Intents offer a fundamentally user-centric approach to on-chain interactions. Instead of signing a raw transaction—a rigid sequence of machine-readable instructions dictating what actions to take (as seen on platforms like Uniswap or Aave)—users define an overarching objective, or “intent,” and sign that instead. This intent encapsulates the desired outcome in a structured message. For Garden, this means specifying parameters such as assets, chains, and amounts for the swap.
Intent vs Transaction Requirements
By abstracting away the granular steps, intents align the interaction more closely with desired goals, making the process both intuitive and efficient. This approach is increasingly adopted as a standard in the industry, with Across using intents-based bridging and CoW Protocol applying intents for DEX trading.

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Why do we choose intents?

Intents bring flexibility, security, and efficiency to on-chain interactions:

Enhanced liquidity

Intents enable solvers to tap into any on-chain/off-chain liquidity, including private order flows, boosting accessible liquidity compared to conventional methods.

Direct user matching

Solvers can match users directly against each other, potentially offering better prices without relying solely on external liquidity pools.

MEV protection

Intents shield users from MEV bots and public mempool vulnerabilities by operating in a safe, walled-garden environment.

Gasless experience

Users can execute orders across chains without needing to hold the native gas token like ETH, making cross-chain interactions seamless and gasless.

Pay for success

Users only pay for successful executions, eliminating wasted fee costs.

Cost efficiency

Intents enable solvers to batch multiple orders, reducing execution costs and passing savings to users through better quotes.

No custodians

They remove the need for custodians (centralized or decentralized), mitigating liquidity risks and enhancing trustlessness in the system.

Competitive execution

Multiple solvers compete to fulfill your intent, driving innovation in execution strategies and ensuring you get the best possible price and speed through market forces.