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Solvers: Into a world of intents

Blockchain technology promised a decentralized and transparent future, yet for many, it still feels out of reach—complicated, costly, and inaccessible. Obstacles like Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) and fragmented ecosystems have transformed what should be seamless interactions into frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive processes.

But this is just the beginning—we're still writing the narrative. And in this chapter, Solvers are one of the main characters.

By interpreting user intents—simple statements of desired outcomes—and executing them with precision, the solver ecosystem is bridging the gap between blockchain technology's potential and its practical use.

What are solvers?

Solvers are sophisticated optimization entities that handle the intricate details of onchain interactions, freeing the user to focus on their goals. Acting as intermediaries, solvers evaluate execution pathways, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance user outcomes.

For example, if you want to swap ETH for USDC at the best price, a solver will analyze all available decentralized exchanges, calculate fees, and execute the trade efficiently. Similarly, if you need to transfer assets between Ethereum and Polygon, a solver will identify the optimal bridge and handle the complexities of execution, saving time and reducing errors.

By abstracting the complexities of blockchain transactions, solvers translate users' complex intents—such as swapping tokens or transferring assets—into actionable steps that prioritize optimal outcomes.

Intent-based systems

At the core of a solver network lies the concept of intents. The web3 community is discovering the potential of intent-based systems to shift the burden of complexity away from the user, allowing them to focus on their goals without navigating technical intricacies.

Intents are signed messages that only define an acceptable end state and potential constraints. They don't define "how" this end state is achieved. Finding the best "how" is outsourced to a specialized actor, called a solver. — Redefining Blockchain Interactions

While intent solutions simplify blockchain interactions, challenges like fragmentation and a lack of composability across protocols remain significant barriers to realizing their full potential.

Solvers vs searchers

Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) has been a persistent challenge in blockchain networks. Searchers—entities that reorder, include, or exclude transactions for profit—often operate at users’ expense, exploiting vulnerabilities and increasing costs through practices like front-running and sandwich attacks.

Solvers, in contrast, focus on optimizing user outcomes. They compete in intent-solving auctions to provide better prices, mitigate MEV risks, and deliver value-added services. Interestingly, the skills and expertise required for searching and solving are quite similar, making teams with a background in MEV searching particularly effective as solvers. Many top solvers started as searchers, leveraging their deep understanding of MEV dynamics and optimization to deliver user-focused solutions. However, solvers are not immune to financial incentives, and their behaviour is influenced by the competitive market of the wider solver ecosystem. Addressing risks like centralization and the principal-agent problem is crucial for maintaining user trust.

What do solvers do?

The role of solvers is expanding rapidly, driven by the growing adoption of intent-centric models. Acting as market participants, solvers match potentially complex intents with counterparties and chart the most efficient paths to fulfill them. In return, solvers earn fees for their services, creating a symbiotic relationship between users and the ecosystem.

Execution quality

Solvers improve execution quality by finding optimal routes for complex intents. In some cases, intents are matched directly through mechanisms like coincidence of wants or ring trades, which eliminate fees and slippage. However, these scenarios are rare. Batch auctions, like those implemented by CoW Swap, aggregate intents over time, enabling solvers to compete for the best execution paths.

Despite these advancements, a significant challenge persists—the lack of composability between systems. Intents on UniswapX currently can't interact with those on CoW Swap, limiting a solver's ability to fully optimize transactions across platforms. The push toward generalized intent networks aims to overcome this hurdle, unlocking cross-protocol composability for solvers.

Simplifying user experiences

Interacting with blockchain platforms often feels like navigating a maze. Achieving optimal results requires users to juggle token markets, compare exchange rates, avoid MEV attacks, and manage transaction fees. For many, this complexity creates friction that limits participation. Solvers offer a solution by removing these barriers, focusing on the user's desired outcomes, and handling the complexity behind the scenes.

Take Bob, a casual investor looking to convert 2 ETH into a portfolio of smaller tokens: 50% into LINK, 30% into UNI, and 20% into AAVE. Without solvers, Bob would need to:

Check prices for each token manually on exchanges like Uniswap or SushiSwap.
Split his ETH into exact portions, factoring in slippage and gas costs for each trade.
Execute three separate transactions, each incurring fees.
Monitor market conditions to ensure fair prices for every swap.

This process is time-intensive, costly, and prone to errors—making it an uphill battle for users like Bob.

With solvers, Bob expresses his intent—"Convert 2 ETH into a portfolio of LINK (50%), UNI (30%), and AAVE (20%)." While Bob's goal is technically a complex intent, for a human, it's the simplest way to express his needs. The solver then analyzes multiple DEXs, optimizes execution, and batches the transactions for minimal transaction fees, creating the portfolio seamlessly.

By focusing on intent execution and interpretation, solvers make blockchain interactions accessible for everyday users—no advanced technical knowledge or financial expertise required.

How do they operate?

The solver's role goes beyond simple execution—they combine technical expertise, advanced algorithms, and robust infrastructure to deliver seamless, efficient and optimized execution.

