your funds are limboed between networks.
    

What should feel instant ends up feeling like accounting.

The irony? Cross-chain was meant to make DeFi simpler. Instead, it's created a patchwork of half-steps and half-solutions.

That's why we built something different: a one-flow cross-chain swap that handles both the swap and the bridge automatically - no juggling, no risk stacking, no 12-tab search for the right window.

## One Flow, One Signature

CoW Swap makes cross-chain swaps actually seamless. Here's what happens when you make a cross-chain swap through CoW Swap now:

1.  You set your intent.  
    → "Swap USDC on Arbitrum for ETH on Base." That's it.
    
2.  CoW Swap finds your best swap route.  
    Solvers compete, just like they always have, to fill your order at the best possible rate - minimizing slippage and MEV exposure.
    
3.  Then it finds your best bridge route.  
    CoW Swap automatically compares leading bridge providers like Bungee and Near Intentsi to find the fastest, cheapest, most reliable path to your target chain.
    
4.  You sign once - gasless.  
    No need to keep native gas on every chain or confirm multiple steps. CoW Swap wraps it all into a single, protected transaction.
    

The result? Your trade executes end-to-end, in one atomic flow. If any part of it fails, the entire transaction reverts - meaning you're never left with half your assets stranded mid-hop.

It's the same CoW Swap experience you already trust - solver-optimized, MEV-aware, transparent - now extended across chains.

No extra steps. No bridge anxiety. Just one better route.

## Why One-Flow Wins: Better Net Execution, Fewer Headaches

Two layers of aggregation = more tokens in your wallet. On the swap side, CoW's solvers compete to find you the best rate across DEXs. On the bridge side, CoW Swap compares multiple providers to choose the fastest, cheapest, and most reliable route. Together, they deliver what really matters - the best total outcome, not just the best swap price.

In practice, that means lower slippage, fewer fees, and better realized value per trade - without you lifting a finger.

### Redundant, Reliable, Extensible

The cross-chain world moves fast - bridges come, go, and sometimes... go offline. That's why CoW Swap integrates multiple bridge partners. We started with Bungee and have recently added Near Intents, with others on the way.

If one provider is congested or unavailable, CoW Swap automatically reroutes through another. You get resilience, broader lane coverage, and peace of mind - all without needing to know which bridge you're actually using.

### Transparent and Trustworthy

One-flow doesn't mean your trade disappears into a black box. Every CoW Swap route shows you exactly which bridge and DEX are being used, plus ETA, fees, and expected output. Prefer to choose manually? You can override and select your provider yourself.

Transparency stays core to CoW's design: clear routes, visible costs, and the same on-chain auditability you expect.

One flow isn't just a UX upgrade - it's a performance upgrade. By combining DEX aggregation with bridge aggregation, CoW Swap becomes your end-to-end execution layer for DeFi, saving you time, gas, and gray hairs.

## The Future: Building the Intent Layer for Cross-Chain

CoW Swap has always been intent-driven at heart. You tell the protocol what you want - "I want to trade X for Y" - and the network of solvers figures out how to get you there for the best price. Now that same logic applies across chains.

This is the foundation of intent-based cross-chain trading: you express a single intent - "Swap USDC on Arbitrum for ETH on Base" - and CoW Swap handles the entire route, safely, efficiently, transparently.  
No manual steps. No context switching.

In time, this intent layer could coordinate everything across DeFi: swaps, bridges, staking, even complex portfolio actions - all automated, all optimized through solver competition.

One-flow isn't just a feature; it's a stepping stone toward a more unified, MEV-protected, solver-driven DeFi ecosystem. And it starts here - with your next cross-chain trade.

## Bridge less. Swap smarter.

The days of "bridge here, swap there" are over. With CoW Swap, your cross-chain trades execute in one seamless, gasless flow - with the best swap, the best bridge, and the most protected execution path every time.

-   No juggling chains.
    
-   No hidden costs.
    
-   No wasted clicks.
    

Just open CoW Swap, set your intent, and watch it handle the rest.

One intent. One transaction. One better outcome.

[Start swapping.](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48)

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Tired of bridging, swapping, and paying triple? CoW Swap now finds your best swap and best bridge in a single flow - gasless, protected, and automatic.


From DEX Aggregator to Bridge Aggregator: CoW Swap's One-Flow Revolution


CoW Swap is live on BNB Chain. Traders can now swap tokens without holding BNB for gas, while benefiting from better pricing, programmatic orders, cross-chain swaps and built-in MEV protection. It's the smoothest way to trade on one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in crypto.

### Built for Traders

BNB Chain is built for traders. With low fees and high throughput, it's home to one of the most active retail communities in crypto. But there's a catch: most swaps still require holding BNB for gas, repeating token approvals, and trading in the open where MEV bots can take a cut.

CoW Swap removes that friction. On BNB Chain, swaps are gasless by default, approvals are covered for you, and trades run through MEV-shielded auctions. That means you keep more of every trade – without juggling native tokens or losing time to extra steps.

### Trade your way - built for gasless trading

CoW Swap on BNB Chain isn't just about gasless swaps, it's about giving traders the flexibility to trade how they want. Most DEXs offer one option: swap now and hope for the best. But on BNB Chain, trading is fast, meme-driven, and community-powered – from chasing the next token to managing larger bags. You need tools that keep up.

CoW Swap brings advanced order types and programmability to BNB Chain:

-   Market orders → instant execution at strong prices
    
-   Limit orders → set your price and let the market come to you
    
-   TWAP orders → spread big trades over time to avoid moving the market
    
-   Programmatic orders → orders that generate more orders, which execute conditionally according to pre-defined logic (e.g. DCA)
    
-   Hooks → allow you to string multiple DeFi actions together in one transaction (e.g. swap then bridge then deposit).
    

With CoW Swap, BNB Chain traders don't just get faster swaps. They get smarter ways to trade, built into the chain's culture of speed, community, and creativity.

### How CoW Swap finds you a better trade - and protects it

Most DEXs leave it up to you to find the best deal. On BNB Chain, that usually means swapping through an AMM pool on PancakeSwap or another DEX, and hoping you’ve found the best deal.

CoW Swap is an [intent-based DEX aggregator](https://cow.fi/learn/understanding-crypto-intents-the-future-of-your-de-fi-trades) that flips this model on its head. When you submit a trade with CoW Swap, you're not pushing it directly through one pool. Instead, you're telling CoW Swap what you want to do – and letting a competitive network of solvers fight to give you the best outcome.

These solvers don't just route across AMMs like PancakeSwap. They also plug into other DEXs and aggregators on BNB Chain, cross-chain liquidity, private market makers, and even their own internal inventory. Plus, CoW Swap unlocks something unique: [Coincidence of Wants](https://cow.fi/learn/what-are-cows-on-cow-swap) – when your trade gets matched directly with another user's trade, letting you both skip pools, slippage, and fees entirely.

What does this mean in practice? BNB Chain users now get a [meta DEX](https://cow.fi/learn/what-is-a-meta-dex-and-why-should-you-use-it-for-your-trades): one that doesn't just search liquidity, but helps you find the best price possible. The result is consistently stronger execution without manual routing, splitting, or gas juggling.

Finally, every trade on CoW Swap is [MEV-protected by design](https://cow.fi/learn/understanding-mev-protection). With most DEXs, the second you sign a transaction, it hits the mempool, where MEV bots can frontrun or sandwich it. But with CoW Swap, trades are batched off-chain, shielded from bots, and executed in a way that prevents MEV extraction at the structural level.

Now that CoW Swap is on BNB Chain, this level of execution and protection is now the default. No settings to tweak, no wallet hacks. Just better prices, and safer trades.

[Trade Now](https://swap.cow.fi/#/56/swap/WBNB/0x8AC76a51cc950d9822D68b83fE1Ad97B32Cd580d)

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CoW Swap is live on BNB Chain. Traders can now swap tokens without holding BNB for gas, while benefiting from better pricing, programmatic orders, cross-chain swaps and built-in MEV protection.


CoW Swap launches on BNB Chain


CoW Protocol is launching on Lens Chain. That means gasless, MEV-protected trading for the social chain that's redefining ownership and community in Web3.

### P2P trading for the social chain

CoW Swap is now live on Lens - and with it comes a new way to trade inside the decentralized social universe. If you're used to juggling native tokens just to approve a swap, or watching gas fees chip away at your earnings, CoW Swap offers a refreshing alternative.

