The Future of User Experience Is MEV-Absorbing Design

Users lose ~$1B+ annually to generalized front-running bots on public mempools. This creates a toxic UX where execution is unpredictable and success is probabilistic.

• Cost: Hidden slippage and failed transactions.
• Trust: Requires blind faith in block builders.
• Inefficiency: Value leaks out of the application layer.

Users submit declarative goals (e.g., 'get the best price for X token') instead of rigid transactions. Systems like UniswapX, CowSwap, and Across solve and settle optimally off-chain.

• Efficiency: Solvers compete to absorb MEV for better user prices.
• Simplicity: No gas bidding or complex slippage settings.
• Guarantees: Cryptographic commitments ensure outcome fairness.

Prevents front-running by hiding transaction content until block inclusion. Flashbots' SUAVE aims to be a decentralized, cross-chain mempool and block builder.

• Privacy: Transaction details are encrypted until execution.
• Competition: Decentralized block builders auction for inclusion rights.
• Composability: A universal flow for cross-chain MEV absorption.

Users submit signed intent messages, not on-chain transactions. A network of off-chain solvers competes to fulfill them, absorbing frontrunning risk and optimizing for best price.\n- Key Benefit: Guarantees users the best price across all DEXs and private pools.\n- Key Benefit: ~$1B+ in monthly volume absorbed from public mempools.

These protocols accumulate user orders into periodic batches, settling them in a single atomic transaction. This eliminates intra-block arbitrage and turns MEV into surplus returned to users.\n- Key Benefit: CoW (Coincidence of Wants) trades execute peer-to-peer with zero fees.\n- Key Benefit: $2B+ in surplus returned to users via MEV capture and redistribution.

Aims to decentralize the block building market itself. SUAVE creates a neutral, open marketplace for pre-confirmation and cross-chain intent expression, preventing builder-level centralization.\n- Key Benefit: Breaks the searcher-builder-proposer vertical integration that dominates Ethereum today.\n- Key Benefit: Enables cross-domain MEV absorption, optimizing execution across rollups and L1.

Traditional DEX swaps expose users to frontrunning, sandwich attacks, and toxic order flow, costing DeFi billions annually. The UX is adversarial by default.\n- Key Flaw: Users pay for protection via high slippage tolerances.\n- Key Flaw: Value extraction is outsourced to predatory third-party searchers.

Absorbing layers internalize the MEV supply chain. By controlling order flow, they can auction it, optimize it, and redistribute the value. MEV becomes a feature, not a bug.\n- Key Shift: Revenue shifts from extractors to users/protocols.\n- Key Shift: Execution becomes predictable and guaranteed, moving towards Web2-grade UX.

While not pure MEV absorbers, these messaging protocols enable the composable intent required for cross-chain absorbing layers. They allow solvers to fulfill user demands that span multiple domains atomically.\n- Key Benefit: Enables global liquidity sourcing for intent-based systems like UniswapX.\n- Key Benefit: Provides the secure messaging primitive for cross-chain MEV absorption strategies.

Users sign generic transactions, surrendering control to the mempool where searchers and validators extract ~$1B+ annually in value. This creates:\n- Adverse selection: Your swap is front-run or sandwiched.\n- Failed transactions: You pay gas for nothing if price moves.\n- Opaque pricing: You have no idea your true execution cost.

Users declare what they want (e.g., 'sell 1 ETH for at least 1800 DAI'), not how to do it. Systems like UniswapX, CowSwap, and Across solve for this.\n- Competition shifts: Solvers compete on fulfillment quality, not block space.\n- MEV becomes a rebate: Extracted value is returned as better prices.\n- Guaranteed outcomes: Users get their intent or pay nothing.

Protocols will act as execution insurers, using on-chain capital to underwrite user transactions. This absorbs volatility and latency risk.\n- Pre-confirmations: Get a guaranteed price before the block is built.\n- Cross-domain atomicity: LayerZero and Chainlink CCIP enable secure intents across chains.\n- Capital efficiency: The same liquidity secures execution and provides yield.

MEV-absorbing design consolidates power in solver networks and shared sequencers. This creates new risks.\n- Censorship vectors: A dominant solver can exclude users.\n- Oracle dependence: Intents rely on price feeds from Chainlink or Pyth.\n- Liveness failures: If the solver set fails, the system halts.

Every public transaction is a signal for searchers and bots. The resulting MEV—front-running, sandwich attacks, failed arbitrage—is a direct tax on user trust and capital. This creates a hostile environment where ~$1B+ is extracted annually from retail flows alone.

Shift from specifying how (transactions) to declaring what (outcomes). Users submit signed intents; a network of solvers competes to fulfill them optimally. This internalizes MEV competition, converting extractive value into better prices and gas subsidies for the user.

• Better Execution: Solvers absorb MEV for user benefit.
• Gasless Experience: Users don't submit on-chain txs.

Pre-trade privacy is non-negotiable. Encrypted mempools (e.g., Shutter Network) and dedicated execution environments like SUAVE prevent front-running by hiding transaction content until execution. This turns the mempool from a public auction into a private order book.

• Privacy by Default: Encrypt intent/order details.
• Cross-Chain Native: Designed for a multi-chain world.

Forward-thinking protocols (e.g., Across Protocol with its embedded RFQ system) are capturing MEV that would have gone to external searchers. This creates a sustainable, alignment-driven revenue model where value extraction funds protocol development and user rewards.

• Direct Monetization: Convert MEV to treasury income.
• Improved Unit Economics: Subsidize user acquisition costs.

Intent systems create a new bottleneck: the solver network. Without careful design (e.g., permissionless solving, decentralized reputation), we risk replacing miner/validator MEV with solver cartels. The winning architecture will prioritize credible neutrality and open participation.

The greatest value accrual will shift from base layer validators to the application-layer protocols that aggregate and protect user intent. Invest in stacks that abstract complexity, absorb negative externalities (MEV, gas, failures), and own the primary user relationship.