Grant Application - ZeroMEV Infrastructure Maintenance and Support

Grant Title

Grant Application - ZeroMEV Infrastructure Maintenance and Support

Author(s)

Zeeshan

Github: z-eeshan

Experiences and qualifications:

Zeeshan is an experienced DevOps engineer who has previously worked with PMCgoohan on ZeroMEV infrastructure maintenance and deployment. He has direct experience with the ZeroMEV stack including .NET services, PostgreSQL databases, and node management.

Grant Description

This grant covers the deployment, maintenance, and technical support of the open-sourced ZeroMEV infrastructure on CoW Protocol-hosted servers. ZeroMEV provides essential MEV data services to the Ethereum community, enhancing transparency around MEV activities.

The scope includes:

  • Deploying all ZeroMEV components on CoW-hosted infrastructure:
    • Extractor service for block/transaction timing
    • Classifier service for MEV analysis
    • Website and API servers
    • Four PostgreSQL databases (mev_inspect, extractor, mevweb, zmapi)
  • Providing ongoing maintenance and support
  • Ensuring system reliability and performance
  • Coordinating with community node providers if needed for global distribution

Technical infrastructure includes:

  • .NET 8 core components
  • Node.js API scripts
  • PostgreSQL databases
  • PostgREST API layer
  • Integration with Ethereum nodes

The grant will enable continuous operation of ZeroMEV’s services while transitioning to community-maintained infrastructure, benefiting both CoW Protocol users and the broader Ethereum ecosystem through enhanced MEV transparency.

Server Requirements

Server for .NET Components:

  • 2vCPU
  • 4GB RAM
  • 80GB Storage

Database Server: All databases are expected to fit on a server with the following requirements

  • 1-2 TB Storage
  • 16GB RAM
  • Average CPU

MEV Inspect Setup Requirements: Specific requirements and adjustments needed for MEV inspect setup are described in the ZeroMEV Github repository.

Milestones

Milestone 1 Specifics:

  • Initial deployment and setup of all ZeroMEV components
  • Configure and test all four databases
  • Complete system testing
  • Expected time: 10 hours Funding: $900

Milestone 2-6 Specifics:

  • Monthly system maintenance and support
  • Monitor system health and performance
  • Address any issues that arise
  • Coordinate with node providers if needed
  • Document deployment process (If hours left)
  • Set up monitoring and maintenance procedures (If hours left)
  • Create maintenance documentation (If hours left)
  • Expected time per month: Up to 10 hours
  • Funding per month: $350

Total funding: $2,650 for up to 60 support hours.

Length

6 months from the date of successful passing of the proposal on Snapshot.

Type of Grant

Time-based grant with monthly milestones

Funding Request

Total: $2,650 (in xDAI)

  • $900 for the first month ( For Initial Setup)
  • $350 per month for 5 months
  • Up to 10 hours of support work per month (60 hours total)
  • Rate justified by technical expertise required and critical nature of infrastructure

2500 COW tokens In the event of successful completion of the grant vested over six months period

Gnosis Chain Address (to receive the grant)

0xeF4ca784FD8a5D0EA8d476263fa9000aD64926F6

Other Information

All server costs and node access will be provided by CoW Protocol.

Terms and Conditions

By submitting this grant application, I acknowledge and agree to be bound by the CoW DAO Participation Agreement and the CoW Grant Terms and Conditions.

3 Likes

I signal my support for this grant and propose myself as the committee steward.
I’ve been supporting ZeroMEV for a long while and believe it is an ecosystem public good.
It is also concretely valuable for the CoW ecosystem and is being used to evaluate MEV incidents in the context of MEVblocker.

I would propose to have the 2500 COW tokens vested over six month so they serve as an extra reward and incentive for continued contribution to the CoW ecosystem.

3 Likes

I support this proposal as ZeroMEV provides clear value as a public good, especially for MEV transparency. The scope, maintenance and budget looks reasonable to me.

2 Likes

The grant details look good, and I support this proposal. CoW Protocol will provide RPC access and the necessary server, allowing the grantee to focus on the ZeroMEV stack.

3 Likes

For reference, this grant proposal was posted on Snapshot and passed : https://snapshot.box/#/s:cowgrants.eth/proposal/0xa0c0e55044a664a10bbb60624652dacf4186909013c3e8b82af5813a3a7424cf