It's a trading layer that melts quietly into the background of your Lens-powered apps. You don't need to worry about gas. You don't need to second-guess your slippage settings. You don't even need to bring GHO - you just... trade. That's the whole idea: DeFi that feels as seamless as social media.

Lens has already built a reputation for modular, user-centric apps where creators own their content and their audiences. But until now, trading on Lens has still meant dealing with the same old frictions - wallet prompts, gas fees, and execution risks. CoW Swap removes that friction entirely.

We cover the gas, bundle trades efficiently, and route them through the best available paths. That means new users onboard faster, creators monetize more easily, and communities can interact without the "cost of clicking."

This deployment marks a milestone for CoW DAO, too. With Lens Chain now supported, CoW Swap is available across many major EVM environments - Ethereum, Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum, Base, Avalanche, and Polygon. This isn't expansion for expansion's sake. It's about making gasless, MEV-protected, intent-based trading part of the fabric of where people already connect.

## Trade Your Way - Inside the Social Graph

CoW Swap isn't just about saving gas - it's about giving creators, communities, and traders real flexibility. Most DEXs offer one way to swap: sign a transaction and hope for the best. But on Lens, interactions are richer and more varied - tipping, gating content, [collects](https://medium.com/@Web3planets/the-lens-protocol-a-lens-into-the-future-of-social-networks-fceda641699e), DAO treasury moves. You need trading that keeps up.

CoW Swap brings multiple order types and programmability to Lens:

-   Market orders for instant execution.
    
-   Limit orders to set your price and wait for the market to meet you.
    
-   TWAP orders to spread large trades over time without moving the market.
    
-   Programmatic orders for logic-based execution - like tipping a creator in a specific token once a post hits a set number of collects.
    
-   Milkman orders to execute only when conditions are most favourable.
    

And for builders, CoW Hooks let you tie swaps directly to on-chain actions. Imagine minting an NFT, joining a DAO, and swapping tokens for governance rights - all in one smooth, solver-routed transaction.

Now, every Lens-powered app can embed trading experiences that feel native, social, and seamless.

## How CoW Swap Finds and Protects Your Trades

Most DEXs make you do the work - finding the best route, setting slippage, watching gas. CoW Swap flips the model.

When you trade on Lens, you're simply expressing intent. A competitive network of solvers races to fill that intent in the most efficient way possible - routing across AMMs, DEX aggregators, private market makers, and even matching directly with other Lens users through [Coincidence of Wants.](https://cow.fi/learn/what-are-cows-on-cow-swap) That last one means two people's trades can settle directly without touching a pool - skipping fees and slippage entirely.

Every Lens trade is also shielded from MEV. Your order never hits the public mempool where frontrunners lurk. Instead, trades are batched off-chain, protected by design. The result: better prices, no sandwich attacks, no hidden taxes - and you don't have to toggle a single setting.

## Built for Builders in the Lens Ecosystem

CoW Protocol on Lens isn't just a better way to swap - it's a foundation for building new kinds of social-trading primitives. With intent-based architecture, surplus capture, and gasless execution, developers can:

-   Integrate frictionless swaps into Lens-native apps.
    
-   Create token-gated experiences with built-in monetization.
    
-   Enable tipping, DAO contributions, and micro-transactions without wallet friction.
    

Because CoW handles routing, batching, and execution behind the scenes, builders can focus on creating new social mechanics - not wrestling with liquidity fragmentation or MEV. And with GHO-based gas that's predictable and stable, the UX stays consistent across every interaction.

This isn't just a set of APIs. It's infrastructure you can count on - social-aware, creator-friendly, and ready to scale.

[Trade on Lens today.](https://swap.cow.fi/#/232/swap/WGHO/0x88F08E304EC4f90D644Cec3Fb69b8aD414acf884)

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CoW Protocol is launching on Lens Chain. That means gasless, MEV-protected trading for the social chain that's redefining ownership and community in Web3.

CoW Protocol Launches on Lens Chain

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CoW DAO today announced a major leap in cross-chain trading with the official rollout of cross-chain swaps on CoW Swap, empowering DeFi users to execute seamless, MEV-protected transactions across multiple networks in a single step. Our first provider for this upgrade is Bungee, the Open Liquidity Marketplace behind $22B+ in volume since 2022. Already powering swaps and bridges inside top wallets and dApps used by hundreds of millions of onchain users, Bungee is the perfect launch partner for this next chapter of CoW Swap. In March 2026, we added Across, providing more options, and more pathways to help you find the best route possible. 



We love the multi-chain promise. Being able to seamlessly shift between vibrant communities across Ethereum, Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, and Avalanche is the ultimate goal of DeFi. But let's be honest: navigating this multi-chain universe has often felt like a chore.



You find that perfect yield opportunity on Arbitrum, but your tokens are on Ethereum. What happens next? A frustrating dance of multiple steps: start a swap, wait for the transaction to confirm, pay gas fees on both sides, then finally start the bridge. 


This fragmented experience isn't just inconvenient; it's often plagued by high transaction fees, frustrating delays, and significant security vulnerabilities that have led to billions in losses across the industry. Most existing solutions either require separate bridging and swapping steps, or to leave a tab open, or lack robust protection against hidden costs like MEV.



This friction has been a major bottleneck, even as the DeFi market continues its explosive growth, valued at USD 51.22 billion in 2025 and projected to reach USD 78.49 billion by 2030. Within this burgeoning ecosystem, the demand for seamless cross-chain solutions is immense, with cross-chain bridge transactions alone exceeding $250 billion annually in 2023. The need for a truly integrated, secure, and efficient cross-chain trading experience has never been clearer.


Well, we've heard you loud and clear. We're thrilled to announce a game-changer that will redefine your cross-chain experience: CoW DAO’s cross-chain swaps are now live, powered by Bungee’s next-gen liquidity infrastructure. And more recently, we've added Across' faster fills, seamless UX, and zero compromise to our list of cross-chain providers. 



## Cross-Chain Trading Just Got a Whole Lot Smoother

Imagine this: you want to swap USDC on Ethereum for GNO on Gnosis Chain. Instead of two separate transactions and two different apps, you can now do it all in one single, seamless flow directly on CoW Swap. No extra steps. No extra apps. Just pure, unadulterated cross-chain trading convenience.



This isn't just an incremental update; it's a monumental leap in our multi-chain vision, positioning CoW Swap as the most seamless way to access liquidity across networks. We're tackling the core frustrations of cross-chain DeFi head-on, delivering a solution that's not only convenient but also inherently more secure and efficient.



>“Cross-chain trading has always been one of the most painful experiences in DeFi. With this launch, we’re making it as easy as a single click. By combining bridging and swapping in one seamless flow, while retaining the user benefits CoW Swap is known for, we’re delivering on the multi-chain promise in a way that’s finally intuitive and secure.”
>
>— Anna George, Co-Founder and CEO, CoW Protocol
 
 
## What Makes CoW Protocol's Cross-chain Swaps Special?

While others might offer cross-chain solutions, CoW Swap brings its signature user-protective magic to the bridging experience. Here's why this launch is a cut above the rest:

All-in-One Convenience: This is the core promise. You can now swap and bridge in a single transaction, staying within the familiar CoW Swap interface. It saves you clicks, time, and precious brainpower that would otherwise be spent bridging manually.

Trusted Bridge Integrations: We're launching with Bungee as our first integrated bridge provider, with other potential partners in the pipeline. We've also just added Across, to ensure that your cross-chain transfers are powered by reputable and secure infrastructure, mitigating the security risks often associated with bridges.


>"We’re thrilled to partner with CoW Swap to bring gasless and MEV-protected swaps across chains to their users. This launch is a big step toward a chain-abstracted future where liquidity flows freely and users think in assets, not chains.
>
>Bungee is proud to be the engine powering this experience behind the scenes, trusted by leading wallets, dApps, and now the largest DEX aggregator in DeFi."
>
>– Vaibhav Chellani, Co-Founder & CEO, Bungee

Future-Ready Composability: This feature is built for the future of DeFi. It lays the groundwork for advanced workflows and composability, allowing for even more complex and efficient cross-chain strategies down the line. Think about pairing swaps with any on-chain action, like claiming staking rewards and rebalancing your portfolio in one go.



