Author(s)
@decentralised-news
Project website:
Experience and Qualifications
Decentralised News is an independent crypto-native media, research, and education platform covering decentralized finance, digital-asset markets, exchanges, execution infrastructure, and emerging financial technology.
Our work increasingly focuses on execution quality, trading costs, liquidity, DEX architecture, quote deterioration, user protection, and the practical differences between trading venues. This provides the project with an existing research foundation, relevant audiences, and established publishing and distribution channels.
The development team brings experience in software engineering, full-stack development, API integrations, automation, data infrastructure, systems security, and technical documentation. Decentralised News will provide the product requirements, production environment, research methodology, editorial implementation, user testing, and distribution.
Our advantage is the combination of technical development and user-facing interpretation. We can build the tool, test it against real public CoW Protocol data, explain the results to non-specialist users, and distribute the resulting resources to an established crypto audience.
Examples of some our independent coverage of CoW:
Best DEXs for Limit Orders: CoW vs 1inch vs KyberSwap vs Uniswap vs Jupiter
Best DEX Aggregators in 2026-2027: Jupiter vs Matcha vs CoW Swap vs 1inch vs OKX DEX
DN DEX Quote Decay Index 2027: How Fast Does a Crypto Swap Quote Go Stale?
What Is the Cheapest Way to Swap Crypto? CEX vs DEX Aggregator vs Wallet Swap
Best Intent-Based DEXs 2027: Which Solvers Actually Improve Your Trade?
Experience and Qualifications
Decentralised News is an independent crypto-native media, research, and education platform covering decentralized finance, digital-asset markets, exchanges, execution infrastructure, and emerging financial technology.
Our work increasingly focuses on execution quality, trading costs, liquidity, DEX architecture, quote deterioration, user protection, and the practical differences between trading venues. This provides the project with an existing research foundation, relevant audiences, and established publishing and distribution channels.
The development team brings experience in software engineering, full-stack development, API integrations, automation, data infrastructure, systems security, and technical documentation. Decentralised News will provide the product requirements, production environment, research methodology, editorial implementation, user testing, and distribution.
Our advantage is the combination of technical development and user-facing interpretation. We can build the tool, test it against real public CoW Protocol data, explain the results to non-specialist users, and distribute the resulting resources to an established crypto audience.
Grant Description
CoW Protocol is designed around user-protective execution, intents, batch auctions, solver competition, Coincidence of Wants, and protection from several forms of MEV. These mechanisms are technically important, but many users still struggle to understand what happens between signing an order and receiving a completed settlement.
CoW Explorer and the protocol documentation provide valuable underlying information. However, the meaning of fields such as executed amounts, limit price, surplus, settlement, solver, protocol fees, and execution status may not be immediately clear to an ordinary DeFi user.
This grant proposes the CoW Execution Evidence Lab, a focused open-source research and education project built around a public CoW Settlement Decoder.
The decoder will allow a user to enter a supported CoW order UID or settlement transaction identifier and receive a plain-language explanation of the available execution information.
Depending on the data available through supported public CoW APIs and on-chain sources, the tool will explain:
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Order and settlement status
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Sell and buy tokens
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Signed or limit amounts
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Executed amounts
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Limit price compared with execution price
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Surplus or improvement relative to the signed limit, where measurable
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Protocol or partner fees exposed by the relevant data
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Order submission and settlement timing
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Solver or settlement information where publicly available
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Relevant CoW Protocol concepts
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Links to the corresponding official CoW Explorer records and documentation
The tool will be read-only. It will not connect wallets, execute swaps, custody assets, recommend trades, or represent itself as an official CoW DAO product.
The project will also create a documented sample dataset of at least 100 publicly observable historical CoW orders or settlements. The dataset and accompanying methodology will demonstrate how the available execution fields can be interpreted without making unsupported claims about counterfactual MEV savings.
We will not claim that a user saved a specific amount from MEV unless that conclusion can be supported by a transparent and technically defensible methodology. Observed results will be separated from modeled examples and educational explanations.
