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[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.



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. And today, 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.


## 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. Launching with Bungee ensures 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.
- **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. 

CoW Protocol Powers MakerDAO’s Transition

After three years and thousands of hours of research with crypto whales, DeFi degens, finance bros, and specialized fortune tellers called “blockchain oracles”, CoW Swap has discovered that the secret to investing in crypto is simply  getting lucky.

That’s why CoW Swap is proud to announce its newest innovation — the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

That’s right — inspired by Google’s iconic search feature, CoW Swap is adding a splash of luck to web3. Just select a sell token, tap “I’m Feeling Lucky”, and let CoW Swap’s best-in-class solver network buy a random shitcoin for you.

## Putting the “luck” in “hodl”

Have you ever seen a crypto millionaire and thought “Damn, that was all luck!”

Wish you could “get lucky” the same way?

Well now you can.

Just head over to  [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/swap?utm_campaign=blog-feeling-lucky)  and use the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button right in the swap modal to let luck pick your new favorite token!

![1-feeling-lucky.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/1_feeling_lucky_609c959c95.webp)

## How to get lucky

To get lucky, simply:

1.  Navigate to  [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/swap?utm_campaign=blog-feeling-lucky)
2.  Pick ETH or a stablecoin as your sell token
3.  Click the “I’m feeling lucky” button where the “Swap” button normally appears
4.  CoW Swap will then pick a random “lucky” token for you as your “buy” token
5.  ????
6.  Profit!!!! (not financial advice)

Don’t worry — you’ll have a chance to confirm your trade before you place it. If you trust the luck of the CoW draw, simply click “Swap” once your random token appears and your transaction will proceed as normal.

## Luck out with CoW Swap this April 1

So if you’re tired of being the fool, let CoW Swap turn your luck around. No joke, the feature is real and  [live on CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/swap?utm_campaign=blog-feeling-lucky)  for both Ethereum Mainnet and Gnosis Chain!

They say anything goes up in a bull market… While we can’t guarantee that your lucky token will pump, we can promise that your trades will always be backed by CoW Swap’s signature MEV protection and the best prices in DeFi.

Degen in peace this April 1 and let luck take the wheel with  [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/swap?utm_campaign=blog-feeling-lucky)!

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Find your lucky clover in CoW Swap’s greener pastures


CoW Swap Introduces “I’m Feeling Lucky” Mode for DeFi Trades

CoW DAO, which builds user-protective products like CoW Swap and MEV Blocker, is launching the first MEV-capturing AMM — CoW AMM.

While CoW DAO’s other products protect traders from MEV, CoW AMM is the first product from CoW DAO built to protect liquidity providers. CoW AMM is the first product on any blockchain to tackle the LVR problem head on.

## The LVR Problem

First described by Jason Milionis, Ciamac C. Moallemi, Tim Roughgarden, and Anthony Lee Zhang in the paper  [Automated Market Making and Loss-Versus-Rebalancing](https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.06046), LVR is defined as the losses LPs incur due to arbitrage bots constantly rebalancing liquidity pools.

Research suggests that:

-   Liquidity providers for major token pairs lose 5–7% of their liquidity due to LVR¹
-   In aggregate, arbitrageurs are responsible for well over $500M in LP losses every year²
-   LVR accounts for more MEV than frontrunning and sandwich attacks combined

LVR disincentivizes liquidity provision in DeFi, restricting its potential utility and growth. And LVR is a contributing factor to block-builder centralization, which many people consider undesirable for Ethereum as a whole.

## How CoW AMM Works

The CoW AMM is a special kind of automated market maker designed to help liquidity providers capture MEV from arbitrageurs. According to research by Andrea Canidio and Robin Fritsch in the paper “[Arbitrageurs’ profits, LVR, and sandwich attacks: batch trading as an AMM design response](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.02074v3.pdf),” the most promising way to capture LVR is by using batch auctions to rebalance liquidity pools based on surplus.

![1-cow-dao-launches-cow-amm.gif](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/1_cow_dao_launches_cow_amm_303d6058bb.gif)

CoW AMM, therefore, works as follows:

1.  Liquidity providers deposit tokens into protected CoW AMM liquidity pools
2.  This liquidity becomes available to CoW Swap traders, who can access it similarly to other sources of liquidity
3.  Solvers bid to rebalance CoW AMM pools whenever there is an arbitrage opportunity
4.  The solver that offers the most surplus to the pool wins the right to rebalance the pool

This design eliminates LVR by capturing arbitrage value for LPs and shielding it from MEV bots.