## All the CoW Swap Benefits, Now Across Chains

You already know and love CoW Swap for its unparalleled trading advantages. Now, these benefits extend to your cross-chain trades, directly addressing the common issues in the space:

- **Solver-Powered Pricing**: Our network of competitive solvers constantly battles to find you the absolute best execution path and price for your trade, aggregating liquidity from every corner of DeFi. This means you get optimal prices, reducing the impact of slippage and ensuring efficiency.
- **Gasless Trading**: Forget about holding native chain tokens just to pay for gas. With CoW Swap, your gas fees are covered and can be paid directly in the sell token, making your cross-chain experience truly frictionless and more cost-effective.
- **Surplus Capture**: Our unique design ensures that any "surplus" found during trade execution is passed back to you, the user, not extracted by intermediaries. This directly counters the hidden costs often found in less optimized cross-chain routes.
- **Unrivaled MEV Protection**: This is our bread and butter. Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) is a hidden tax that costs traders billions. CoW Swap's architecture inherently protects you from sandwich attacks and front-running through:
- **Uniform Clearing Prices**: All trades for the same token pair within a batch clear at the same price, eliminating reordering exploits.
- **Delegated Trade Execution**: Professional solvers take on the price risk, guaranteeing you the price you signed for or better.
- **Coincidence of Wants (CoWs)**: Our groundbreaking peer-to-peer matching mechanism allows trades to bypass external liquidity pools entirely, reducing fees, slippage, and providing inherent MEV protection. This unique feature is why we're called CoW DAO.



## What's Next?

This is just the beginning of our cross-chain journey. We're already working on:

- **More Bridge Providers**: Integrating additional trusted bridge providers will give you even more choice and better routes. In March 2026, we added Across. With more to come. 
- **Automatic Best Route Aggregation**: Soon, you won't even have to pick a bridge; CoW Swap will automatically find the best route and price for your cross-chain trade.
- **Pure Bridging**: Support for same-token cross-chain transfers.
- **Advanced Workflows**: Expanding composability with features like CoW Hooks for even more complex, automated DeFi strategies.



## Trade Smarter, Across Chains

The DeFi landscape is constantly evolving, and CoW Protocol is committed to building the most user-protective products in the ecosystem. Cross-chain swaps are a testament to this commitment, removing friction and adding efficiency to your cross-chain trading.

Stop wasting time and gas on manual bridging. Experience the future of seamless, MEV-protected cross-chain trading today.

Ready to simplify your cross-chain life? Head over to CoW Swap and try cross-chain swaps now! [https://swap.cow.fi/]


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CoW DAO today announced a major leap in cross-chain trading with the official rollout of cross-chain swaps on CoW Swap, empowering DeFi users to execute seamless, MEV-protected transactions across multiple networks in a single step. 

CoW DAO Unveils Seamless Cross-Chain Swaps


CoW DAO is bringing its full suite of products - [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48), CoW Protocol, and soon, CoW AMM - to Polygon. That means gasless, MEV-protected trading for one of the fastest-growing L2 ecosystems in DeFi.

  

## No gas. No friction. No-brainer.

[CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48) is now live on Polygon - and with it comes a different way to trade. If you're used to DEXs where you need to hold native tokens just to approve a swap, or where every transaction feels like a balancing act between gas costs and execution risk, [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48) offers a refreshing alternative.

It's a platform where the mechanics of trading melt quietly into the background. You don't need to worry about gas. You don't need to second-guess your slippage settings. You don't even need to bring POL. You just... trade. That's the whole idea: DeFi without the friction.

Polygon has built a reputation for being fast and cost-effective - but "cheap" doesn't mean "free." Most DEX users still pay gas to interact with contracts. And even if those fees are lower than on Ethereum mainnet, they still create a barrier - especially for smaller traders, new wallets, or those who simply don't want to juggle multiple tokens just to execute a simple swap.

[CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48) removes that friction entirely. It covers the gas for you, bundles trades efficiently in the background, and ensures that you always get execution through the best available path. That means smoother onboarding for new users, more fluid trading for experienced ones, and a user experience that finally feels like it's keeping pace with the rest of the Polygon ecosystem.

This deployment also marks a milestone for CoW DAO itself. With Polygon now supported, [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48) becomes available across all major EVM environments: Ethereum, Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum, Base, Avalanche - and now Polygon. That's not just expansion for expansion's sake. It's part of a deliberate push to offer a gasless, MEV-protected, intent-based trading experience wherever serious DeFi users are active.

Polygon didn't just get another DEX. It got a different kind of trading infrastructure - one that quietly handles the complexity so you can get back to swapping.

## Trade your Way

[CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48) isn't just about speed and savings - it's about optionality. Most DEXs offer a single way to trade: you send a transaction and hope it gets executed close to the price you saw. That's fine for basic swaps, but as DeFi matures, so do the needs of its users. Traders want more control. Builders want more composability. And power users want tools that let them fine-tune execution without writing custom contracts.

CoW Swap brings all of that to Polygon - and then some. At its core, [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48) is designed to support multiple order types that go beyond the "buy now" model. [Market orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/market-orders) are just the beginning. Users can also place [limit orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/tutorials/cow-swap/limit), which let you define exactly what price you're willing to buy or sell at - and wait until the market moves in your favour. For longer-term execution, there's [TWAP (Time-Weighted Average Price)](https://cow.fi/learn/getting-to-grips-with-time-weighted-average-price-twap-orders) support, which allows you to spread out larger trades over time to reduce market impact.

Then there's [programmatic orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/programmatic-orders#:~:text=CoW%20Protocol's%20Programmatic%20Order%20Framework,elapsed%2C%20and%20much%20more), which let you create logic-based conditions for a trade to execute - like only buying a token if your wallet hits a certain balance, or if a price crosses a certain threshold. These kinds of conditional orders open the door to more automated, composable DeFi strategies.

If you're looking for a true "set it and forget it" approach, [Milkman orders](https://cow.fi/learn/what-is-milkman-cow-swaps-solution-for-delayed-execution-trading) let you place trades that execute only when market conditions are most favourable - delaying execution until the time is right.

And for developers or advanced users building on-chain workflows, [CoW Hooks](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/cow-hooks) allow you to pair swaps with any on-chain action. Want to mint an NFT and swap tokens in a single, solver-routed transaction? Done. Want to claim staking rewards, rebalance your portfolio, and trade the excess? It's possible - and more efficient - through CoW Swap.

All of this functionality is now available on Polygon - meaning traders no longer have to choose between flexibility and usability. With CoW Swap, it's built-in. Polygon just got more powerful.

## How CoW Swap Finds You a Better Trade - and Protects It

Most DEXs leave it up to you to find the best deal. CoW Swap flips that model completely.

At the heart of CoW Swap is a system built around user intent - not manual routing. When you submit a trade, you're not pushing it directly through a single liquidity pool or aggregator path. You're expressing what you want to do. From there, a competitive network of solvers steps in to figure out the most efficient way to make that happen - and compete to win your trade.

These solvers don't just route across AMMs like Uniswap, Sushiswap, or Curve. They also plug into other DEX aggregators like 1inch and Matcha, and they have access to private market makers and even their own internal inventory. If that wasn't enough, CoW Swap also unlocks something traditional DEXs can't replicate: Coincidence of Wants - where your trade gets directly matched with someone else's in the batch, allowing both of you to skip fees, slippage, and pools entirely.

What does this mean in practice? It means Polygon users now have access to a meta-aggregator - one that doesn't just search for liquidity, but intelligently optimises for it. The result is consistently better execution without you needing to tweak settings, split routes, or manage gas.

Every trade on CoW Swap is also shielded from MEV - the hidden tax that plagues most DEXs. In a typical DEX, your trade hits the public mempool the moment you sign it. MEV bots scan it, frontrun it, or sandwich it before it's confirmed - leaving you with worse prices and higher slippage, often without realising it.

CoW Swap is different. It batches trades off-chain, wraps them in protected intent, and routes them through a solver ecosystem where MEV extraction isn't just discouraged - it's structurally prevented. Combine that with MEV Blocker (a purpose-built RPC layer that blocks malicious mempool behaviour), and you get one of the most robust trade protection systems in DeFi.

On Polygon, this level of protection is now the default. No opt-in required. No wallet config. Just better outcomes, built in. With CoW Swap, you're not just getting a better price - you're getting a safer trade.

