# CoW DAO

> Don't get milked

CoW DAO is a decentralized organization that develops user-protective DeFi trading products on Ethereum. It governs CoW Protocol and CoW Swap, using intent-based batch auctions and solver competition to protect traders from MEV.

CoW DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization that builds user-protective trading infrastructure for decentralized finance. It develops CoW Protocol and CoW Swap, products that use intent-based trading and batch auctions to shield traders from adverse execution. The organization serves everyday traders, developers, and other protocols seeking fairer access to onchain liquidity.

Rather than routing orders directly onto exchanges, CoW Protocol collects trade intents into batches and relies on competing third-party solvers to find the best execution path across onchain and offchain liquidity. Solvers first look for a direct coincidence of wants between traders in the same batch before searching external markets, which reduces exposure to front-running and other forms of value extraction. This batch auction design lets users set the conditions for a trade without needing to manage its execution directly.

CoW DAO's flagship interface, CoW Swap, lets users trade digital assets through this protocol, while a dedicated explorer and embeddable widget extend access to developers building their own trading interfaces. Governance and treasury decisions are directed by holders of the COW token, who participate through community discussion, forum proposals, and onchain voting. The DAO also funds a grants program supporting projects that advance trading fairness and ecosystem tooling, and its products are used by traders, developers, and other protocols across the Ethereum ecosystem.

- Type: Protocol
- Sector: Finance
- Status: Active
- Founded: 2022-01-01
- Profile: https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao

## Products

- [CoW Protocol](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): CoW Protocol is a decentralized exchange aggregation protocol that lets users submit trading intents for independent solvers to compete over. Solvers settle orders through batch auctions, matching trades directly between users when possible and routing remaining volume across on-chain liquidity sources to reduce exposure to frontrunning and other value extraction. Developers and traders build advanced order types, including limit, time-weighted, and programmatic orders, on top of the protocol across multiple blockchains. (DEX Aggregator, Live, Main Product)
- [CoW Swap](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): CoW Swap is a decentralized exchange interface built on CoW Protocol that lets traders execute swaps without holding a separate token for gas. It uses batch auctions and solver competition to source pricing while protecting orders from frontrunning and other manipulation, and unsuccessful transactions never incur a cost. Traders can place market, limit, and time-weighted orders, and DAOs use the interface to manage large trades with reduced price impact. (Decentralised Exchange, Live)
- [CoW AMM](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): CoW AMM is an automated market maker that protects liquidity providers from loss-versus-rebalancing, a form of value extraction common to conventional pools. It uses solver-driven batch auctions to rebalance pool reserves at fair market prices whenever an arbitrage opportunity appears, redirecting the resulting surplus to liquidity providers instead of external arbitrageurs. It operates across multiple blockchains and integrates with third-party decentralized exchange infrastructure for liquidity provisioning. (Decentralised Exchange, Live)
- [MEV Blocker](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): MEV Blocker is an RPC endpoint providing MEV protection through order flow auctions, offering transaction privacy and backrun rebates while maintaining fast execution speeds for users. (RPC Provider, Discontinued)
- [CoW Widget](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): CoW Widget is a developer tool that lets third-party applications embed CoW Protocol trading functionality directly into their own website or app. It provides a configurable, pre-built swap interface with gasless trading and MEV protection that integrates with a short code snippet rather than a custom build. Developers can customize themes, token lists, and fees, and earn revenue on trades executed through their integration. (Developer Tooling, Live)
- [CoW Explorer](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): CoW Explorer is a block explorer for viewing CoW Protocol transaction, order, and batch auction data across supported blockchains. Traders and solvers use it to look up individual orders and settlements to verify trade execution and pricing outcomes. It provides transparency into how batch auctions are formed and settled on CoW Protocol. (Block Explorer, Live)

## Assets

- [CoW Protocol Token (COW)](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): COW is the governance token of CoW Protocol. Holders vote on protocol upgrades, parameter changes, and treasury allocations, and can receive fee discounts within the ecosystem. Its supply is fixed at one billion tokens with issuance capped at three percent annual inflation, set by CoW DAO governance. (Governance)
- [vCOW Vesting Token (VCOW)](https://thegrid.id/profiles/cow_dao): vCOW is a non-transferable vesting token issued by CoW DAO that represents claimable COW governance tokens. It converts to COW on a one-to-one basis, with most allocations releasing linearly over four years. The token lets early contributors and community members hold voting-equivalent claims before their COW fully vests. (Utility)

## Links

- [Documentation](https://docs.cow.fi)
- [Forum](https://forum.cow.fi)
- [Media Kit/branding](https://cownation.notion.site/CoW-DAO-Brand-Kit-dad6212f182f49d38683e8410bfb37d2)
- [Main](https://cow.fi)
- [Blog](https://cow.fi/learn)
- [Governance](https://snapshot.org/#/s:cow.eth)
- [Twitter / X](https://x.com/CoWSwap)
- [Discord](https://discord.gg/cowprotocol)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/cowprotocol)
- [Medium](https://blog.cow.fi)

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