The Future of MEV: User-Controlled Transaction Bundling

User-controlled transaction bundling inverts the MEV power dynamic. Instead of searchers extracting value from user transactions, users and their agents proactively construct and auction their own bundles. This transforms MEV from a tax into a rebate.

The catalyst is intent-based architecture. Protocols like UniswapX and CowSwap abstract execution complexity into declarative goals. This creates a standardized, composable input for a new class of solver networks to compete on fulfilling.

The endpoint is programmable privacy. User bundles enable pre-confirmation privacy via mechanisms like threshold encryption, as seen with Flashbots SUAVE. This prevents frontrunning while preserving the auction's economic efficiency.

Evidence: Over 60% of DEX volume on Ethereum now flows through intent-based or private mempools, according to EigenPhi. This is the baseline for the next evolution.

User-owned MEV is the logical endpoint of permissionless finance. The current model, where searcvers and builders extract value from user transactions, is an intermediary inefficiency. Protocols like Flashbots SUAVE and CoWSwap demonstrate that users can directly express and fulfill their own transaction intents.

Intent-based architectures invert the power dynamic. Instead of users signing raw transactions for searcvers to exploit, they sign high-level intents (e.g., 'swap X for Y at best price'). Solvers like UniswapX and Across compete to fulfill these intents, with the user capturing the surplus value as a rebate or better execution.

The bundling market will fragment. Generalized intent solvers will compete with specialized user-operated bundlers. A user's transaction flow—a swap on Uniswap, a bridge via LayerZero, and a deposit into Aave—becomes a single, monetizable bundle they can auction.

Evidence: On CoWSwap, over 90% of trades are settled via its batch auction mechanism, which inherently eliminates frontrunning and returns MEV as better prices to users. This model proves value redistribution is technically feasible and economically superior.

MEV is a tax. Searchers and builders extract over $1B annually by reordering, inserting, and censoring transactions. This value leaks from DeFi protocols and retail users to sophisticated operators.

The infrastructure is adversarial. Protocols like Flashbots' SUAVE and Jito optimize for extractor profit, not user or protocol benefit. This creates a principal-agent problem where the network's builders work against its users.

User-controlled bundling flips the model. Instead of searchers bundling user transactions for arbitrage, users submit intent-based bundles that specify outcomes. This shifts bargaining power and captures value for the submitter.

Evidence: In 2023, Ethereum PBS captured $400M+ in MEV. Protocols like UniswapX and CowSwap demonstrate that intent-based, user-signed bundles reduce leakage and improve price execution.

Users declare outcomes, not steps. Instead of signing a complex transaction, a user submits a signed intent, like 'swap X for Y at a minimum price.' This moves the burden of execution pathfinding and gas optimization to a competitive network of solvers, as seen in UniswapX and CowSwap.

Solvers compete on fulfillment. This creates a competitive solver market where entities like PropellerHeads and professional searchers bid to fulfill the intent most profitably. The user's transaction is no longer a single path but an auction for the best execution.

MEV extraction becomes permissioned. In this model, extractable value flows to the user. The solver's profit is the spread between their fulfillment cost and the user's specified limit price, aligning incentives. This flips the current model where value is captured by adversarial searchers.

Evidence: UniswapX processed over $7B in volume by Q1 2024, demonstrating user demand for gasless, MEV-protected swaps. Its architecture relies entirely on a permissionless network of off-chain solvers competing to fulfill user intents.

User-controlled bundling centralizes power in a new class of specialized operators. The technical complexity of constructing optimal bundles and managing cross-chain state creates a high barrier to entry. This leads to a market dominated by a few sophisticated players like Flashbots' SUAVE or private searcher collectives, replicating today's MEV supply chain.

Cross-chain intent execution is fragile. A bundle spanning Ethereum and Solana via LayerZero or Wormhole must succeed atomically across multiple, asynchronous environments. A failure in one leg forces complex and costly remediation, a risk individual users cannot manage, pushing them back to trusted intermediaries.

The security model shifts risk from validators to users. In traditional MEV, searchers bear execution risk. With user-signed bundles, the user's signature authorizes any outcome, making them liable for unintended side-effects or predatory bundle inclusion, a problem protocols like CowSwap solve with solvers but at the cost of abstraction.

Evidence: The mempool remains a critical vulnerability. Encrypted mempools like Flashbots Protect are not universally adopted. A user's plaintext bundle intent in a public mempool is a target for front-running and extraction, negating the promised control.

User sovereignty replaces extractive searchers. The current MEV supply chain relies on third-party searchers who capture value. The next evolution moves bundling logic into the user's client, enabling wallets like Rabby or MetaMask to construct and submit their own optimized transaction bundles directly to block builders.

Wallets become execution orchestrators. This transforms wallets from simple signers into intent-aware execution engines. They will integrate with services like UniswapX and CowSwap to source quotes, use private mempools like Flashbots Protect, and route transactions across chains via Across or LayerZero based on optimal execution cost.

The standard is ERC-4337 Account Abstraction. This protocol provides the technical substrate for user-controlled bundling. It allows a 'bundler' role, which a user's own client can fulfill, to atomically execute a complex operation. This eliminates the need for a profit-seeking intermediary searcher in the flow.

Evidence: Adoption drives infrastructure. The rise of intent-based architectures in protocols like UniswapX and Across proves the demand for abstracted execution. As ERC-4337 wallet adoption grows, the economic incentive to build client-side bundling tooling becomes unavoidable.