## CoW Swap is For Builders, Too

[CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/swap/WETH/0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48) isn't just a better place to trade - it's a foundation to build on. With CoW Protocol now deployed on Polygon, developers gain access to the same powerful infrastructure that underpins billions in volume across Ethereum and beyond. Whether you're building a wallet, designing a trading interface, or creating DeFi automations, CoW gives you access to a unified, intent-based layer that abstracts away the chaos of fragmented liquidity and unpredictable routing.

Instead of building around isolated pools or single sources of truth, you can plug directly into CoW Protocol's solver network and batch auction system, which handles execution intelligently - and fairly - on behalf of your users. No need to reinvent the wheel. No need to worry about sandwich attacks or gas fees. It's all handled by design.

And because CoW Protocol operates off-chain where it makes sense, while anchoring to the chain only when needed, it offers something rare in DeFi: scalability without compromise. Execution remains decentralized. Outcomes remain trustless. But the friction - technical and financial - is dramatically reduced.

This isn't just a set of APIs. It's infrastructure you can count on. Transparent. Efficient. Resilient.  
  

Now available on Polygon.

[Trade on Polygon today.](https://swap.cow.fi/#/137/swap/WPOL/0x3c499c542cEF5E3811e1192ce70d8cC03d5c3359)

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CoW Protocol has deployed its suite of products on Polygon. 

CoW Protocol Launches on Polygon 


CoW DAO is, for the first time, launching its suite of products: CoW Swap, CoW Protocol, and very soon, CoW AMM—on Avalanche, a lightning-fast Layer 1 blockchain with sub-second finality, low fees, and support for custom appchains via Subnets.

First to launch is CoW Swap. Its deployment brings gasless, competitive-price trades with MEV protection to Avalanche users for the first time.

Traders who already use CoW Swap on Ethereum mainnet and love its features can now seamlessly switch to Avalanche inside CoW Swap’s existing UI with the touch of a button. You no longer need to leave CoW Swap to trade on the world’s fastest growing L2.

This launch positions CoW DAO as a foundational player in the Avalanche ecosystem, targeting both traders and developers, while extending CoW DAO’s suite of products, which are now available to users on Ethereum, Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum, Base and now, Avalanche.

## Avalanche fast. CoW safe

CoW Swap coming to Avalanche means gasless trades, better prices, and built-in MEV protection - now with Avalanche speed. Less fees. More flexibility. No frontrunning. Avalanche fast is now CoW safe.

It also offers flexibility and experimentation for those who demand more than simple swaps found on run-of-the-mill DEXes. The world’s most loved DEX brings different order types, including:

-   [Market orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/market-orders) - buy or sell tokens as soon as possible at the current market rate.
    
-   [Limit orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/tutorials/cow-swap/limit) - set your own parameters for how much you are willing to buy and sell.
    
-   [TWAP orders](https://cow.fi/learn/getting-to-grips-with-time-weighted-average-price-twap-orders) - allows traders to spread their trade over a specified period of time.
    
-   [Programmatic orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/programmatic-orders#:~:text=CoW%20Protocol's%20Programmatic%20Order%20Framework,elapsed%2C%20and%20much%20more) - create conditional orders that execute when certain on-chain conditions are met (such as asset prices, wallet balances, time elapsed, and much more)
    
-   [Milkman orders](https://cow.fi/learn/what-is-milkman-cow-swaps-solution-for-delayed-execution-trading) - delayed execution trading: set and forget your trades for optimum conditions.
    
-   [CoW Hooks](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/cow-hooks) - allow users to pair any Ethereum action (or set of actions) with an order on CoW Protocol, leveraging the [solvers](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/introduction/solvers) to execute the actions together in the sequence.
    

## Avalanche, with better prices

  

CoW Swap's unique intent-based trading model brings better prices to Avalanche thanks to the way it batches trades. That’s because, on CoW Swap, solvers do the hard work of finding the best prices to execute your trades.

Solvers can access multiple sources of liquidity, including those off-chain, ensuring that when you trade on CoW Swap, you can rest assured that your trade is traveling along the best execution path for you.

On CoW Swap, solvers search for liquidity from three distinct sources:

-   AMMs (e.g. Uniswap, Sushiswap, Balancer, Curve, etc.)
    
-   DEX Aggregators (e.g. 1inch, Paraswap, Matcha, etc.)
    
-   Private Market Makers - Solvers can tap into private market maker liquidity and also their own inventory.
    
-   [Coincidence of Wants](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/how-it-works/coincidence-of-wants) - CoW Swap can complete trades by pairing buyers and sellers together in what’s called a Coincidence of Wants, resulting in better prices that can't be offered by AMMs or market makers.
    

The wide range of liquidity that solvers tap into makes CoW Swap a meta-DEX aggregator, or an aggregator of aggregators. Now, Avalanche users get the full benefits of this unique system.

## Avalanche, with built-in MEV Protection

  

MEV or “maximal extractable value” is a hidden tax on all types of Ethereum transactions. Any time you make a DeFi trade, buy or sell an NFT, or deposit tokens to a liquidity pool, opportunistic users known as “searchers” or MEV bots, may manipulate your trades, resulting in unfavorable prices, failed transactions, and missed opportunities. Not so on CoW Swap.

The protocol uses a unique trading mechanism that relies on batch auctions and intents to achieve the best protection from these malicious bots, and thus give the best outcome for users.

Thanks to a powerful combination of delegated trade execution, batch auctions, and protected transaction flow through MEV Blocker, CoW Swap users benefit from thorough MEV protection on all trades.

## A battle tested DEX for Avalanche

  

CoW Swap handles billions of dollars worth of volume safely and securely. In June 2025, it settled more volume than all other [intent-based trading platforms combined on Ethereum](https://dune.com/cowprotocol/cowswap-high-level-metrics-dashboard?Aggregate+by_e759c2=Week), ensuring more than $1 billion worth of trades took place without a blip. Since launching, it’s handled more than $100 billion in volume.

No wonder CoW Swap has the highest retention rate among any DEX on any chain.

## Avalanche for Developers

CoW Swap’s deployment on Avalanche brings with it CoW Protocol. DeFi builders interested in integrating secure, efficient infrastructure for trade execution now have a new ally.

CoW Protocol’s APIs enable developers to create innovative applications while ensuring their users benefit from secure and reliable transactions.

The protocol’s battle-tested backend ensures reliable execution, addressing the trust gap that Avalanche developers may have with smaller or newer projects.

## Avalanche, this is just the beginning

CoW DAO is looking to bring more of its products onchain to Avalanche, including CoW AMM. CoW Protocol’s automated market maker has built-in loss versus rebalancing (LVR) protection. This ensures LPs retain profits even during rebalancing events, a unique offering compared to other AMMs that let arbitrageurs take advantage of their LPs on Avalanche.

But it doesn’t stop there.

CoW AMM’s ability to handle pools with multiple tokens positions it as a "DeFi ETF," offering a diversified, set-it-and-forget-it solution for LPs and investors on Avalanche.

CoW DAO is on a mission to make the DeFi world safer, and more secure. By deploying CoW Swap on Avalanche, users are able to do more and worry less.

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CoW Protocol lands on Avalanche, marrying the safety and security of CoW Protocol with the speed and fast finality of the L1 chain. 

CoW Protocol Deploys on Avalanche 


CoW DAO is rolling out one of its most significant upgrades yet: a shift from its current single batch auction system to a smarter, fairer mechanism known as the Fair Combinatorial Batch Auction (FCBA).

That might sound technical (because it is), but here's the headline: this change is designed to make trading on CoW Protocol not only more efficient, faster, but more fair - for everyone.

Since its inception, CoW Protocol has stood out in the DEX world for doing things differently. Instead of processing trades one by one, it groups them together into "batches" and sends them to competitive solvers. These solvers race to find the most efficient way to settle all the orders at once. That's how CoW Protocol makes those "Coincidences of Wants" (CoWs) happen - when two people want opposite things at the same time and can skip the middleman entirely. No liquidity pools. No unnecessary fees.

Batch auctions come with big advantages. By clearing all trades for a token pair at the same price, they protect users from MEV attacks like front-running and sandwiching. They also help cut down on gas fees by bundling transactions, and users often end up with better prices than they would through traditional AMMs.
![graph-still-batch-auctions.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/graph_still_batch_auctions_cb9fd103c0.png)
But here's the catch: even though batch auctions are efficient overall, they haven't always been equally fair to all traders. Some participants get more of the benefit than others, and the protocol doesn't always have a clear view of how to spread value fairly.

