Building Economic Trust in Solver-Based Networks – Part 1
What is Economic Trust, and why does Solver-Based Execution need it?
As intent-based DeFi architectures evolve, the role of solvers—the agents responsible for fulfilling user intents—has become increasingly central. Solvers compete to route trades, bridge assets, or bundle transactions across chains. They are the execution layer behind the abstraction.
Yet, despite the innovation, a fundamental question emerges: Can we trust these systems—not just cryptographically, but economically?
In this article, we’ll define what economic trust means in solver-based networks, why it's essential, and how we can build it. We’ll start by introducing a six-part framework for understanding trust in DeFi execution systems, then explore how systems in traditional finance approach economic trust.
What is Economic Trust?
In cryptographic systems, we trust code: smart contracts do exactly what they’re programmed to do. But when it comes to solvers, we’re relying on off-chain actors to behave in economically fair and competitive ways—choosing optimal paths, pricing honestly, and not abusing their privileged execution role.
So, what is economic trust?
Economic trust is the confidence that a system of incentives, rules, and access will consistently produce fair, competitive, and efficient outcomes—even when participants act in their own self-interest.
This is particularly important in solver-based systems, where:
- Users can't directly verify how execution decisions were made
- Solvers may selectively fulfill only profitable trades
- Protocols may design auction systems or selection mechanisms that advantage certain players
If trust breaks down, so does participation. Users leave. Solvers centralize. Protocols become brittle.
The Six Dimensions of Economic Trust
To build solver networks that scale and remain fair, we need more than just open APIs or auction systems—we need to design around six interlocking dimensions that together create a foundation of economic trust.
| Aspect | Description | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Who can participate as a solver? Is entry permissioned or open? | Prevents gatekeeping and concentration of power. |
| Regulate | How is behavior governed? Are rules explicit and visible? | Ensures predictability, reduces reliance on social trust. |
| Execution | Are solvers executing honestly and efficiently? | Builds confidence, prevents extractive behavior. |
| Outcome | Are users receiving fair pricing, low slippage? | Aligns incentives between solvers and users. |
| Risk | Who bears risks (slippage, volatility)? | Encourages sustainable competition. |
| Incentive Align. | Are solvers rewarded for good behavior and penalized for manipulation? | Reinforces economic trust loop. |
These dimensions give us a systematic lens through which we can analyze how protocols enable—or inhibit—economic trust. In the rest of this article and the series ahead, we’ll explore each one in more depth—starting with access
How Traditional Finance Handles Economic Trust
Traditional finance has spent decades developing frameworks to enforce trust and fairness—both through law and structure. While this is by no means perfect, we believe that there is a lot to learn from existing systems in terms of things that have worked/ did not work.
In TradFi:
- Market access is regulated: You must be licensed to participate. Capital requirements, compliance procedures, and approvals ensure that all participants meet a minimum bar.
- Roles are functionally separated: Custodians, brokers, exchanges, and clearinghouses are distinct entities. This reduces conflicts of interest and prevents single actors from dominating the flow of assets or information.
- Behavior is governed by rules and norms: From circuit breakers to disclosure requirements to best execution laws, a combination of explicit regulation and industry-wide standards help ensure participants act fairly—even when incentives differ.
These mechanisms form the foundation of economic trust in traditional markets. But they come at a cost: gated access, high compliance burdens, and limited transparency.
What’s Next?
DeFi gives us an opportunity to reimagine these safeguards using programmable, transparent, and permissionless infrastructure.
This new infrastructure allows us to transition from a system where market access is gated and rules are defined ex ante by legal and regulatory institutions, to one that is open and inclusive—where access no longer needs to be restricted upfront, because behavior and rules can be enforced in situ through programmable constraints applied at every transaction.
In the next part of the series we start with the first and most foundational dimension: Access.
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