Decentralized exchanges are peer-to-peer trading protocols that run token swaps and market-making activities through shared liquidity pools. Because these platforms process massive daily volume, they can route fractional value directly at the execution or settlement layers to fund public infrastructure. These exchanges either operate using automated market maker logic or off-chain intent auctions, both of which provide distinct opportunities to route fractional value to fund the commons.
AMM Swap-Fee Redirect
Definition. A share of the swap fee accumulated by automated market maker pools is programmatically redirected at execution to a Commons recipient.
Value-stack tap. Smart contract surface (liquidity pool execution layer, handled via hooks or custom pool managers).
Cost-bearer class. Project paid / LP-borne, surplus — the redirect comes out of the LP yield margin, so swapper pricing and user pricing are unchanged.
Example protocols. Uniswap, Curve.
Solver / Order-Flow Rebate
Definition. A percentage of the execution surplus or price improvement captured by competitive solvers in intent-driven matching engines is redirected before settling to the user’s wallet. If a solver finds an optimized route that yields $105 on a trade where the user only expected a minimum of $100, the CaaS rail takes (if enabled by the user) a fraction of that $5 surplus before returning the rest to the user.
Value-stack tap. Execution surface (intent bots settlement layer, sitting between user intents and on-chain execution).
Cost-bearer class. User paid — extraction occurs entirely on surplus “found money”, where the user’s base-case execution quote is still fully met or exceeded.
Example protocols. CoW Swap, 1inch Latency / MEV Shares.
Value flow.
A percentage of execution surplus (MEV recovery or price improvement) is redirected to the CaaS rail prior to distributing refunds.
Protocol Flash-Loan / Flash-Accounting Premium
Definition. The latest DEXs allow users to take flash loans from their pools — a loan with zero duration that must be borrowed and fully repaid within a single, atomic transaction block. These loans can be coupled with a surcharge that flows to a CaaS rail.
Value-stack tap. Smart contract surface.
Cost-bearer class. User paid (surplus-funded from flash execution profits); also Project paid / LP-borne, since existing loan charges are routed but the majority of those fees were destined for LPs.
Example protocols. Uniswap v4 (via flash() or transient settlement imbalances), Balancer v3 (Singleton Vault), Equalizer.
JIT (Just-In-Time) Liquidity
Definition. JIT liquidity is a special form of liquidity provision where an LP mints and burns a concentrated position immediately before and after a swap. Suppose a retail trader submits a large order to buy 1,000 ETH. An MEV bot spots this in the mempool and “sandwiches” the trader’s swap — minting large liquidity a moment before the trade hits, absorbing the bulk of the generated swap fees, and burning the position immediately after. To counter this fee dilution, the automated pool code enforces a safety trap that tracks block-level position age, applying a surcharge penalty on the bot’s instant withdrawal that can routes those captured gains to a CaaS rail. The retail trader still receives optimized price execution from the deep liquidity, but instead of the MEV bot cannibalizing passive LP yield, the extraction is penalized: the bot walks away with a reduced margin, passive LPs are shielded from dilution, and a reliable stream of protocol overhead is diverted to support core system development.
Value-stack tap. Execution surface (JIT bot liquidation modification required).
Cost-bearer class. Project paid, extracting fee-dilution value back from aggressive, programmatic MEV searchers.
Example protocols. Uniswap v4 custom pool hooks, Ambient Finance, CoW Swap.
Common Pools
Definition. Common Pools are specialized, voluntary liquidity wrapper contracts or dedicated AMM pools where liquidity providers explicitly choose to allocate a significant portion (or the entirety) of their accrued trading fees to CaaS rails — for an institutional fund, DAO treasury, or impact-focused individual that wants to support the commons while maintaining active on-chain capital.
Value-stack tap. Product Wrapper Layer (existing product redeployed).
Cost-bearer class. LP-borne (voluntary, opt-in).
Example protocols. Uniswap.
LVR (Loss-Versus-Rebalancing) Arbitrage Capture
Definition. Constant-function AMMs inherently suffer from Loss-Versus-Rebalancing (LVR) when their prices fall out of sync with external markets, allowing arbitrageurs to extract the difference. Next generation DEX designs using batch-auction AMMs or top-of-block hook auctions—programmatically auction off the right to rebalance the pool, capturing this arbitrage value before it leaks to toxic MEV bots. A CaaS rail can be integrated into these protected pools to intercept a micro-fraction of this captured LVR surplus before it is redistributed to the protocol’s liquidity providers.
Value-stack tap. Execution surface (batch-auction settlement layer or top-of-block hook execution).
Cost-bearer class. LP-borne, surplus — extracted entirely from the newly captured arbitrage surplus that was previously lost to MEV. Because this is “recovered” value, LPs still net higher returns compared to unprotected AMMs.
Example protocols. Sorella Labs (Angstrom hook for Uniswap v4).