One of the key limitations of the old mechanism is that it forces a single winner per auction, even when solvers submit entirely compatible solutions. This constraint often leads to inefficient outcomes - solutions that could have cleared more orders must be discarded simply because of this restriction.

As a result, some orders that could have been executed promptly get delayed to future auctions. The FCBA solves this by allowing multiple solvers to win different trades within the same auction. In this way, FCBA introduces flexibility: batching is allowed when it's optimal, but not forced when it isn't. The result? Faster and more efficient execution.

## FCBAs explained
![graph-still-fair-combinatorial batch-auctions.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/graph_still_fair_combinatorial_batch_auctions_4e454b3345.png)

Fair Combinatorial Batch Auctions bring a new level of nuance to the table. Solvers can now submit bids for both individual trades and bundles of trades. But here's the twist: a bundled bid only gets accepted if it makes everyone involved better off than they would be on their own. No sneaky wins for one trader at the expense of another.

Think of it as a collaborative competition. Solvers are still trying to outdo each other, but now the rules make sure that any efficiencies they unlock are shared fairly. If a bundled bid can't beat the solo alternatives for every single trader in the batch? It gets rejected. Not only that, it improves throughput by 33%, meaning CoW Protocol gets fairer, but also faster.

This move isn't just about improving the system. It's about reinforcing CoW DAO's core values: transparency, fairness, and innovation that puts users first. It also makes safeguarding trades more efficient.

CoW Protocol already has a safeguard in place to ensure fair execution: the [EBBO (External Best Bid and Offer)](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/reference/core/auctions/ebbo-rules) test. This mechanism ensures users receive prices that are competitive with other market venues.

However, it requires significant manual effort from the team and relies on internal assumptions about optimal routing. FCBA represents a powerful replacement for EBBO - one that draws on the solver's market intelligence rather than protocol-side assumptions, automating and enhancing fairness guarantees for all users.

With FCBAs, CoW Protocol also becomes even more resilient against MEV, even more gas-efficient, and a lot more equitable. It's a win for traders, a win for solvers, and a major step forward for what a DEX can be.

## The future of batch auctions

This shift to FCBAs isn't just a technical upgrade - it's a philosophical one. In a space where speed and extraction often dominate, CoW DAO is choosing to prioritise fairness and collaboration without sacrificing performance. That matters. Because the future of DeFi isn't just about who settles fastest or shaves the most gas - it's about building systems that are resilient, transparent, and genuinely user-aligned.

And as more users enter the DEX landscape, the need for trustless infrastructure that actively protects users - rather than exploiting them - becomes critical. With FCBAs, CoW Protocol is drawing a line in the sand: you don't need to compromise fairness to achieve efficiency. You can have both - if the incentives are designed well.

So as this new mechanism rolls out, it's not just a new chapter for CoW - it's a signal to the entire ecosystem: fairness is not a feature. It's the future.

The future of fair trading? It starts here.

Want to dive deeper? Read the [research paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.12225) by [Andrea Canidio](https://arxiv.org/search/econ?searchtype=author&query=Canidio,+A), [Felix Henneke](https://arxiv.org/search/econ?searchtype=author&query=Henneke,+F). And here’s the [proposal brief over on snapshot.](https://snapshot.box/#/s:cow.eth/proposal/0xf9ecb08c4738f04c4525373d6b78085d16635f86adacd1b8ea77b2c176c99d32)

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CoW Protocol is upgrading to Fair Combinatorial Batch Auctions (FCBAs) - a faster, fairer system that boosts efficiency, reduces MEV, and ensures better outcomes for all traders. It's a major leap forward in making DeFi more equitable and transparent.

CoW DAO's Evolution: Embracing Fair Combinatorial Batch Auctions for Enhanced Trading


Gnosis has announced the launch of [Circles](https://www.aboutcircles.com/) - a radically new approach to decentralized money. Circles is an attempt to reimagine money from the ground up: no central issuer, no fixed supply, no allegiance to any state or institution.

  

At the core of Circles is a simple but powerful idea: every user is their own central bank. New currency is created continuously by individuals. Value circulates through social trust - not capital concentration. It's money as a social system, not a financial product.

  

And making that system work in the real world? That's where CoW Protocol comes in.

  

Circles depends on reliable, permissionless trade execution without exposing users to value extraction or manipulation. CoW Protocol provides the infrastructure to settle trades fairly, efficiently, and securely, ensuring Circles users can transact with confidence in a truly decentralized environment.

## What is Circles?

  

[At its core](https://files.gitbook.com/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fs76GmMOXUUWWi7YK8Ugp%2Fuploads%2FeugvhtIIqA6IUW0aJKsw%2FCircles_Whitepaper_v220.pdf?alt=media&token=0ab0f75c-2121-4b47-a2e1-a2bd0eabd53f), Circles introduces a currency system where every participant issues their own money, on equal terms. No pre-mines. No whales. No central banks. Just individuals creating and transacting with their own tokens-CRC (Circles) - backed by trust, not collateral.

  

The system is built on two key ingredients:

  

-   **Individual issuance:** Every user continuously generates a small amount of CRC, by design. It's predictable, egalitarian, and immune to early-mover advantages.
    

  

-   **Social trust:** Value flows through trust connections. You can only spend someone's CRC if they (or someone who trusts them) trusts you. It's like a peer-to-peer central bank network - where the "central" part is completely missing.
    

  

The result is a network-native form of money that grows with its users. It's unowned, unaligned, and designed for a multipolar world where no single power dictates the rules of exchange.

  

Unlike traditional currencies - or even many crypto assets - Circles isn't trying to be scarce or deflationary. It's designed to be inclusive by default, with issuance, supply, and access directly tied to participation, not prior wealth.

  

Thanks to CoW Protocol's infrastructure, CRC can now move securely across the network without value leakage, [frontrunning](https://cow.fi/learn/what-is-frontrunning), or middlemen.

## The Problem Circles Solves

  

Money, as we know it, comes with baggage. Whether it's fiat currencies backed by states or crypto assets dominated by early adopters, the system tends to reward proximity to power: political, financial, or technological.

  

Circles was created to break that cycle.National currencies, like the US dollar, serve their issuing countries - not the world. If you're outside that sphere of influence, you're at the mercy of someone else's economic decisions.

  

Bitcoin, for all its innovation, isn't immune either. Its fixed supply has led to extreme wealth concentration - over 94% of the supply is [held by less than 3% of users](https://coinshares.com/corp/insights/knowledge/crypto-whales-is-there-a-concentration-risk/). It's not designed to grow with new participants. It's designed to reward the first ones through the door.

  

Circles does it differently.

  

-   Issuance is distributed, continuously, to every user. No one starts with an edge.
    
-   Supply adapts to participation. More people? More money.
    
-   Value is earned through trust, not through mining rigs, financial engineering, or political connections.
    

  

There's also a built-in demurrage mechanism: money gradually loses value if it just sits there. That's not a bug; it's a feature. It nudges the system toward circulation, not accumulation. In a Circles economy, the healthiest wallet isn't the biggest, it's the one that's being used.

  

And unlike most systems where you rely on central banks or code to protect against manipulation, Circles relies on something more human: your social graph. Trust becomes the gatekeeper. Not perfect, but harder to game than most alternatives.

## CoW Protocol's Role: More Than Infrastructure

  

At its core, Circles relies on users being able to trade their CRCs, to turn personal trust networks into real economic coordination. That means safe, efficient, and manipulation-resistant transactions are non-negotiable. And CoW Protocol delivers exactly that.

  

Here's what CoW Protocol makes possible for Circles:

  

-   **Trustless Trade Execution:** Every user issues their own CRC. Trading between different CRCs-or between individual and Group-CRC-requires a neutral, reliable settlement layer. CoW Protocol handles this with batch auctions that prevent [frontrunning](https://cow.fi/learn/what-is-frontrunning) and maximize fairness.
    
-   **MEV Protection by Design:** Without protection, value leaks from users to arbitrage bots. Circles' commitment to fair distribution would fall apart in a hostile mempool. CoW Protocol's design protects users from [MEV](https://cow.fi/learn/how-cow-swap-solves-the-mev-problem?ref=learn_search) extraction, maintaining the economic integrity Circles is built on.
    
-   **Permissionless, Efficient, and Decentralized:** No whitelists. No gatekeepers. Just a protocol that lets anyone connect and transact, no matter where-or who-they are. Exactly in line with Circles' vision of global accessibility.
    