Onchain routing

Solvers shine when it comes to creating efficient pathways for onchain transactions, focusing on reducing gas costs, minimizing slippage, and avoiding network congestion. By interacting with decentralized exchanges (DEXs), liquidity pools, and other protocols, solvers identify the most advantageous execution routes.

However, current systems, like UniswapX or CoW Swap, often lack composability, preventing intents from interacting across platforms. This limits a solver's ability to optimize transactions through rare mechanisms like coincidence of wants or ring trades. Generalized intent networks aim to address these limitations, unlocking full composability for solvers and enhancing execution quality.

Offchain liquidity management

Some Solvers extend their capabilities beyond onchain activity by tapping into off-chain liquidity sources, adding flexibility and improving transaction pricing.

Through access to private order flows and external liquidity providers, Solvers can deliver competitive pricing that often surpasses what is achievable onchain.

Private order flows help minimize market price impact, especially for large trades. Solvers working with institutional-grade liquidity providers can execute substantial transactions discreetly, preventing adverse effects on market prices. However, accessing these flows is rare and often strategically cumbersome.

Crosschain execution

A user who wants to swap tokens on Ethereum and receive assets on Polygon can use a solver to identify the optimal bridge, handle the transfer, and ensure they get their desired asset with minimal delays.

Solvers orchestrate transactions across multiple blockchains, ensuring seamless interoperability for users. This involves bridging assets, dynamically managing crosschain liquidity, and delivering fast, reliable settlements across networks. In a fragmented rollup-centric future, solvers act as an abstraction layer, mitigating UX challenges and improving transaction reliability.

By dynamically managing liquidity across chains, solvers effectively mitigate risks from fragmented markets, creating a smooth, efficient user experience.

Latency optimization

In blockchain transactions, timing is everything. To stay competitive, solvers optimize for low-latency processing, especially in MEV-sensitive scenarios. This involves minimizing delays in pathfinding, securing liquidity, and submitting transactions faster than competitors.

Latency optimization is particularly crucial in high-frequency scenarios like MEV mitigation. In these contexts, even a fraction of a second can determine whether a solver successfully fulfills an intent. By prioritizing speed and precision, solvers deliver timely and efficient execution.

Competitions among solvers

Auctions are key to ensuring users receive the best possible execution quality.

Batch auctions—like those implemented by CoW Swap—aggregate user intents over time, allowing solvers to compete to fulfill them. Solvers place bids based on their anticipated returns, factoring in potential profits from MEV mitigation or gas savings. This process encourages the solver ecosystem to optimize their strategies to deliver superior outcomes.

Another auction format, the Dutch auction, dynamically adjusts pricing based on demand, fostering efficient competition while aligning incentives with user outcomes. Unlike traditional order flow auctions, these mechanisms prioritize delivering optimized execution directly to users rather than offering refunds based on auction bids.

These mechanisms align incentives with user outcomes, but centralization risks persist. Reduced competition in the solver ecosystem could lead to extractive behaviour and diminished benefits for users. Encouraging diversity among solvers and adopting accountability frameworks is extremely important in mitigating these risks.

Addressing risks and challenges

As generalized intent systems become a reality, solvers will unlock new levels of efficiency and interoperability. However, challenges such as centralization risks, reduced competition, and censorship resistance must be addressed.

While solvers promise significant improvements in onchain interactions, their growing dominance raises concerns. Centralization among solvers could amplify risks like reduced competition and extractive behaviour. Accountability frameworks and decentralized governance structures will play a vital role in mitigating these risks.

Moreover, encouraging ecosystem-wide standards for intents will enhance solver participation, competition, and execution quality. This approach aligns incentives across stakeholders and ensures that solvers empower users without compromising the decentralized ethos of web3.

By focusing on execution efficiency, mitigating MEV risks, and simplifying user interactions, solvers are making blockchain more accessible and user-friendly. However, achieving this vision requires ongoing innovation and collaboration across the ecosystem.

The next chapter for solvers

Solvers are more than just a technical upgrade—they’re a shift in how we engage with blockchains. By abstracting complexity and delivering seamless user experiences, solvers are rewriting what’s possible onchain. However, their potential is only as strong as the ecosystem supporting them.

The path forward isn’t just about fixing risks—it’s about setting the stage for a more collaborative and open onchain future. Centralization concerns, governance gaps, and interoperability challenges are hurdles, but they’re also opportunities to build better systems.

With the adoption of standardized intent-based systems and diverse solver participation, the ecosystem will push past these obstacles and unlock a more inclusive, decentralized web3.

This isn’t just a tech story—it’s a community-driven evolution. As solvers reshape blockchain interactions, their success depends on collective effort. Developers, researchers, and users alike must come together to ensure solvers aren’t just functional but transformational.

The real win? A blockchain experience that’s intuitive, fair, and powerful enough to empower anyone, anywhere. With solvers, we’re not just building systems—we’re building a future where blockchain feels effortless and accessible to all.

Sprinter

Sprinter is an end-to-end toolkit simplifying multichain app development with chain abstraction, crosschain bridging, and liquidity management. Our solver layer optimizes transaction routes, ensuring efficiency and scalability, making seamless and user-friendly web3 apps a reality.