Said another way: while most AMMs allow arbitrageurs to make money at the expense of their LPs, CoW AMM protects this money for the LPs instead.

## Expected Outcomes

Research suggests that CoW AMM LPs will fare as well if not better than CFAMM LPs.  [Backtesting over 6 months in 2023](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.02074v3.pdf)  shows that LP returns on CoW AMM would have been equal to or greater than returns on Uniswap in 10 of the 11 most liquid, non-stablecoin pairs.

## Why is CoW DAO launching CoW AMM?

Launching CoW AMM is a natural extension of CoW DAO’s mission to protect Ethereum users from MEV. With two successful products (MEV Blocker and CoW Protocol) aimed at traders, the time is right to extend MEV protection to liquidity providers.

LVR is a large problem, estimated to be responsible for over $500M in value lost to MEV bots every year — more than all trading-related forms of MEV combined.

CoW DAO is uniquely capable of bringing an FM-AMM design to market, as it relies on a surplus-capturing solver network to balance liquidity pools. CoW Protocol currently runs the largest solver competition on Ethereum, with 19 active solvers.

**Find out more about CoW AMM here:** [**cow.fi/cow-amm**](http://cow.fi/cow-amm)

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The novel AMM design protects liquidity providers from MEV bots by eliminating LVR (loss-versus-rebalancing), which costs LPs more than $500M every year


CoW DAO launches the first MEV-capturing AMM

On CoW Protocol, rather than sending on-chain transactions with predefined swap instructions, users submit signed  [intent-to-trade messages](/learn/cow-protocol-glossary#:~:text=Intent%20to%20Trade). These messages contain some order details, like which assets to trade in which amounts, but leave other details to be optimized by  [solvers](https://docs.cow.fi/cow-protocol/tutorials/solvers).

One important parameter of these intents is min_out — the minimum amount of buy tokens a user is willing to receive for their sell tokens (or the buy amount, minus the maximum allowable slippage set by the user). Min_out works really well when a trade is intended for immediate or near-immediate execution, because it allows solvers to improve prices for users while protecting them from unfavorable price movements. However, when prices fluctuate a lot, min_out can be overly-restricting.

## **What is delayed execution trading?**

Simply put, delayed execution trades are trades intended to execute at some point far in the near future.

Many smart contract wallet users, such as DAOs, frequently need to create these types of orders. Take the following examples:

-   DAOs that need trades to execute after passing a governance process
-   Groups that need hours to collect signatures to execute trades from a multisig wallet
-   Applications that process automated swaps years in the future (e.g. for payroll or treasury management)

With extra time, prices can fluctuate wildly — and this creates a dilemma for traders:

If the buy token price falls and the min_out is too high, the order might not execute. But if the min_out is too low, the trader risks getting an unnecessarily poor execution price. (CoW Protocol solvers compete against each other to give users better prices, but placing such a high level of trust in solvers can be undesirable for very high-volume traders.)

![1-what-is-milkman.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/1_what_is_milkman_0518ebe1f4.webp)

If a user signs an intent to swap 1 ETH for a “min out” of 2000 USDC, there is no way for the trade to return any less than 2000 USDC

![2-what-is-milkman.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/2_what_is_milkman_08ab1cbaac.webp)

But setting a low “min out” risks leaving money on the table

## **What is Milkman?**

Milkman is a smart contract that solves the above dilemma for smart contract wallets.

It does this by allowing smart contracts to specify an on-chain data source (such as an oracle) to use as a reference for min_out — effectively turning min_out into a dynamic price backstop for their trade.

Let’s say you want to sell 1000 ETH for USDC, but you want to do it far in the future. To protect yourself from volatile price movements, you can supply Milkman to create the order based on with the Chainlink price feed for ETH/USDC, and Milkman at the time of order placement will dynamically adjust the minimum amount you’ll receive based on that price feed.

When the time comes to execute your trade, CoW Protocol will receive it with a min_out that accurately reflects prices at that point in time; and solvers will compete to improve the price on top of that, as they always do.

![3-what-is-milkman.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/3_what_is_milkman_7f4ab32979.webp)

## **Milkman for DAOs**

Milkman is particularly well-suited to many DAO-related use cases, because DAO governance processes often delay trades and because amounts traded by DAOs can be very large.

