Chainlink has taken another decisive step in tightening its grip on DeFi infrastructure with the acquisition of Atlas, a transaction-ordering and order-flow auction system originally built by research and development firm FastLane.
The move is aimed squarely at accelerating the rollout of Chainlink’s non-toxic MEV tooling across multiple blockchain ecosystems, at a time when protocols are increasingly looking for ways to keep value from leaking to opportunistic bots.
The acquisition brings Atlas’ intellectual property under the Chainlink umbrella, alongside the onboarding of key Atlas contributors from FastLane.
While financial terms were not disclosed, the strategic intent is clear: Atlas will now work exclusively with Chainlink’s Smart Value Recapture (SVR) system and will no longer support its previous deployment with rival oracle provider RedStone.
Key Takeaways
- Chainlink’s acquisition of Atlas brings a proven transaction-ordering and order-flow auction system directly under its SVR framework to strengthen non-toxic MEV recapture.
- Atlas will now exclusively support Chainlink SVR, ending its RedStone deployment and accelerating multi-chain expansion of Chainlink’s OEV tooling.
- Chainlink SVR has already processed over $460 million in liquidations and redirected more than $10 million in previously lost MEV back to DeFi protocols.
- The integration positions Chainlink as a central player in managing liquidation-related MEV by turning it into a sustainable revenue stream for protocols.
Strengthening Chainlink’s MEV Strategy
Atlas is designed to tackle a very specific, yet costly, problem in decentralized finance — value loss during liquidations. In lending markets, loans that become undercollateralized can be liquidated by anyone fast enough to act.
Specialized bots typically rush to exploit these moments, capturing near-risk-free profits while protocols and users see little of that upside.
Chainlink SVR and Atlas address this by reframing how liquidations are handled. Instead of allowing open competition in the public mempool, they introduce private, application-level auctions where bots bid for the right to backrun liquidations immediately after oracle price updates.
This approach enables what the industry often calls “non-toxic” MEV, as it avoids practices like frontrunning or sandwich attacks.
By integrating Atlas into SVR, Chainlink is effectively folding a production-tested order-flow auction engine into its oracle-driven MEV recapture stack. Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs, described the combination as a major upgrade for DeFi revenue models:
“Uniting Atlas’s proven order flow auction technology with Chainlink SVR creates the most effective value recapture system DeFi has ever had, increasing revenue for DeFi through SVR expansion to new ecosystems.”
Proven Results in Live Markets
The numbers behind SVR help explain why Chainlink is doubling down on this strategy. According to the company, SVR has already facilitated more than $460 million in liquidations and redirected over $10 million in oracle extractable value back to protocols.
Major lending platforms such as Aave and Compound are among its adopters, using the system to convert previously lost MEV into a measurable revenue stream.
This recaptured value is shared between participating protocols and the Chainlink Network, reinforcing the oracle provider’s long-term economic model while giving DeFi applications a financial incentive to integrate SVR.
Atlas has also been used by protocols like Compound and Venus to manage liquidation order flow. With the acquisition complete, its technology is now fully embedded into SVR, enabling faster expansion to additional chains without rebuilding the infrastructure from scratch.
Multi-Chain Expansion Gains Momentum
Chainlink SVR is already live on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, and HyperEVM. The addition of Atlas is expected to speed up deployments beyond these networks by providing a flexible order-flow layer that can adapt to different execution environments.
On Ethereum mainnet, SVR continues to rely on Flashbots’ MEV-Share for transaction ordering, while Atlas opens the door for similar functionality on other chains that lack mature MEV tooling.
FastLane CEO Alex Watts framed the handover as a scaling decision rather than an exit:
“Bringing Atlas together with Chainlink creates the most credible path for DeFi protocols to recapture value onchain at scale. Chainlink is best positioned to lead the OEV market and advance Atlas through its industry-leading SVR product.”
FastLane will remain independent but will act as a strategic partner, supporting Atlas operations and helping protocols migrate from existing deployments. Chainlink has confirmed that current Atlas users, including those on the now-deprecated RedStone version, will have access to a streamlined transition path and direct support during the upgrade.
Why This Matters for DeFi
MEV has long been a double-edged sword for decentralized finance. While it incentivizes block production and arbitrage efficiency, it often drains value from protocols and users. Chainlink’s push into oracle extractable value reframes that dynamic by treating MEV as something protocols can actively manage rather than passively endure.
By acquiring Atlas, Chainlink is consolidating critical infrastructure around this idea, positioning SVR as a default layer for liquidation-related MEV across chains.
With over $27 trillion in transaction value already enabled by Chainlink oracles and more than 70% of DeFi relying on its feeds, the company is now extending its influence beyond data delivery into transaction ordering itself.
If adoption continues at its current pace, the Atlas acquisition could mark a turning point in how DeFi protocols think about MEV—not as an unavoidable tax, but as recoverable value that can strengthen protocol sustainability at scale.