The Settlement Decoder will be supported by:
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Four substantial CoW Protocol educational and research resources
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Three long-form educational videos
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At least eight short-form educational derivatives
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A public methodology explaining the measurements and limitations
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Distribution through relevant Decentralised News channels
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A public report covering usage, engagement, outbound traffic, feedback, and lessons
The purpose is to help users understand the evidence behind CoW Protocol’s execution model while creating an independent onboarding resource that can continue serving the ecosystem after the grant ends.
Strategic Alignment
The proposal supports CoW DAO’s user-protection mission and its 2026 priorities in three ways.
First, it makes MEV protection, solver-based execution, and batch-auction concepts more understandable to users who are not protocol developers.
Second, it creates an open-source interface that translates public order and settlement data into user-readable information while directing users back to official CoW resources.
Third, it generates measurable evidence about which execution concepts users understand, which questions create the most friction, and which educational pathways result in qualified visits to CoW Protocol properties.
This is not a request for generic publicity or sponsored coverage. The grant funds a bounded public tool, a documented dataset, independent educational resources, and transparent measurement.
Type of Grant
This is a milestone-based grant with a justified upfront mobilization payment.
We request an initial payment of 4,000 xDAI upon approval and commencement. This will fund developer availability, technical architecture validation, development-environment setup, CoW data-source testing, and the initial working prototype.
The initial payment will be allocated to Milestone 1, with all Milestone 1 deliverables remaining due within three weeks of commencement. The remaining 8,500 xDAI will be released following completion and review of the subsequent milestones.
Milestone 1: Technical Scope, Methodology, and Prototype
Due date: Three weeks after Snapshot approval
Funding request: 4,000 xDAI paid upon approval and commencement
The first milestone will mobilize the project team, validate the underlying data sources, and define exactly what the public decoder can report reliably.
Deliverables:
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Allocation and onboarding of the development and project team
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Public project repository
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Technical architecture and data-flow specification
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Development and testing environment
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Review of relevant public CoW APIs, order data, settlement data, and Explorer links
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Definitions for each proposed execution metric
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Documentation separating observed facts from modeled interpretations
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Initial dataset containing at least 25 supported public orders or settlements
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Working prototype capable of decoding at least 10 valid records
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Documented handling of unavailable fields, unsupported records, and invalid inputs
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Technical review request submitted to the assigned Reviewer
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Milestone 1 progress and expenditure report
The upfront payment is necessary to secure developer availability and begin the technical work. The team will remain accountable for delivering all Milestone 1 outputs within three weeks.
Milestone 2: Public Settlement Decoder
Due date: Six weeks after Snapshot approval
Funding request: 3,500 xDAI
The second milestone will deliver the functional public application.
Deliverables:
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Deployed, mobile-responsive Settlement Decoder
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Support for the validated order UID or settlement transaction input
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Plain-language explanation of supported execution fields
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Links to corresponding official CoW Explorer and documentation pages
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Definitions and contextual help for non-technical users
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Clear distinction between observed data and modeled examples
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Error handling for invalid, unsupported, incomplete, or unavailable records
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Basic automated tests covering the supported decoding workflow
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Public source code and installation documentation
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Privacy-respecting product analytics
Acceptance will be demonstrated against a validation set of at least 50 supported public records, subject to the availability and limitations confirmed during Milestone 1.
Payment will be requested after the milestone deliverables have been completed and submitted for review.
Milestone 3: Dataset and Educational Release
Due date: Nine weeks after Snapshot approval
Funding request: 3,000 xDAI
The third milestone will produce the public research and education layer.
Deliverables:
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Documented dataset of at least 100 public CoW orders or settlements
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Public methodology and limitations document
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Four substantial written educational or research resources
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Three long-form educational videos
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At least eight short-form educational derivatives
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Appropriate disclosure of CoW DAO grant funding
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Factual review request submitted to relevant CoW contributors
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Initial distribution across relevant Decentralised News channels
Proposed educational topics include:
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How a CoW Protocol order moves from signed intent to settlement
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Understanding batch auctions, solvers, and Coincidence of Wants
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Reading a CoW settlement without overclaiming MEV savings
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Limit price, execution price, surplus, fees, and settlement time explained
Final topics may be adjusted following community and Reviewer feedback.
Payment will be requested after the milestone deliverables have been completed and submitted for review.
Milestone 4: Adoption, Measurement, and Final Report
Due date: Twelve weeks after Snapshot approval
Funding request: 2,000 xDAI
The fourth milestone will complete distribution, measurement, documentation, and handover.