Several well-known DAOs, including  [Aave](/learn/aave-trade-breakdown)  and  [ENS](/learn/ens-trade-breakdown), have already used Milkman to trade over $20M worth of tokens. Beyond allowing these DAOs to count on reliable prices, Milkman lets them reduce their overall number of governance votes and gives them standard CoW Swap benefits like best price execution and  [best-in-class](https://eigenphi.substack.com/p/sandwich-mevs-impact-on-cow-swap)  MEV protection — critical for large trades.

Milkman is also natively integrated as a  [recipe on Tally](/learn/tally-recipe-for-cow-swaps), the widely-used DAO management platform — removing even more trading friction for DAOs.

## **Technical details**

Milkman follows a UniV2-style interface. To interact with Milkman, smart contracts need only to call the following function:

> _function requestSwapExactTokensForTokens(_
> 
> _uint256 amountIn,_
> 
> _IERC20 fromToken,_
> 
> _IERC20 toToken,_
> 
> _address to,_
> 
> _address priceChecker,_
> 
> _bytes calldata priceCheckerData_
> 
> _)_

The priceChecker is the data feed provider, and priceCheckerData is an array of arbitrary bytes that the function passes to the price checker (e.g. the desired slippage tolerance).

Price checkers have been deployed for Chainlink, Curve, SushiSwap, Uniswap V2, Uniswap V3, and combinations of these. The core Milkman code can be found  [here](https://github.com/cowdao-grants/milkman). Anyone can run a  Milkman bot, which simply functions as a hook that watches for new swap requests and surfaces them to CoW Protocol. Running a bot is fairly easy if you have a Kubernetes cluster; the instructions are in the repo.

Milkman was developed by  [Yearn Finance](https://yearn.fi/)  in partnership with CoW Protocol, through the  [CoW Grants Program](https://grants.cow.fi/).

Long live Milkman! And may you benefit from his commitment to bringing you favorable prices!

![4-what-is-milkman.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/4_what_is_milkman_185027226b.webp)


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Milkman is a simple contract that lets DAOs and other smart contract wallet users set dynamic price backstops for orders that will execute in the future!


What is Milkman? CoW Swap’s Solution for Delayed Execution Trading

As a pioneer in the field of intents, CoW Swap has consistently brought faster, easier, and safer trading to DAOs and DeFi enthusiasts.

As DeFi grows and transactions become ever-more complex, the friction of having to sign and make orders manually becomes more pronounced. Traders looking to place recurring orders as a part of a complex trading strategy, DAO operators responsible for managing a treasury, and individuals tired of signing repetitive transactions could all benefit from a system that allows for automated order placement.

Today, CoW Protocol is proud to announce the release of two features that take the pain out of order placement and open up a wide range of possibilities for automation.

To start off, we’re introducing a new order primitive to the world of DeFi. We call it “Programmatic Orders”. Programmatic Orders are orders that create more orders. They require just one signature to create, then execute when on-chain conditions (prices, volumes, balances, times, etc.) are met. Programmatic Orders can execute indefinitely into the future, automating everything from complex trading strategies to advanced order types, portfolio management, DAO operations, and more.

Alongside Programmatic Orders, CoW Protocol is launching the Programmatic Order Framework. As the name implies, it’s a framework that allows for the easy creation of Programmatic Orders.

Below, we take a deeper look at Programmatic Orders, the Programmatic Order Framework, and the technical details necessary for implementation. We also call on the DeFi ecosystem to submit proposals for building applications on top of the Programmatic Order Framework through the  [CoW Grants Program](https://grants.cow.fi/).

## The current state of programmatic actions

The DeFi space currently supports very simple programmatic actions — for example, individual limit orders. Unfortunately, users have to trust a centralized operator to execute these actions correctly and fairly.

Despite the rise of autonomous agents in the wake of initiatives like ERC-1271, the vast majority of interactions are performed manually, which means there is a dependency on individuals, and a central point of failure.

Even when orders are executed properly, users still have to sign a transaction every time they want to place a new order. This may not be an issue for one-off transactions, but it starts to become a nuisance for frequent, recurring transactions.

The Programmatic Order Framework is built to address these problems.

## The Programmatic Order Framework: A decentralized solution for automated orders

At its core, the Programmatic Order Framework brings simplicity to order creation by automating the boilerplate code necessary for order placement. This allows DeFi users to programmatically create any set of orders and automatically approve them for execution with just a single signature.

Users can create advanced order types (such as Stop Loss and TWAP orders), automate DAO payrolls, and create or destroy multiple orders with just one on-chain transaction. Thanks to a “WatchTower” relayer, orders built with the Programmatic Order Framework execute automatically whenever certain on-chain conditions are met, eliminating the need for tedious and repetitive signatures for programmatic actions.

