What are intents and solvers? The invisible layer executing your DeFi trades

Introduction Most DeFi users believe they interact directly with an automated market maker when they swap tokens on Uniswap or SushiSwap. In 2022, this was broadly true. A user signed a transaction, that transaction entered the public mempool, a validator included it in a block, and the AMM’s constant-product formula determined the price. This model has a problem. Public mempools are hunting grounds. MEV bots monitor pending transactions and execute sandwich attacks: they buy before your trade pushes the price up, then sell after, extracting value from the spread. Flashbots estimated that MEV extraction on Ethereum exceeded $600 million in cumulative profit by 2023, with a significant share coming from sandwich attacks on retail swaps. For a deeper look at how this extraction works, see what is MEV. Intent-based protocols restructure this flow. Instead of broadcasting a transaction that specifies every execution detail, the user signs an intent: a declarative statement of the desired result. A network of solvers then competes to fill that intent at the best possible price, off-chain, without exposing the order to the public mempool. This guide explains the mechanics of intents and ...