Deliverables:
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Continued distribution of the tool and educational resources
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At least 30 days of usage measurement following the principal public release
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Public results report covering all agreed metrics
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User and community feedback summary
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Public issue log and roadmap recommendations
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Final technical and installation documentation
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Completion report submitted in the original forum thread
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Ninety-day corrective maintenance commitment for critical defects within the approved scope
The project will target:
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1,500 unique users across the grant-funded resources
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500 Settlement Decoder sessions
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200 qualified outbound visits to official CoW Protocol resources
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At least 10 documented community or user feedback responses
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Geographic and referral-source reporting where privacy-respecting analytics permit
These are success targets rather than promises of trading volume or guaranteed milestone conditions. Actual results, including targets that are not reached, will be reported transparently.
Payment will be requested after the final deliverables and public completion report have been submitted for review.
Length
The project will run for 12 weeks following successful approval on Snapshot.
The commencement date will be the date of successful Snapshot approval unless another date is agreed with the Grants Committee.
Expected finalization is 12 weeks after approval.
A 90-day corrective maintenance period will begin after final milestone acceptance. Decentralised News intends to keep the public tool available for at least 12 months following completion, subject to continued availability of the required public CoW data sources.
Funding Request
Total requested: 12,500 xDAI
No COW token allocation is requested.
Funding structure:
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Milestone 1: 4,000 xDAI paid upfront upon approval and commencement
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Milestone 2: 3,500 xDAI paid following completion and review
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Milestone 3: 3,000 xDAI paid following completion and review
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Milestone 4: 2,000 xDAI paid following completion and review
The funding will cover technical research, project mobilization, developer allocation, API integration, application development, testing, dataset preparation, research and editorial production, video production, distribution, analytics, documentation, project administration, and corrective maintenance.
The upfront payment represents 32% of the total grant. It is requested because the team must reserve development capacity and begin technical implementation before the first milestone can be completed.
No paid advertising budget is included.
Gnosis Chain Address (to receive the grant):
0x7A469445460b25E1Bdba22ACFb691DBC70C40eB5
The applicant requests confirmation from the assigned Steward concerning the correct payment network before the proposal moves to Snapshot. The current application template references Gnosis Chain, while the 2026 CIP-82 guidance records the Grants Treasury migration to Ethereum mainnet.
Editorial Independence and Disclosure
All grant-funded resources will clearly disclose the relationship with CoW DAO.
The grant will not purchase favorable editorial conclusions, guaranteed rankings, or undisclosed endorsements. Relevant limitations, risks, and unsuccessful findings will be reported where material.
Commercial affiliate relationships, if any exist elsewhere on Decentralised News, will remain separate from this grant-funded project. The proposed Settlement Decoder will not contain affiliate redirects or paid venue rankings.
Open-Source Commitment
The Settlement Decoder, relevant technical documentation, and grant-funded dataset will be published in a public repository under a permissive open-source licence.
The project will use public CoW Protocol and blockchain data only. It will not collect private wallet information or require users to connect a wallet.
Other Information
Decentralised News will provide an immediate deployment and distribution environment for the project. The proposal therefore does not depend on finding a first publisher, research audience, or launch channel after development has been completed.
The project is deliberately limited to a read-only decoder, a documented sample dataset, and a focused educational program. More advanced features, live trading, wallet connections, predictive analytics, and unsupported cross-venue claims are outside the initial scope.
We welcome feedback on:
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Whether an order UID, settlement transaction identifier, or both should be supported in the first release
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Which execution fields create the greatest comprehension problems for users
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Which CoW contributor should review the methodology and technical definitions
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Whether there are existing CoW tools or planned developments with which this proposal should coordinate
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Whether the proposed adoption targets and sample size are appropriate for a first pilot
We are willing to revise the technical scope and milestone details based on community, Steward, and Reviewer feedback before moving the proposal to Snapshot.
Terms and Conditions
By submitting this grant application, I acknowledge and agree to be bound by the CoW DAO Participation Agreement and the CoW DAO Grant Agreement Terms.
Note to Committee
Please notify the Grantee of their Reviewer and Steward in this thread, and no later than successful approval of the grant on Snapshot.