The framework is a plug-and-play system that takes in order logic and executes orders in perpetuity based on on-chain conditions. Creating orders only requires coding the order logic itself. The rest of the swap components like order creation, order validation, signature validation, API calls, order placement, and order settlement are provided by the framework itself.

![1-programmatic-order-framework.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/1_programmatic_order_framework_5ee644e722.webp)

The key unlock of the Programmatic Order Framework is the low cost of deploying, updating, and deleting orders in large quantities. Developers only need to write code specifying the particular type of order they’d like to execute and the framework takes care of everything else — storing the data, validating parameters, and placing orders.

The WatchTower relayer verifies that order conditions are met, validates the order signature, and places the order on behalf of the user’s smart contract. To make deploying Programmatic Orders easy, CoW Protocol runs a default WatchTower that users can route orders through. However, users can also run their own WatchTower instance for maximum privacy.

## The all-in-one order automation kit

With the Programmatic Order Framework, a single signature can create hundreds of Programmatic Orders. The WatchTower monitors on-chain order conditions continuously and places orders whenever these conditions are met.

For example, a DAO with a diverse treasury can set up conditional orders for each token within its treasury. Based on these conditions, the framework may initiate a swap to rotate into stables when the treasury value rises above a certain threshold, or it may initiate a payout for DAO contractors on a given day of the month.

As the treasury receives various tokens, the framework executes trades accordingly, making DAO financial operations simple and automatic.

## Benefits of the Programmatic Order Framework

The Programmatic Order Framework unlocks a world of convenience for individuals and on-chain organizations:

-   **Leverage on-chain conditions**: Build highly complex use-cases that rely on custom conditional order logic through the Programmatic Order Framework. Create orders that get picked up by the WatchTower on a certain date, once the balance of your contract or wallet is above a defined threshold, or based on other on-chain conditions
-   **Deploy orders en masse**: Create hundreds or even thousands of orders with a single on-chain transaction. Developers can also mass-update orders all at once with a single gas payment by simply updating the Merkle root with another transaction
-   **Execute many orders in parallel**: In a traditional smart contract wallet, orders execute sequentially. With the Programmatic Order Framework, the WatchTower monitors your orders and executes them as soon as the on-chain conditions are met, meaning you can execute many orders simultaneously

Most importantly, the framework is  **fully decentralized**, providing 100% trustless execution with no intermediate contracts or centralized parties.

## Examples & use-cases

With the Programmatic Order Framework, you can program a limitless number of use-cases:

-   **Special order types**: Gone are the days of centralized exchanges offering order types you can’t get in DeFi. Program intricate order types like stop-loss, good-after-time, and take-profit orders — plus many more. CoW Swap’s very own  [TWAP feature](/learn/why-twap)  is built using the Programmatic Order Framework
-   **Automated DAO operations**: Blockchain-native organizations like DAOs process hundreds or even thousands of transactions every month. Thanks to the Programmatic Order Framework, your DAO can automate payroll, treasury diversification, fee collection, or any other type of repetitive transaction
-   **Portfolio rebalancing**: Set up order logic to programmatically rebalance assets based on a portfolio value. Automatically diversify based on market conditions or use custom logic to manage loan risk, farm yield, or hedge positions
-   **Private conditional orders**:  Thanks to the framework’s support for private WatchTower configurations, traders can place highly complex conditional orders while simultaneously keeping them private. Buy and sell tokens through a recurring strategy while keeping your parameters hidden
-   **Protocol integrations**: The Programmatic Order Framework isn’t  _just_  for Safe! DeFi protocols can leverage its power to assist with recurring protocol-level transactions like loan liquidations
-   **Easy transaction modules**: Program custom functionality into any order type. Companies can build DAO tooling with a fraction of the complexity. Focus on building adoption rather than fiddling with backend tech

With just a few lines of code, the Programmatic Order Framework brings convenience and predictability to all types of DeFi actions.

## What will you build, anon?

CoW Protocol is bringing Programmatic Orders to Ethereum through the Programmatic Order Framework. Create any order type you can imagine and deploy it instantly — all within the security of your own smart contract wallet.

The  [CoW Grants Program](https://grants.cow.fi/)  is also putting out a request for proposals relating to the Programmatic Order Framework. Have an idea for a solution built on top of the framework (especially one that includes a UI)? Submit a grant proposal!