  

The result? Circles users can focus on trust and participation, knowing that the trading layer they rely on is secure, neutral, and built to align with their values.

  

CoW Protocol didn't just provide the rails-it helped shape the terrain. When you're trying to redesign money from the ground up, you need infrastructure that doesn't quietly re-centralize control behind the scenes. CoW Protocol was the right fit because it stays out of the way-but still does the heavy lifting.

## Why CoW Protocol?

Circles didn't just need infrastructure-it needed infrastructure it could trust.

Launching a new currency system, especially one this radical, comes with serious requirements: neutrality, security, scale, and a rock-solid commitment to user protection. That's why Circles chose CoW Protocol.

Because CoW doesn't just offer trade execution-it offers execution without compromise. It's what happens when you design for fairness from the start. [MEV protection](https://cow.fi/learn/how-cow-swap-solves-the-mev-problem?ref=learn_search) isn't a bolt-on; it's built in. Trustlessness isn't marketing-it's the baseline.

And that's exactly why more projects building for the long haul-not just the next hype cycle-are choosing CoW Protocol. If you're designing mechanisms for real coordination, real value exchange, and real users, you need infrastructure that won't quietly undermine your goals.

Circles is bold. It's ambitious. And it's now live. CoW Protocol helped make that possible-not with fanfare, but with fundamentals.

If you're building something big, something that needs to work when the market isn't watching, you go where the infrastructure matches your ambition.

You go to CoW Protocol.

Mooo.

[Come talk to us.](https://discord.com/invite/cowprotocol)

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Gnosis launches Circles, a new type of decentralized currency, powered by CoW Protocol

Gnosis Launches Circles — A New Era of Decentralized Currency, Powered by CoW Protocol

George Hristov

## Update as of 08/02/2023

The barter solver who got hacked already [refunded the losses it caused.](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x61a5196468b276bcedc3aab2f2fe255c2d54ca1c655523f4b25c99b1a224e715?source=post_page-----2faa9f918e29--------------------------------)

Next steps for CoW DAO are to [decide on the slashing process and to judge whether the Barter Solver can be re-added to the solver competition.](https://forum.cow.fi/t/cip-draft-slashing-of-the-barter-solver-responsible-for-a-hack-causing-cow-dao-a-loss-of-1-week-fee-accrual/1440?source=post_page-----2faa9f918e29--------------------------------)

## TL;DR

On February 7th 2023, CoW Swap’s settlement contract suffered an exploit wherein a hacker was able to drain  [~$166K](https://dune.com/queries/1975506)  from the contract. Although still an exploit, it is important to highlight two crucial facts regarding this hack:

-   User funds  **WERE NEVER AT RISK**  and have  **NOT**  been  **COMPROMISED**.
-   The protocol  **WILL RECOVER**  the stolen funds through its solver bonding pool mechanism, which is intended to mitigate such incidents.

To recap: as a trader, there is  **NO**  reason to worry or revoke approvals. CoW Swap never takes custody of your funds, since all trades are purely atomic. In order to have your funds compromised through CoW Swap, a hacker would need to obtain a signature from your private keys or have direct access to them.

## Background information

CoW Swap engages in a so-called “solver competition”, where external parties develop an algorithm to compete against other solvers to find the best execution route for CoW Swap users. Each solver team is independent from each other, and is able to deploy the necessary measures for their algorithm to perform in the best possible way.

In the hunt for better prices, solvers are allowed to tap into the CoW Swap settlement contract’s funds (called the “buffers”) to replace certain AMM interactions and thus save on gas. The  [settlement contract](https://etherscan.io/address/0x9008D19f58AAbD9eD0D60971565AA8510560ab41)  holds the buffer funds and allows the solver teams to tap into them whenever needed. These buffers accrue from fees that users pay in their sell token and are periodically drained into the protocol’s reward Safe.

In order to prevent malicious behaviour on the part of solvers and to recover from any exploits, in  [CIP-7](https://snapshot.org/#/cow.eth/proposal/0x267edf7a0bd3c771cfca763322f011ee106d8d5158612c11da29183260d1dba7)  CoW Swap implemented a bonding pool mechanism by which each solver needs to deposit $500,000 worth of cUSDC and 1.5M COW tokens as collateral for these sorts of scenarios. In the event of malicious behaviour or a hack, solvers would then get slashed and part of their bond is removed to cover for such events.

## How did it all happen?

On January 27th, 2023 a new solver entered the competition: the  [Barter solver](https://etherscan.io/address/0x55a37a2e5e5973510ac9d9c723aec213fa161919). The process was typical: after some time in staging and the depositing of the bond in the pool, the solver was allowlisted and moved onto production. Shortly after being allowlisted, the Barter solver set an  [approval](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x92f906bce94bab417cccc87ae046448d7fb8c2c0350b7ed911545577acb3bfc1)  to a contract they developed, called SwapGuard.

The aim of the intermediary SwapGuard contract is to limit the amount of tokens that can be lost in a single transaction due to slippage The goal for the Barter solver when interacting with this contract was to prevent their settlements from being exploited by MEV when submitted on-chain.

In this  [batch settlement](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x92f906bce94bab417cccc87ae046448d7fb8c2c0350b7ed911545577acb3bfc1)  that the Barter solver won, we can see that they performed a series of swaps and a single approval when executing the batch settlement. This approval is the reason for the incident.

![1-how-did-it-all-happen.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/1_how_did_it_all_happen_6d61046a45.webp)
[https://phalcon.blocksec.com/tx/eth/0x92f906bce94bab417cccc87ae046448d7fb8c2c0350b7ed911545577acb3bfc1](https://phalcon.blocksec.com/tx/eth/0x92f906bce94bab417cccc87ae046448d7fb8c2c0350b7ed911545577acb3bfc1)

![1-1-how-did-it-all-happen.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/1_1_how_did_it_all_happen_e90af26bd7.webp)
[https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1622801412727148544/photo/1](https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1622801412727148544/photo/1)

The SwapGuard contract was previously approved to spend the settlement contract’s DAI as part of a settlement. Because of a security issue that allowed arbitrary call execution from the SwapGuard contract, the attacker was able to leverage the existing approval to transfer funds from the settlement contract to their account ([address 1](https://etherscan.io/address/0xc0e82c1ed4786f8b7f806d1b8a6335ec485266ff)  and  [address 2](https://etherscan.io/address/0x94b6F400df694D0de29F600B15BAeed83E95658C)). The  [Barter solver](https://etherscan.io/address/0x55a37a2e5e5973510ac9d9c723aec213fa161919)  made the mistake of approving a vulnerable contract with the maximum value of DAI to SwapGuard, which is the root cause of the attack. This meant that since the contract had an interface for an arbitrary call, any informed hacker could call upon this function to drain the token allowances with the correct permissions.

It appears that the hacker was aware of the CoW Swap solver process, as they waited until the last day of fee accrual before performing the attack. Fees are usually withdrawn once a week on Tuesdays.

Once the issue came to light, the Barter team and the CoW Swap team hit the ground running to mitigate any possible damage or side effects. After some debugging, the issue was discovered and mitigated. All approvals for the ‘bad contract’ have been revoked, and the Barter Solver has upgraded to a new  [contract](https://etherscan.io/address/0xCce534eE5eba0bC94ddBB2B831D264AD86a5FFf4#code)  which has no arbitrary execution code functionality built in.

## What are the next steps?

As mentioned before, all approvals for the bad contract have been revoked, and no more funds are at risk. As per the rules defined by  [CIP-7](https://snapshot.org/#/cow.eth/proposal/0x267edf7a0bd3c771cfca763322f011ee106d8d5158612c11da29183260d1dba7), CoW DAO will slash the barter solver to compensate for the losses and will denylist the solver until full repayment is done.


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CoW Swap Solver Exploit— Post mortem 07/02/2023

![delegate-3.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/delegate_3_f28eaa3bb8.png)
CoW DAO is launching a token delegation program for token holders. This will allow token holders to delegate their tokens to vetted members of the CoW DAO community who are able to participate in CoW DAO governance on their behalf.

  

This is an important step for the CoW DAO community, as it helps increase participation and improves public discourse.

## Why would you delegate your vote?

  

There are many reasons why you’d delegate your vote to a third party.

