Inside the SUAVE Architecture

Rethinking Execution: SUAVE’s Design Philosophy

To address MEV at its foundation, Flashbots introduced SUAVE—an acronym for Single Unifying Auction for Value Expression. SUAVE is not merely an enhancement to Ethereum or a new relayer; it is a chain-agnostic execution layer purpose-built to decentralize block building, secure user intent, and coordinate auctions across any blockchain.

At its core, SUAVE is based on the observation that current blockchain architectures tightly couple execution, ordering, and consensus. While this model offers simplicity, it also concentrates power and allows privileged intermediaries to extract value at the expense of users. SUAVE proposes a decoupling of responsibilities: block building, transaction ordering, and value expression are unbundled and executed within a modular, programmable environment.

Unlike public mempools, which expose user transactions to frontrunning and arbitrage, SUAVE provides a confidential pre-chain space where transactions can be encrypted, intentions can be expressed privately, and solvers can compete fairly to fulfill them. The vision is not to replace existing chains but to complement them. SUAVE sits alongside other chains and handles the sensitive logic of order expression and inclusion, before transactions are submitted to a base layer for final settlement.

This separation gives rise to an entirely new design space. In SUAVE, the auction process is not an afterthought—it is the primary organizing principle. Every transaction is treated as an expression of value and enters a universal auction that determines how, when, and by whom it will be executed.

The Three Pillars of SUAVE

The SUAVE stack is composed of three foundational components: the Membrane, the Privacy Layer, and the Universal Auction. Each layer serves a distinct function, and together they create a cohesive architecture capable of securing, routing, and executing user transactions across multiple domains.

The Membrane is the interface between SUAVE and external chains. It allows SUAVE to ingest order-flow from any wallet, application, or protocol, regardless of its base chain. The Membrane acts as a gatekeeper and router, directing incoming intent to the appropriate execution path. It ensures that orders submitted from various chains can be processed consistently and returned with finality guarantees.

The Privacy Layer handles the encryption and secure computation necessary to prevent order-flow leakage. In traditional systems, transaction contents are visible before execution, allowing third parties to front-run or sandwich. SUAVE eliminates this exposure by encrypting transaction data and executing sensitive operations inside trusted environments—such as secure enclaves or zero-knowledge proof systems. This design ensures that user intent is kept private until after inclusion, preserving fairness without sacrificing composability.

The Universal Auction is SUAVE’s central coordination mechanism. It determines how orders are matched, prioritized, and allocated. Unlike traditional blockchains, where inclusion is determined by gas fees or validator discretion, SUAVE introduces a shared auction layer where solvers, the entities that fulfill user intents, compete to offer the best execution. The auction is programmable, allowing different applications to specify custom pricing logic, ordering constraints, or priority rules. This enables markets where users are not merely passive participants but active sellers of their order-flow.

The MEVM: SUAVE’s Execution Environment

At the center of SUAVE is a virtual machine tailored to value expression, called the MEVM, which is short for Maximal Extractable Value Machine. The MEVM is a general-purpose, programmable environment where order-flow logic is executed prior to block inclusion. It allows developers to write custom auction logic, solver verification scripts, and privacy-preserving routing algorithms.

Unlike traditional virtual machines like the EVM, which focus on transaction execution and state transitions, the MEVM is optimized for off-chain computation, matching, and encryption-aware workflows. It enables solvers and builders to operate in a neutral environment governed by deterministic rules and subject to open-source audits.

This execution model introduces a new category of applications: value routers. These are decentralized services that receive encrypted order-flow, compute optimal execution paths, and return settlement instructions. A value router might specialize in routing trades across AMMs, submitting batched auctions for NFTs, or optimizing liquidations across lending protocols. All of these tasks can be coded and run on the MEVM, allowing for flexibility without compromising security.

Chain-Agnostic Coordination and Settlement

One of SUAVE’s most innovative features is its ability to operate independently of any single Layer 1 or Layer 2 chain. SUAVE does not settle transactions itself. Instead, it packages execution outputs and sends them to other chains for finalization. This enables SUAVE to serve as a shared order-flow layer for many chains simultaneously, such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Solana, and beyond.

By coordinating execution off-chain and settling on-chain, SUAVE reduces latency and congestion in base layers. It also allows for cross-domain arbitrage and intent fulfillment. For example, a user could express an intent to swap tokens on Ethereum and use the proceeds to purchase an NFT on Arbitrum, with the entire logic executed in SUAVE and finalized via respective base chains.

The chain-agnostic nature of SUAVE also introduces resilience. In the event that a base chain experiences congestion or downtime, SUAVE can reroute or delay execution without exposing users to MEV risks. The system ensures that user intent is preserved and that settlement only occurs when conditions are favorable.

Enabling a Fair and Open MEV Economy

Rather than suppressing MEV entirely, SUAVE proposes to create a more transparent and fair MEV economy. In SUAVE, value is not extracted but expressed through programmable auctions. Solvers compete to win order-flow by offering rebates, optimized routing, or bundled services. Users retain control over their transaction preferences and can choose whether to maximize price, speed, privacy, or other parameters.

This structure benefits all participants. Users receive better execution and optional MEV rebates. Solvers gain access to structured, predictable order-flow. Builders can construct blocks using encrypted bundles without fear of censorship or leakage. Validators receive finalized blocks from a decentralized network of actors without needing to engage in MEV extraction themselves.

Moreover, SUAVE opens the door to novel reputation and governance systems. Solvers who consistently provide high-quality execution can earn trust scores, which may influence future auction outcomes. Communities may govern the rules of value expression, including blacklist policies, solver incentives, and routing protocols.

Progress and Ecosystem Integration

As of 2025, SUAVE is in active development, with multiple components available for testing. Flashbots has released early versions of the Membrane interface and the MEVM development environment under the “Centauri” devnet. Several wallets and dApps have begun integrating SUAVE hooks, enabling users to route orders through SUAVE rather than traditional mempools.

The system is designed to be backward compatible. Existing protocols do not need to rewrite their contracts to benefit from SUAVE’s privacy and fairness features. Instead, they can plug into the Membrane or build value routers that interact with the MEVM. The modularity of SUAVE ensures that adoption can be gradual, with benefits compounding over time.

Integration with Ethereum’s proposer-builder separation (PBS), EigenLayer’s shared security framework, and cross-domain bridge protocols is also underway. These integrations allow SUAVE to operate in parallel with other MEV mitigation strategies while providing an upgrade path toward fully MEV-resistant infrastructure.