The Programmatic Order Framework is now live. Read the documentation  [here](https://hackmd.io/pmZX_qT2Q1yw59KiiT6TPQ)  to get started.

Have questions? The CoW Protocol team is here to help: join us on  [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/cowprotocol)  or send us a  [Twitter DM](https://twitter.com/CoWSwap).

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Programmatic Orders enable a world of possibilities in DeFi; they’re now easier to create than ever thanks to CoW Protocol’s Programmatic Order Framework

Introducing the Programmatic Order Framework, from CoW Protocol

The CoW Swap team is excited to release a simpler trading experience for its users. Gasless approvals allow traders to swap over 150 tokens completely gaslessly through CoW Swap.

Before the launch of gasless approvals, CoW Swap users benefitted from gasless trading thanks to CoW Swap’s  [intent-based](/learn/cow-protocol-glossary#:~:text=Intent%20to%20Trade)  execution model. However, they still needed to pay gas fees (in ETH) to execute approval transactions the first time they wanted to trade any token.

With gasless approvals, CoW Swap now allows users to sign a message (gas free!) that gives  [solvers](https://docs.cow.fi/solvers/solvers)  permission to execute the approval transaction on their behalf. Solvers then bundle the approval transaction with the first swap, and users pay fees in the sell token.

The result? Users can now do an entire swap, even for a new token, without spending a gwei in ETH, or even holding any ETH in their wallet at all. That’s a smoooooother (and cheaper) user experience. Moo-gnificent!

## Benefits of gasless approvals

This new upgrade comes with a host of benefits relevant to EOA and multisig wallets alike.

-   **Fully ETH-less swaps:** New users and fresh wallets can complete swaps end-to-end without needing ETH — that’s especially nice for airdrop farmers and privacy seekers
-   **Faster trades**: CoW Swap users don’t have to wait for an approval transaction to execute before the swap — traders can now swap right away, even with tokens they haven’t traded before
-   **Bundling efficiency**: Approval transactions execute alongside orders, in the same block — shielded from fluctuating gas prices, for a more cost-efficient experience overall
-   **Enhanced security**: Only an approved spender can execute transactions on behalf of a trader — users can trust that CoW Swap is as secure as ever

## Gasless approvals under the hood

Gasless approvals rely on  [ERC-2612: Permit Extension for EIP-20 Signed Approvals](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2612).

Essentially, a function creates a signature that can call approvals directly on behalf of the owner. This allows a third party, such as a solver, to spend funds on behalf of the user. For security, gasless approvals rely on nonces which indicate the number of times a permit signature has been used. (There is also a time window in which the signature must be used.) This protects users from replay attacks because it is impossible to replicate an approval with the same nonce.

Each Ethereum transaction has a minimum fixed transaction cost associated with it. When executing transactions individually, this cost is usually higher per action than if users bundle multiple transactions together. So, in addition to creating a better user experience for traders, gasless approvals also lower the overall cost of trading on CoW Swap.

## Now live on CoW Swap

Gasless approvals are now live on  [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1)  for Ethereum Mainnet. See which tokens are currently supported by checking out the  [CoW Swap Permittable Tokens List](https://hackmd.io/@mastercow/cowswap-gasless-approvals).

As always, on CoW Swap:

-   Orders are free to place and cancel
-   Traders never pay for failed transactions
-   Fees that cover settlement costs are paid in traders’ sell tokens
-   Traders are fully protected from MEV

Happy trading!

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Announcing Gasless Approvals on CoW Swap


CoW DAO is an open organization of developers, traders, market makers, and various community members aligned with the vision of providing traders with the best prices and comprehensive MEV protection. CoW DAO is focused on building and maintaining CoW Protocol, a fair and decentralized trading system, and MEV Blocker, an RPC endpoint. CoW Protocol’s technology powers a network of traders and solvers, enabling trustless and efficient peer-to-peer trading through a unique “batch auction” system. This positions CoW Protocol as native trading infrastructure for discrete-time settlement layers like Ethereum. MEV Blocker is designed to protect transactions from MEV attacks such as front-running and sandwiching. In addition to protecting trades from harmful MEV, MEV Blocker leverages an Order Flow Auction between various searchers and builders to offer rebates to users for certain trades.

[oSnap](https://uma.xyz/osnap)  is a DAO governance tool built and secured by  [UMA](https://uma.xyz/). It allows communities to vote off-chain and automatically execute the successful proposals on-chain. oSnap automatically integrates with the DAO’s  [Snapshot](https://snapshot.org/#/)  space and the Safe wallet holding the DAO’s treasury funds. Transactions approved by the community are validated on-chain and executed without the need for centralized multisig approval.

