Mayan

Mayan is a cross-chain swap and bridge protocol that settles trades through competitive on-chain auctions. Users specify what token they hold and what token they want on a destination chain; Mayan's solver network handles the rest, delivering execution in seconds across more than 13 blockchains including Solana, Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, Sui, HyperEVM, and Monad.

The protocol has processed over $18 billion in cumulative volume, completed more than 8 million swaps, and served 3 million unique wallets since its mid-2023 launch.

Core Mechanism: Intent-Based Auctions

Mayan's design is intent-centric rather than liquidity-pool-centric. Instead of routing a swap through a fixed automated market maker or liquidity pool on each chain, Mayan broadcasts the user's intent to a permissionless network of professional solvers called drivers. Drivers bid in a competitive on-chain auction — hosted on Solana — to fulfill the order. The highest bidder wins and immediately executes the swap on the destination chain using pre-funded inventory they already hold there. Upon fulfillment, the winning driver receives a receipt that unlocks and transfers the user's source assets to them.

This model shifts solver competition from a race-to-be-first speed game to a price-quality competition, which benefits users through better rates and faster finality.

Three Transfer Routes

Mayan offers three distinct settlement methods depending on the token pair and chain combination:

Swift (v2) is the primary intent-based path. An auction is triggered on-chain when the swap is submitted. Solvers observe on-chain state or subscribe to the Mayan explorer websocket, then submit bids within a three-second auction window. The winning solver funds the output on the destination chain immediately; the entire cross-chain swap typically completes in under 18 seconds. The protocol fee for Swift is 3 basis points (0.03%).

MCTP (Mayan Circle Transfer Protocol) leverages Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) as the liquidity highway. Source-chain tokens are first swapped to USDC, which Circle CCTP transmits cross-chain. Drivers then compete in a Solana-side auction to convert the arriving USDC into the user's desired output token. A Fast MCTP variant uses CircleV2 messaging for reduced latency. The protocol fee is zero for USDC outputs and 3 basis points for other output tokens.

Wormhole Swap uses Wormhole's Token Bridge for transfers of major assets where low slippage is a priority. This path is best suited to large-size transfers of blue-chip tokens where the Token Bridge's canonical wrapping minimizes price impact.

Solana as Settlement Layer

All three routes anchor their auction and settlement logic on Solana. Running auctions on Solana provides fast block times, low transaction costs, and the throughput required to host competitive bidding across thousands of concurrent orders. The main on-chain program is deployed at 8LPjGDbxhW4G2Q8S6FvdvUdfGWssgtqmvsc63bwNFA7E on Solana Mainnet.

By 2024, Jupiter, Drift, Marginfi, and Backpack had integrated Mayan as a cross-chain routing option for their users. Wormhole recognized Mayan Swift as its first intents-based protocol in the Era3 upgrade announced in September 2024.

Key Features

Non-custodial and permissionless. Mayan's smart contracts are trustless; users retain custody through the entire process.

Developer SDK and API. Mayan publishes an npm SDK (@mayan-finance/swap-sdk) and a REST API, enabling third-party applications to embed cross-chain swaps.

Speed. The protocol averages around 18 seconds end-to-end for most routes; BNB Chain routes complete in approximately 12 seconds.

Broad chain coverage. With support for Solana, major EVM chains, Sui, and emerging networks such as Monad and HyperEVM.

Security and Audits

Mayan has undergone multiple independent security reviews. Auditors include OtterSec (general protocol) and Sec3 (MCTP and Swift components), with a dedicated Swift v2 audit also completed. Audit reports are linked from the official documentation at docs.mayan.finance/resources/audits.

Team and Funding

Mayan was co-founded by Mo Elahi and is headquartered in Las Vegas, United States. In April 2024 the protocol raised a $3 million seed round led by 6th Man Ventures (6MV) and Borderless Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, Arrington Capital, Hash3, Big Brain Holdings, and the Wormhole Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund. Notable angels include Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana co-founder) and Saeed Badreg (Wormhole Labs co-founder).

Ecosystem Fit

Mayan addresses one of Solana's most persistent UX gaps: getting assets onto Solana from other chains quickly and cheaply. By hosting auction logic on Solana and integrating with Wormhole messaging and Circle CCTP, Mayan connects Solana's liquidity to that of Ethereum and the broader EVM universe without requiring users to navigate complex manual bridge workflows. Its intent-based model is aligned with an industry-wide shift toward abstracted, outcome-focused cross-chain UX.