  

**It’s more time efficient:** If you don’t have the time to stay on top of every proposal, delegating ensures your votes are still contributing to the direction of CoW DAO.

  

**You can collaborate with experts:** You can delegate to someone with deeper knowledge or specialized expertise in areas critical to the DAO's success.

  

**It increases your Influence:** Feel strongly about a CIP? Pooling votes with a trusted delegate can amplify your collective impact on key decisions.

  

**It gives you more flexibility:** Delegation allows you to remain a part of the DAO even if you can't engage consistently.

  

**It helps build stronger governance:** By delegating to active participants, you contribute to creating a more robust and responsive decision-making process.

  

**It strengthens the community:** Delegation helps empower those who are deeply committed to advancing the DAO's mission, fostering a healthier ecosystem.

## What happens to my tokens when I delegate?

  

Even though you have delegated your votes to a third party, you retain a number of key features.

  

**You can still vote directly** - even if you’ve allocated your tokens to a third party, you still have the ability to vote on future CIPs.

  

**You can re-assign or revoke your delegation at any point** - If you feel your delegator is not voting in accordance with your values, you can revoke your vote, and re-allocate it at any time.

  

**Your tokens remain in your account and are not frozen** - Yep, you can use your tokens as you see fit. Want to buy more or sell tokens? You can. If you reduce or increase the voting power attached to your account, the delegate’s voting power updates accordingly.

  

There is no expiration date set for your delegation, so make sure you keep an eye on how your delegate is voting. A few other key points: Your delegate cannot delegate onwards and you cannot split your voting power across multiple delegates.

## How do I delegate my tokens?

  

We’ve made finding the right delegate, and assigning your tokens as simple as possible. There are two pathways. Below is a step-by-step process of each.

  

### Process 1: Via the CoW DAO Forum

  

**Step 1: Find your delegate**
![Screenshot 2025-02-05 at 11.48.50.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Screenshot_2025_02_05_at_11_48_50_a33cee2565.png)

Scroll down and you’ll find a heading called “[Current List of Recognised Delegates](https://forum.cow.fi/t/recognised-delegates-scheme/2688)”. Click a delegate's name to be taken to their Snapshot profile.

  

**Step 2: Click the ‘delegate’ button on the delegate’s profile**

  

Once you’re on the Snapshot page for a delegator, you will find a delegate button, in the top right hand corner.
![Screenshot 2025-02-04 at 12.43.18.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Screenshot_2025_02_04_at_12_43_18_215b987b0a.png)

Head to the CoW DAO forum and the dedicated page for Delegates called [“Recognised Delegates Scheme”](https://forum.cow.fi/t/recognised-delegates-scheme/2688).

  


**Step 3: Follow the instructions to connect your wallet**

  

A pop-up box should appear for you to connect your wallet of choice. Follow the instructions from there.

![Screenshot 2025-02-04 at 12.46.14.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Screenshot_2025_02_04_at_12_46_14_b32b84fe35.png)

### Process 2: Via the Snapshot Delegates Overview

  

Head to [Snapshot’s Delegation](https://snapshot.box/#/s:cow.eth) tab.

![Screenshot 2025-02-04 at 13.05.49.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Screenshot_2025_02_04_at_13_05_49_fa3dab458d.png)


You will then be able to view all current delegates. You also have the option to sort via voting power, or number of delegators currently assigned.

  

Please note: It is recommended you do not delegate to anyone without a statement, and to always do your own research before committing to a delegate.

![Screenshot 2025-02-04 at 13.20.36.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Screenshot_2025_02_04_at_13_20_36_a040944e29.png)

## How do I see who I have delegated to?

  

There are two options.

  

[A Dune Dashboard](https://dune.com/bleu/cow-dao-delegations)  - Head to the Dune dashboard and paste the address of your delegate; or scroll down and paste your own address

  

Snapshot - [Snapshot](https://snapshot.box/#/s:cow.eth) has a new UI which allows users to see who they have delegated to.

![Screenshot 2025-02-04 at 13.05.49.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/Screenshot_2025_02_04_at_13_05_49_fa3dab458d.png)

## How do I contact my delegate?

  

You can contact your delegate by [heading here](https://forum.cow.fi/t/recognised-delegates-scheme/2688), finding your delegate and contacting them directly.

## Who gets to be a delegate?

  

Anyone can become a CoW DAO delegate, at any point in time, there is no “program close”. Becoming a delegate is permissionless.

  

However, to become a recognized delegate, there is a vetting process. Recognized delegates have to be vetted by at least one member of the GrantsDAO committee based on subjective evaluations of their expertise, knowledge, and contributions.

  

These delegates must allocate 10,000 COW tokens to their delegate address, signaling alignment with the community’s goals. They are also expected to disclose any conflicts of interest.

  

Delegates who wish to be included can reach out to the GrantsDAO committee by linking their introduction in [this thread](https://forum.cow.fi/t/recognised-delegates-scheme/2688/13). They are also encouraged to introduce themselves on the [CoW DAO Forum](https://forum.cow.fi/c/cow-improvement-proposals-cip/delegates/25) (using [this introduction template](https://forum.cow.fi/t/delegate-introduction-guidelines/2669)) and complete their Snapshot profiles.

  

## In summary: Delegation increases engagement in CoW DAO governance

  

CoW DAO is committed to creating a robust, balanced, and effective governance structure. We believe a delegate program helps deliver on that promise.

  

The delegation program fosters participation, enhances decision-making, and improves public discourse. It strengthens CoW DAO’s ecosystem and contributes to its long-term success.


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CoW DAO is launching a token delegation program for token holders. This will allow token holders to delegate their tokens to vetted members of the CoW DAO community who are able to participate in CoW DAO governance on their behalf. 


CoW DAO launches delegate program for token holders

![MEV Blocker I GasHawk.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/MEV_Blocker_I_Gas_Hawk_88f1208a72.png)

[GasHawk](https://www.gashawk.io/), the service that optimizes trading times to help users save on gas fees has integrated MEV Blocker to help set a new standard for cost-efficiency and security in DeFi.

CoW DAO has always been at the forefront of providing users with the most efficient and secure DeFi trading experience. Its innovative Order Flow Auctions (OFAs) with a batch auction on the application layer and MEV Blocker auction at the builder level has transformed the way people trade, offering protection from Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) attacks and ensuring fairer execution for all users.

With GasHawk integrating MEV blocker, users will not only benefit from MEV protection but also enjoy lower gas costs for their Ethereum transactions.

### Enhanced Transaction Security with MEV Protection

The partnership between CoW DAO and GasHawk ensures that on-chain users continue to be protected from MEV attacks like front-running and sandwich attacks, all while benefiting from automated gas optimization.

### Seamless and Fast Block Inclusion

Ensuring that trades are confirmed quickly and efficiently. GasHawk’s users will experience not only lower gas fees but also faster block inclusion times. This combination of gas efficiency and speed creates an unmatched user experience.

### No Extra Cost for Optimization

GasHawk users will automatically benefit from MEV Blocker optimization without any additional fees or configurations. It’s an effortless way to save on gas while benefiting from MEV protection, all rolled into one smooth experience.

### More Value with Every Transaction

By optimizing gas fees and protecting against MEV, GasHawk users will see more value retained in every trade. Whether you’re a regular DeFi trader or simply someone looking to make the most of your transactions, this integration offers the best of both worlds—efficient gas usage and secured transactions.

GasHawk’s integration of MEV Blocker marks a new chapter for DeFi traders. Users will benefit from the dual advantages of secure, MEV-protected trades and optimized gas fees, all while enjoying CoW DAO’s fast and efficient block inclusion times.

As the DeFi space continues to evolve, we’re proud to be at the cutting edge, offering tools and partnerships that provide tangible value to our community.

With this new integration, CoW DAO and GasHawk users can enjoy a more streamlined, cost-effective, and secure trading experience like never before.

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CoW DAO partners with GasHawk to combine intelligent submission strategies with MEV protection and rebates.


GasHawk integrates MEV Blocker to help raise security and lower costs 

![cover-CoW Swap-Base.png](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/cover_Co_W_Swap_Base_25636981fa.png)
CoW DAO is, for the first time, launching its suite of products: CoW Swap, CoW Protocol, and very soon, CoW AMM—on Base, a rapidly growing blockchain ecosystem known for its low fees and experimental culture.

First to launch is CoW Swap. Its deployment brings gasless, competitive-price trades with MEV protection to Base users for the first time.

