Trump Team's "Go-To" DEX CoW Protocol: A High-Net-Worth-Focused Aggregator That Generated $6 Million Last Year Yet Still Operated at a Loss
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Trump Team's "Go-To" DEX CoW Protocol: A High-Net-Worth-Focused Aggregator That Generated $6 Million Last Year Yet Still Operated at a Loss
Its token COW also surged up to 392% between November 6 and December 25 following Trump's election victory.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Frank, PANews
Recently, World Liberty, a cryptocurrency project associated with the Trump family, has significantly increased its holdings in Ethereum and other assets. Nearly all of these transactions were executed through CoW Protocol, suggesting a particular preference for this aggregator by the Trump family. Additionally, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation have frequently used CoW Protocol for asset transfers and trades. However, among ordinary users, CoW Protocol remains far less well-known than DEX platforms like Uniswap or 1inch. It wasn't until the Trump-linked activity that attention toward CoW Protocol noticeably increased. Following Donald Trump’s election win, its token COW surged as much as 392% between November 6 and December 25.
A “Dark Pool” Among DEXs Favored by Whales
CoW Protocol was launched in 2020, incubated by Gnosis, an Ethereum infrastructure builder. Its founder, Anna Rose (note: original text mentions "Anna George", but correct name is Anna Rose), also serves as Head of Business Development at Gnosis. From 2016 to 2017, she worked as a Monitoring and Evaluation Expert at the United Nations.
As of January 23, daily active user counts on CoW Protocol had only recently surpassed 1,000—even after significant growth. Previously, daily active users numbered merely in the hundreds. Yet, in terms of cumulative trading volume, the platform has reached $7.7 billion to date. Within the Ethereum ecosystem, this ranks seventh overall. In December 2024 alone, CoW recorded $7.8 billion in trading volume. With approximately 1,600 daily active users that month, each user averaged around $4.87 million in transaction volume per month. This makes CoW Protocol a legitimate "whale-only" trading venue.
CoW Protocol features several technical innovations, the most notable being MEV elimination and low transaction friction. At the heart of its design lies a unique mechanism called “order matching.” Without delving into complex technicalities, this system functions similarly to an over-the-counter (OTC) market on-chain—bypassing AMM liquidity pools entirely and directly pairing large traders with offsetting orders. As a result, both MEV and slippage are effectively reduced to zero.
For users conducting transactions worth millions or even tens of millions of dollars, this mechanism addresses core pain points while minimizing market impact. This explains why World Liberty chose CoW Protocol for its asset allocation. Similarly, the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin regularly use CoW for large-scale token sales.
On the other hand, typical retail users prioritize fast execution, wide selection of tradable assets, and flexible liquidity pools—areas where CoW Protocol's matching model does not excel. But that may be beside the point; from the start, CoW seems deliberately built for institutional-scale traders.
Data Improves, But Monetization Remains a Challenge
Amid rising interest driven by World Liberty’s activity, CoW Protocol’s governance token COW saw dramatic price appreciation starting November 6, climbing from a low of $0.25 to a high of $1.23—a peak increase of 392%.
The COW token was first issued and listed in 2022, debuting at around $0.80. Over the following year, it declined steadily, hitting a low of $0.062 before recovering in 2023. For most of that period, however, it traded below $0.40. In September 2024, Coinbase announced plans to list CoW Protocol on its listing roadmap. Then on November 6—coincidentally the day Donald Trump won the 2024 U.S. presidential election—exchanges including Binance and Bybit simultaneously listed COW. Clearly, exchanges categorized COW as part of the "Trump-themed" asset suite, triggering immediate market speculation upon his victory.
However, after Christmas, COW began a steady correction. As of January 23, the price had fallen to around $0.63, representing nearly a 50% drop from its peak.
Beyond the hype-driven traffic surge, CoW Protocol’s underlying data has shown substantial improvement in recent months. The most striking trend is trading volume: since early 2024, monthly volumes fluctuated between $2 billion and $3 billion. Starting in November, volume spiked to $6.2 billion, reaching a record $7.8 billion in December. Throughout 2024, CoW consistently ranked second in market share among Ethereum-based aggregators, trailing behind 1inch. But by January 23, 2025, CoW had overtaken 1inch for the first time in monthly performance, claiming the top spot. Final rankings for the month will likely be confirmed in early February.
On January 22, Cow DAO published CIP-61 on Snapshot, proposing reforms to CoW Protocol’s fee structure and distribution model to improve revenue generation. According to the proposal, CoW generated approximately $6 million in revenue during 2024, yet failed to break even due to development costs ($4.4 million), grants ($700,000), and solver rewards ($5.2 million). Cow DAO aims to optimize trade execution pricing through this proposal, generate additional value, achieve profitability sooner, and reduce reliance on external funding.
According to CoW’s official dashboard, Cow DAO has accumulated 3,648 ETH in total revenue. At an ETH price of $3,300, this equates to roughly $12 million. Within the Ethereum ecosystem, CoW Protocol ranks around 50th in terms of revenue. Given that it has operated for four years and maintains one of the highest trading volumes among aggregators, this income level appears notably low.
With overall metrics improving recently, the CoW team clearly hopes to seize the current momentum to reach new milestones. The proposal has passed successfully, though social media discussions remain muted and no significant price movement followed. Perhaps for the CoW team, attracting whales requires only targeted product design—but winning over mainstream users and retail investors proves far more difficult. For average users and token holders, intricate governance proposals seem far less appealing than a simple airdrop.
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