CoW DAO is looking forward to integrating oSnap, as it will give the DAO several advantages including:

-   A decentralized process to execute successful proposals that no longer requires the involvement of multisig signers → Instead of having the multisig owners push successful proposals on-chain themselves, the oSnap bot will automatically execute them
-   Extra on-chain guarantees through a challenge period → Through oSnap, voters will be able to challenge proposals during a “challenge period” that takes place after the successful passing of a proposal
-   One step closer to a more decentralized and resilient CoW DAO → Integrating oSnap allows CoW DAO to run 100% through on-chain governance without relying on any off-chain infrastructure or trusted parties

## How it works

On a technical level, Snapshot allows users to integrate transaction data into their proposals using its transaction builder tool. Community members can include specific transactions in their proposals for the DAO to execute. Once a proposal is published, Snapshot uses the decentralized hosting service IPFS to store and share this transaction data, assigning it a unique identifier in the process.

Once a proposal is approved, the oSnap system takes charge of submitting the transaction data to UMA’s optimistic oracle. The oracle then verifies that the transaction matches the data stored at the IPFS identifier. If the oracle confirms the match, the transaction is executed using funds from the DAO Safe. However, in the event of an invalid or malicious transaction, the system automatically removes the data before it reaches the blockchain.

This integration is a step forward for CoW DAO’s decentralization. If you are interested in participating in the CoW DAO governance process, you have several options:

-   [Forum](https://forum.cow.fi/)  → CoW DAO’s forum is the main venue for governance-related discussion. Signing up for the forum allows community members to post and participate in discussions.
-   [Snapshot](https://snapshot.org/#/cow.eth)  → CoW DAO’s Snapshot space is a simple voting interface that allows users to vote on proposals. Votes on Snapshot are weighted by the number of vCOW+COW held or delegated to the address used to vote.
-   [Discord](https://discord.gg/cowprotocol)  → The CoW DAO Discord server is currently the main discussion hub for the CoW community and an informal place for governance discussions. The “governance-discussion” channel is where governance matters and proposals are discussed.

## Learn more

[CoW DAO](https://cow.fi/)  is a decentralized organization maintaining CoW Protocol and  [MEV Blocker](https://mevblocker.io/)  for the effective protection of Ethereum traders across DeFi. CoW Protocol leverages batch auctions to find the best prices for user trades, while MEV Blocker maintains a decentralized network of searchers & builders who protect users from MEV and provide them with rebates from profitable backrunning opportunities.

[oSnap](https://uma.xyz/osnap)  is a governance tool secured by UMA and audited by Open Zeppelin. It is free to use and can be integrated in less than 60 seconds.

[UMA](https://uma.xyz/)  is an optimistic oracle that can validate any independently verifiable data on the blockchain. UMA ensures protocol security by incentivizing validators to identify and delete false information passing through the oracle. Since launching in 2020, UMA has secured more than 10,000 critical data assertions. It has never been corrupted.

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CoW DAO has integrated oSnap as a means of directly executing the results of future Snapshot votes on-chain. This integration eliminates the need for multi-signature wallets, creating a more decentralized and efficient execution process.

CoW DAO integrates oSnap for decentralized governance

To celebrate the  [recent launch of TWAP orders](https://blog.cow.fi/cow-swap-launches-twap-orders-d5583135b472), the CoW team is running a trading raffle with several prizes up for grabs. To enter,  **all you have to do is make at least one TWAP trade during the month of September (TWAP-tember)**!

At the end of the month, the CoW team will select one Safe address to receive the grand prize:

> **_🏆 FREE CoW Swap orders for the month of October (aka, Up-tober_**_📈_**_)*_**

That’s right, Swap for free all month long… how’s that for greener pastures?

But we’re not done milking the fun, while only one lucky winner will receive the grand prize, there’s still more up for grabs:

-   **⌚5 people**  will receive CoW Swap-branded watches, to help time your trades
-   **💳 10 people**  will receive custom CoW Swap-branded  [Gnosis Pay](https://gnosispay.com/)  cards

Keep in mind, Ethereum mainnet TWAPs start at a minimum of $5k per part, but you can  [TWAP on Gnosis Chain](https://swap.cow.fi/#/100/advanced/WETH?utm_campaign=twap-tember-medium)  with only $5 per part! **In fact, TWAPs on Gnosis Chain have lower fees (thanks to lower gas costs) and lower $$ minimums than mainnet** (which should also come in handy for Safe deployment).

