Intents and Solvers: The Next UX Layer for DeFi in 2026

tl;dr

• DeFi today is complicated and fragile. Manual bridging, gas wars, slippage issues, and expensive failed transactions make every swap feel cumbersome.
  
  
• Intents replace manual steps with a simple request like “get me USDC for my ETH,” letting solvers handle execution automatically.
  
  
• A user signs one off-chain message expressing their goal; solver networks compete to deliver the best outcome and pay the gas upfront.
  
  
• 2026 is set to be the breakout year for intents thanks to mature solver networks, rising chain abstraction, and the arrival of AI-powered execution agents.

DeFi Difficulties & the Death of the "Transaction"

DeFi today feels like assembling IKEA furniture with a glass Allen wrench. There’s manual bridging, chain-hopping, gas wars, slippage anxiety, and failed transactions that cost you $80 to learn that nothing happened. 

Every swap is a 7-step imperative checklist with steps like approve, choose router, set slippage, and pray to the mempool.

Intents will replace imperative micromanagement (“call these contracts in this order”) with declarative simplicity (“get me USDC for my ETH, best price, anywhere”). No more worrying about gas fees or failed txs.

What Are Intents and How Do They Work?

In simple terms, an intent is a user’s declared goal on-chain, like “Swap 1 ETH for as much USDC as possible, but at least 1,800 USDC, within the next 20 minutes.” 

Instead of telling the blockchain exactly how to execute (which contracts, which routes), the user only states what they want and their constraints (price limits, deadline, preferred chains, etc.). Intents are declarative (“I want this outcome”) rather than imperative (“Call contract A, then B, then C”).

How Intents Work

Users sign a compact off-chain message expressing their intent. 

This message is broadcast to a network of specialized actors called solvers. Solvers competitively search for the best execution path (across DEXs, chains, bridges, lending markets, etc.) that best matches the user’s goal. 

The winning solver submits the final bundled transaction on-chain, pays the gas, and delivers the outcome. The user typically only signs once and receives the result with built-in slippage protection, MEV resistance, and no failed transactions.

Why 2026 Will Be the Year of Intent-Centric Architectures

Three forces are colliding to make 2026 the breakout year for intents.

First, solver networks have finally matured. CoW Swap, UniswapX, Anoma, SUAVE, and Across now run battle-tested auctions with hundreds of professional solvers competing in real time, delivering near-perfect fill rates and built-in MEV protection.

Second, Chain Abstraction is going mainstream. Projects like NEAR, Agoric, and Particle Network are erasing visible bridges, letting users declare cross-chain goals (“move my USDC to Base and lend it”) while solvers handle the routing behind the scenes.

Third, AI agents in crypto are arriving. Early AI-powered solvers can already optimize yield strategies, auto-rebalance portfolios, and even negotiate private deals. AI-powered solvers can turn simple intents into intelligent, continuous wealth management agents.

Gas Abstraction and "Gasless" Swaps

Thanks to intents and Account Abstraction (ERC-4337, smart accounts), users no longer need ETH, SOL, or any native token to pay gas. 

When you declare an intent (“swap 500 USDC to DAI”), the winning solver fronts the gas fee on your behalf and simply deducts it from the output, or charges it in USDC directly.

The result is true gasless transactions. You can onboard with only stablecoins, swap across chains, and stake without ever buying the chain’s native token for fees. Gas becomes an invisible implementation detail handled entirely by solvers.

Solving the Cross-Chain Fragmentation Crisis

Liquidity is scattered across Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Solana, and 50+ L2s. 

Today, users manually bridge, wait, and pray that assets arrive. With intents, you simply say: “Turn my ETH on Ethereum into USDC on Base with at least 99 % efficiency.” Solvers compete to find the fastest, cheapest route using Across, Synapse, ChainPort, or any bridge, then execute the entire flow atomically.

The user never touches a bridge UI or accepts bridging risks. Cross-chain liquidity becomes unified liquidity. Multi-chain UX collapses into a single signature, ending fragmentation for good.

MEV Protection: Turning Adversaries into Allies

In traditional DeFi, searchers exploit your swaps with sandwich attacks and front-running, stealing millions daily. Intents flip the script.

When you broadcast an intent, it never hits the public mempool. Instead, solvers compete in private auctions or private channels (CoW Swap batches, UniswapX Dutch auctions, Anoma’s encrypted intents). 

The winning solver is contractually bound to deliver your minimum price, or lose the deal.

Top Protocols Leading the Intent Revolution

From UniswapX and CoW Protocol to Anoma and others, virtually every major DeFi player is now shipping or integrating intent-based architecture. What started as niche experiments in 2023-2024 has exploded into a full industry standardization race.

Anoma

Anoma leads with a full intent-centric blockchain stack, using encrypted intents for privacy and cross-chain execution. By 2025, it's powering advanced DeFi agents and has raised over $100M to scale solver networks. 

SUAVE (Flashbots)

Flashbots' SUAVE builds a decentralized MEV marketplace for intents, enabling solvers to compete on block building. Launched in 2025, it integrates with Ethereum L2s, reducing centralization risks in auctions. 

CoW Protocol

CoW Swap pioneered batch auctions for intents, delivering MEV-free swaps. In 2025, it hit $10B+ monthly volumes, expanding to cross-chain intents via partnerships. 

UniswapX

UniswapX upgrades Uniswap with intent-based routing, offering gasless, protected trades. By 2025, it's processing billions in volume across chains, blending AMMs with solver efficiency. 

Across Protocol

Across focuses on cross-chain intents, automating bridges for seamless liquidity. In 2025, it's a go-to for fast, low-risk transfers, with billions bridged via solver competitions.

The Risks of Centralization and Solver Collusion

Intent systems promise decentralization, but today most volume flows through a handful of professional solvers. If only 5–10 dominant players emerge, they could collude on pricing, extract hidden fees, or selectively censor intents, creating a new single point of failure.

True permissionless solvers (anyone can run one and compete) remain rare, and high-performance barriers favor well-funded teams. Without robust decentralized order flow and credible neutrality mechanisms, solver centralization risks turning “user-aligned execution” into an oligopoly quietly worse than today’s public mempool. 

The race for 2026 is as much about solver diversity as raw UX.