Traders who already use CoW Swap on Ethereum mainnet and love its features can now seamlessly switch to Base inside CoW Swap’s existing UI with the touch of a button. You no longer need to leave CoW Swap to trade on the world’s fastest growing L2.

This launch positions CoW DAO as a foundational player in the Base ecosystem, targeting both traders and developers, while extending CoW DAO’s suite of products, which are now available to users on Ethereum, Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum and now, Base.

## Base, with Benefits

For Base users, CoW Swap’s arrival onchain offers flexibility and experimentation for those who demand more than simple swaps found on run-of-the-mill DEXes. The world’s most loved DEX brings different order types including:

  

-   [Market orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/market-orders) - buy or sell tokens as soon as possible at the current market rate.
    
-   [Limit orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/tutorials/cow-swap/limit) - set your own parameters for how much you are willing to buy and sell.
    
-   [TWAP orders](https://cow.fi/learn/getting-to-grips-with-time-weighted-average-price-twap-orders) - allows traders to spread their trade over a specified period of time.
    
-   [Programmatic orders](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/programmatic-orders#:~:text=CoW%20Protocol's%20Programmatic%20Order%20Framework,elapsed%2C%20and%20much%20more).) - create conditional orders that execute when certain on-chain conditions are met (such as asset prices, wallet balances, time elapsed, and much more)
    
-   [Milkman orders](https://cow.fi/learn/what-is-milkman-cow-swaps-solution-for-delayed-execution-trading) - delayed execution trading: set and forget your trades for optimum conditions.
    
-   [CoW Hooks](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/order-types/cow-hooks) - allow users to pair any Ethereum action (or set of actions) with an order on CoW Protocol, leveraging the [solvers](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/introduction/solvers) to execute the actions together in the sequence.
    

## Base, with better prices

  

CoW Swap's unique intent-based trading model brings better prices to Base thanks to the way it batches trades. That’s because, on CoW Swap, solvers do the hard work of finding the best prices to execute your trades.

  

Solvers can access multiple sources of liquidity, including those off-chain, ensuring when you trade on CoW Swap, you can rest assured that your trade is traveling along the best execution path for you.

On CoW Swap, solvers search for liquidity from three distinct sources:

-   AMMs (e.g. Uniswap, Sushiswap, Balancer, Curve, etc.)
    
-   DEX Aggregators (e.g. 1inch, Paraswap, Matcha, etc.)
    
-   Private Market Makers - Solvers can tap into private market maker liquidity and also their own inventory.
    
-   [Coincidence of Wants](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/concepts/how-it-works/coincidence-of-wants) - CoW Swap can complete trades by pairing buyers and sellers together in what’s called a Coincidence of Wants resulting in better prices that cant be offered by AMMs or market makers.
    

  

The wide range of liquidity that solvers tap into makes CoW Swap a meta-DEX aggregator, or an aggregator of aggregators. Now Base users get the full benefits of this unique system.

## Base, with built-in MEV Protection

MEV or “maximal extractable value” is a hidden tax on all types of Ethereum transactions. Any time you make a DeFi trade, buy or sell an NFT, or deposit tokens to a liquidity pool, opportunistic users known as “searchers” or MEV bots, may manipulate your trades, resulting in unfavorable prices, failed transactions, and missed opportunities. Not so on CoW Swap.

  

The protocol uses a unique trading mechanism that relies on batch auctions and intents to achieve the best protection from these malicious bots, and thus give the best outcome for users.

  

Thanks to a powerful combination of delegated trade execution, batch auctions, and protected transaction flow through MEV Blocker, CoW Swap users benefit from thorough MEV protection on all trades.

## A battle tested DEX for Base

  

CoW Swap handles billions of dollars worth of volume safely and securely. In November 2024, it settled twice as much volume as all other intent based trading platforms combined, ensuring more than $6 billion worth of trades took place without a blip.

  

No wonder CoW Swap has the highest retention rate among any DEX on any chain.

## Base for Developers

  

CoW Swap’s deployment on Base brings with it CoW Protocol. DeFi builders interested in integrating secure, efficient infrastructure for trade execution now have a new ally.

  

CoW Protocol’s APIs enable developers to create innovative applications while ensuring their users benefit from secure and reliable transactions.

The protocol’s battle-tested backend ensures reliable execution, addressing the trust gap that Base developers may have with smaller or newer projects.

## Base, this is just the beginning

  

CoW DAO is looking to bring more of its products onchain to Base, including CoW AMM. CoW Protocol’s automated market maker has built-in loss versus rebalancing (LVR) protection. This ensures LPs retain profits even during rebalancing events, a unique offering compared to other AMMs that let arbitrageurs take advantage of their LPs on Base.

  

But it doesn’t stop there.

CoW AMM’s ability to handle pools with multiple tokens positions it as a "DeFi ETF," offering a diversified, set-it-and-forget-it solution for LPs and investors on Base.

CoW DAO is on a mission to make the DeFi world safer, and more secure. By deploying CoW Swap on Base, users are able to do more and worry less.

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CoW DAO is bringing its class leading DEX to Base, with other products to follow

CoW DAO deploys on Base

[CoW DAO](https://cow.fi/), which builds user-protective products like CoW Swap, Cow Protocol, CoW AMM and MEV Blocker, has partnered with Sky, formerly MakerDAO to help the project migrate its tokens as it transitions to its next chapter.

  

The team behind Sky approached CoW DAO to integrate CoW Protocol into their SWAP feature to allow users to seamlessly, and safely swap their tokens between DAI and its replacement, USDS, and its governance token MKR to SKY.

  

This is sizeable task: the MakerDAO transition is one of the largest token migrations. DAI is one of the world’s largest stablecoins, with a market cap of $5.3 billion and [more than 500,000 holders.](https://etherscan.io/token/0x6b175474e89094c44da98b954eedeac495271d0f) MKR, meanwhile, has a market cap of $1.5 billion and more than [100,000 token holders.](https://etherscan.io/token/0x9f8f72aa9304c8b593d555f12ef6589cc3a579a2)

  

“Sky selected CoW Protocol as its primary partner for token migration because it recognizes that CoW's unique batch design enhances both user experience and price efficiency," says Anna George, co-founder and CEO of CoW Protocol.

  

Sky's choice to work with CoW DAO on such an important upgrade demonstrates that CoW Protocol is the place big projects go when they want to do big things.

## How will it all work?

[CoW Swap](https://cow.fi/cow-swap) is being integrated into Sky’s native swap system, meaning that, in addition to facilitating swaps between DAI, USDS, MKR, and SKY, CoW Protocol will handle all token swaps within the Sky UI going forward. This represents a step change in the amount of volume CoW Protocol will handle going forward.

This will take place on Sky.money, decentralized gateway to the Sky Ecosystem and provides access to the key features of the Sky Protocol, including upgrading DAI to USDS, and MKR to SKY. But users can also use [CoW Swap](https://cow.fi/cow-swap) to upgrade their old MKR and DAI tokens to the new SKY and USDS.

The upgraded stablecoin of the Sky Ecosystem is USDS. USDS can be upgraded from DAI or converted from USDC at a 1:1 ratio, on Sky.money and other frontends. USDS can also be converted back to DAI. Upgrading is optional.

The Governance Token of the Sky Ecosystem is SKY. MKR holders can upgrade their MKR to SKY, and SKY can also be converted back to MKR. Upgrading is optional. Users get 24,000 SKY per MKR when they upgrade.

## Bringing DeFi to a Wider Audience

Decentralized Finance is at an inflection point. The industry has successfully matured and scaled and, with the right push, is poised to begin providing large scale value to regular people. By focusing on delivering innovative ways for everyday users to unlock the inherent benefits of DeFi, Sky will do its part in bringing the benefits of DeFi to the mass market.

CoW DAO believes in this mission too. By providing a safe and simple way for DeFi users to swap tokens without fear of MEV attacks helps DeFi achieve mass market adoption.

## Follow CoW DAO

-   [X](https://x.com/CoWSwap)
    
-   [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/cowprotocol)
    
-   [Github](https://github.com/cowprotocol)
    
-   [Forum](https://forum.cow.fi/)
    
-   [Snapshot](https://snapshot.org/#/cow.eth)

cow protocol partnership with makerDAO sky

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CoW Protocol has partnered with Sky, formerly MakerDAO to help the project migrate its tokens as it transitions to its next chapter. 