So what are you waiting for anon? Grab your  [Safe](https://safe.global/)  wallet and head over to  [CoW Swap](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/advanced/WETH?utm_campaign=twap-tember-medium)  to get your TWAP on. If you’re new to TWAP, we’ve created a handy  [how-to guide](/learn/how-to-use-cow-swap-twap-orders-via-safe-wallet)  to help you with your first trade.

## 🐮 Let TWAP-tember begin! 🐮

Visit  [CoW Swap today to TWAP](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/advanced/WETH?utm_campaign=twap-tember-medium)  your way to the top.

The winning addresses will be announced on the  [CoW Swap Twitter](https://twitter.com/CoWSwap)  so keep an eye on it for instructions on how the winners can claim their physical prizes!

_Terms & Conditions: To receive waived fees, orders must take place between the 1st and 31st of October, 2023. A maximum of $5000 in fees will be refunded._

**———————————————————————**

**UPDATE:**  The winners of TWAP-tember have been announced!

**Grand Prize Winner:** 0x4cb5eE1ad8Bf1B9d75422f9aD086Da2F84BD91B4

**Winners of the CoW-branded Watch & Gnosis Pay Card:**

1.  0xef5e42549886b9b060ee0381a3819ecaf0fdaeda
2.  0x38fe3792cea65f37cac5474dca8fff887e6d90b1
3.  0x2a4e4ab5e6680b76e00ad4555e39d2dcca42a659
4.  0x23a02d9e5d6ad9419128663976315689204be895
5.  0xf4a82a72faf46b2c55cdad3bcf7c0c1b564bab30

**Winners of just the Gnosis Pay Card**:

1.  0x3bc0cb287f74504347d50fe3ada6d90214e6f512
2.  0x952656cb0121d79a320bb0a7188fb4abb2b5dd94
3.  0x2855159d938d09d00d4fccf42f69ccb8f5b620e2
4.  0xdb72b7dc6ddf0c95468ce19b6539b9a44e561679
5.  0x3e23fd468f65e77aea8f548ebd382e86e7a99309

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated!

To claim your prize, please  [DM us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/CoWSwap)  by November 1st.



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Attention all traders, the CoW Swap herd is thrilled to announce TWAP-tember, the greatest trading extravaganza of the year!


Introducing TWAP-tember

TWAP orders allow traders to spread their trade over a specified period of time in order to smooth out fluctuations in market price and open a position for an average market price. A TWAP order consists of multiple smaller orders placed at regular intervals over a predefined time period.

> **In our tests, selling 1,000 ETH in four parts of 250 ETH each, allowed us to yield a price for the order that was 3.5% better than selling the 1,000 ETH all at once!**

## TWAP Order Interface

To get started with TWAP orders through the  [Safe](https://app.safe.global/)  app, you will first need to authorise a transaction signing request that contains a batch of transactions (we’re big fans of gas savings through batching ⛽🚫). This batch includes a “setFallbackHandler’’ function. TWAP orders are the first order type that runs on a new conditional order framework, super-charging your Safe.

In order for this framework to make complex trades on your behalf, an upgrade to Safe’s “fallback  handler” is required. Don’t worry though, you will be automatically prompted to upgrade in order to use TWAP.

![1-twap.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/1_twap_9fef6b1d70.webp)


The TWAP interface has several sections:

-   **Trading Assets**: Select the assets you want to swap and the amounts of each.
-   **Price Protection**: Provides protection against major price movements. Your TWAP order won’t execute if the market price dips more than this percentage (calculated from the asset price at the time of order submission).
-   **Number of parts**: Enter the number of parts you would like your order split into.
-   **Total Duration**: The total amount of time your order will take to execute.
-   **Part Duration**: Automatically calculated from your total duration and number of parts, part duration shows how long CoW Swap will wait between each part of your order.
-   **Sell & Buy per part**: Shows an estimate of how much CoW Swap will sell and buy with each part of your trade.

## Benefits of TWAP Orders

TWAP orders have been widely explored through research literature in traditional finance but haven’t yet seen the light of day in DeFi. They’re finally entering use on exchanges such as CoW Swap and they provide a range of benefits for traders.

**Reduce your slippage**: Breaking up a large order into smaller pieces allows you to set a smaller slippage tolerance for each piece than if you had executed the large order as one.

