1INCH

1inch is a network of decentralized finance protocols centred on token swapping. It began as a DEX aggregator that combined liquidity from multiple decentralized exchanges to find better swap rates, splitting single trades across venues and market depth to reduce slippage, and has since added intent-based swaps and cross-chain swaps executed atomically without bridging or external messaging protocols. Swaps are offered in a default "Simple" intent-based mode with zero swap gas fees and MEV protection against front-running and sandwich attacks, and a "Classic" aggregator execution path in a Pro interface that gives advanced users control over gas, slippage and routing.

The product set spans several components: 1inch Swap (cross-chain swapping across 13+ networks); 1inch Wallet, a self-custodial mobile DeFi wallet with in-app gasless, MEV-protected swaps, custom gas settings, Ledger integration, WalletConnect access to dApps, a Web3 browser and encrypted-file/cloud backup options; 1inch Portfolio for asset tracking, PnL and liquidity-protocol analysis and DeFi staking discovery; 1inch Card, a prepaid Mastercard powered by Crypto Life, developed with Baanx and issued by Monavate, supporting Apple Pay, Google Pay, ATM withdrawals, borrowing against digital assets and crypto cashback, with support for tokens including 1INCH, USDT, BTC, LTC, XRP and BXX; and 1inch Business, a Web3 API suite covering functions from token swaps to RPC nodes. Security features include wallet scanning, risk scoring, blocklists, scam protection, brand-abuse takedowns and third-party security audits.

At the protocol level, 1inch comprises the Aggregation Protocol (routing and atomic execution across DEXes, with argument validation and execution verification), the Liquidity Protocol (an AMM designed to protect against front-running and improve capital efficiency for liquidity providers), the 1inch DAO through which 1INCH stakers vote on protocol parameters, 1inch Labs as a decentralized group of open-source builders, and the 1inch Foundation, a non-profit that issued the 1INCH token and funds ecosystem contributions through grants and other capital deployment vehicles.

Founding story

Co-founders Sergej Kunz, a German security developer and researcher, and Anton Bukov met through Kunz's CryptoManiacs YouTube channel, where he ran live smart-contract security audits; they co-hosted for six months and competed in Ethereum hackathons together. The initial 1inch concept was built in May 2019 at the ETHGlobal hackathon in New York during a 60-hour coding marathon, producing a DEX aggregator prototype that split transactions across multiple decentralized exchanges to obtain better prices. According to this account, Kunz and Bukov formally founded 1inch in September 2020.

Business model

1inch operates consumer and developer-facing DeFi products around its swap infrastructure: a web dApp and Pro interface, a mobile self-custodial wallet, a portfolio tracker, a crypto payment card issued through partners, and a commercial Web3 API suite (1inch Business) sold to integrators. Governance and token issuance sit with the 1inch DAO and the non-profit 1inch Foundation, while 1inch Labs contributes open-source protocol development.

Traction

The company reports more than $813B in cumulative swap volume, over 265M total swaps and over 27M wallets connected. In the first half of a reported year, over a thousand bug bounty reports were submitted across six programs. Investors in disclosed rounds include Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, ParaFi Capital and others.

Latest developments

Blog posts dated August 2026 cover 1inch Aqua, a mechanism intended to protect liquidity providers' positions from just-in-time fee-sniping bots, a biannual bug bounty report published via HackenProof covering over a thousand submissions across six programs, and a technical series on deploying contracts with the 1inch CREATE3 factory. Support documentation lists Robinhood Chain among supported networks.