Description
CoW DAO is an open collective of developers, market makers, and community contributors focused on building user-protective products in DeFi. Their main products include CoW Protocol, an open-source DEX aggregation protocol; CoW Swap, a DEX that aims to protect users; CoW AMM, an MEV-capturing automated market maker; and MEV Blocker, an RPC for MEV protection. The DAO is known for its work in intents and MEV protection. Governance is handled by COW token holders who participate in discussions, proposals, and voting. The organization also funds related projects through its Grants Program.
CoW Protocol is a meta-DEX aggregation protocol that leverages trade intents and batch auctions to find users better prices for trading crypto assets. The protocol relies on third parties known as "solvers" to find the best execution paths for trade intents. Upon first receiving a user intent, the protocol groups it alongside other intents in a batch. When executing trade intents, solvers first try to find a Coincidence of Wants (CoW) within the existing batch to offer an optimal price over any on-chain liquidity. If the protocol does not find a CoW, the solvers search all available on-chain and off-chain liquidity to find the best price for a set of trade intents within a batch. Liquidity sources include AMMs (e.g. Uniswap, Sushiswap, Balancer, Curve, etc.), DEX Aggregators (e.g. 1inch, Paraswap, Matcha, etc.), and Private Market Makers. The wide range of liquidity that solvers tap into makes CoW Protocol a meta-DEX aggregator, or an aggregator of aggregators.