**Reduce your price impact**: As with slippage, breaking up a large order into small pieces allows you to spread your liquidity needs over time, reducing your price impact.

**Always receive 100% of your order surplus**: On CoW Swap, all order surplus is forwarded to you. If your order executes for a better price than your quoted price — thanks to  [Coincidence of Wants](/learn/what-are-cows-on-cow-swap)  or any other price improvement that solvers are able to find — the extra price improvement will be forwarded to you.

**Eliminate market fluctuations**: By giving traders the time-weighted average price, TWAP orders smooth out market volatility, which makes trying to predict prices a thing of the past.

**Customise your order parameters**: TWAP orders allow you to fine-tune your order by specifying the number of parts you’d like it split up into, as well as the time period you want it to execute over. On CoW Swap, TWAP orders also have a “price protection” option which protects your order from executing at an unfavorable price due to market volatility.

## Get Started with TWAP Orders on CoW Swap

TWAP orders are now available in the  [CoW Swap order interface](https://swap.cow.fi/#/1/advanced)  under the “Advanced” tab.

**Have a Safe?**  Awesome! You can try out TWAP  [here](https://swap.cow.fi/#/swap?utm_source=medium&utm_campaign=TWAP-announcement).

**Don’t have a Safe?**  Not a problem! Create one  [here](https://app.safe.global/share/safe-app?appUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fswap.cow.fi&chain=eth).

The CoW Swap team is working on adding support for more wallets in the future.

One more thing to note: TWAP orders are most useful for big trades! So, when trading on Mainnet, the  _minimum_  TWAP order size is $5k. This minimum ensures that your savings from reduced price impact are not lost on execution fees (AKA gas fees). If you want to trade smaller amounts, head over to Gnosis Chain, where the TWAP order minimum is only $5 (and the gas fees are much cheaper!)

As always, on CoW Swap:

-   All prices are aggregated from the best available on-chain and off-chain liquidity.
-   Traders are fully protected from MEV.
-   Orders are free to place and free to cancel.
-   Traders never pay for failed transactions.
-   Transactions are gasless as fees are paid in the sell token.

Celebrating ComposableCoW’s conditional order superpowers, we are releasing it with TWAP (time-weighted average price) order support for enabled-Safe users.

Give  [TWAP orders a try](https://swap.cow.fi/#/swap?utm_source=medium&utm_campaign=TWAP-announcement)  today and let us know what you think by reaching out on  [Twitter](https://twitter.com/CoWSwap)  or  [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/cowprotocol)!

![2-twap.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/2_twap_2220db98f0.webp)

We wish you much surplus and happy TWAP order trading! Give  [TWAP orders a try](https://swap.cow.fi/#/swap?utm_source=medium&utm_campaign=TWAP-announcement)  today and let us know what you think by reaching out on  [Twitter](https://twitter.com/CoWSwap)  or  [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/cowprotocol)!

_Please note that TWAP orders currently require a_ [_Safe_](https://safe.global/) _wallet with a fallback handler. More wallets will be supported in the future._



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CoW Swap is excited to announce the launch of Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) orders! Available now as an advanced order type in the CoW Swap order interface.


CoW Swap Launches TWAP Orders

Surplus notifications are now live on CoW Swap! Just navigate to your account page to see the total amount of price surplus CoW Swap has generated across all your trades.

Surplus notifications will also pop up after each trade, showing you how much extra you’ve earned for that trade!

![announcing-cow-swap-surplus-notifications-cover-photo.webp](https://celebrated-gift-f83e5c9419.media.strapiapp.com/announcing_cow_swap_surplus_notifications_cover_photo_dbb7d409c9.webp)

## What is Surplus?

On CoW Swap, we call any improvement over your quoted price “surplus”.

-   **Positive Slippage**: Sometimes the market moves to your advantage and the asset you’re trading becomes cheaper between the time you’re quoted and the time of execution. On CoW Swap, that price savings is passed on to you
-   **Coincidence of Wants (CoWs)**: If your order is matched peer-to-peer with someone else, you save on gas costs and LP fees. That price surplus is also passed along to you
-   **Any other price improvement**: If the solvers can find a better source of liquidity than they originally quoted, or improve the price in any other way, this price improvement is forwarded to you.

## CoW Swap Passes Along the Most Surplus

CoW Swap is the only exchange that passes along all types of price improvements. Positive slippage, gas savings, and other optimizations usually end up in the protocol treasury for most DEXs and DEX aggregators. At CoW, we put our users first, so you can rest assured that if we find a better price, it’ll be you we tell first.
