1inch Expands to Solana, Bitcoin for Seamless DeFi Integration

Fragmented liquidity and soaring user demands are pushing DeFi innovators to deliver powerful, intuitive, and secure solutions. As cross-chain functionality and regulatory scrutiny intensify, the race to unify digital and traditional finance has never been more urgent.

Sergej Kunz, Co-Founder of 1inch, shares his insight on evolving DEX aggregation, user empowerment, and the company’s next leaps—including Solana and Bitcoin integration.

Ask Aime: What's the future of DeFi after 1inch's Solana and Bitcoin integration, and how do users benefit?

Liquidity is highly fragmented and exists across various networks like Ethereum and Layer 2s such as Base. It also resides on other chains, such as sui and Solana. Beyond DeFi, there’s substantial liquidity in Bitcoin, with a large portion simply being held without generating any passive income. However, earning passively on Bitcoin is now very feasible through DeFi.

Recognizing this, 1inch has shaped its strategy to expand outward, starting from within DeFi, moving into the broader crypto space, and eventually reaching into traditional finance. Traditional finance encompasses a wide range of financial products that can be tokenized, and this is exactly the direction 1inch is heading in.

1inch has started with simple swaps among different liquidity sources, but users had to create their own transactions and take on all the risks. The company recognized the widespread exploitation of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) and introduced a new architecture to simplify the user experience and the swap process itself.

1inch’s approach involves users expressing intent, like placing an order, and the protocol that facilitates the order ensures the user gets the best execution. This led to the idea of using Dutch auctions, a more technical description of this approach. Under the hood, it’s relatively simple in terms of how it works, but more complex for professional actors who actually settle the user’s trades. For the user, it’s just a simple intent.

Ask Aime: How does 1inch's new framework address fragmented liquidity across different networks?

1inch invests heavily in security audits, with the 1inch Foundation spending around $500,000 on security for the latest release of cross-chain swaps. About 10 security firms were involved in auditing the code to ensure it’s highly secure and works seamlessly for the user.

1inch is also working on bridging crypto and fiat with the 1inch Card and real-world payments. The idea started as a personal need, but it soon became clear that many others were also looking for a seamless experience. 1inch is partnering with someone who already offers crypto cards as a white-label solution, collaborating with banks and covering regions like the European Union and the UK. The US will follow soon, and 1inch is also looking for partners in the UAE and other areas.

1inch is also actively researching AI and developing a new aggregation product that might even launch under a sub-brand focused heavily on AI. Big announcements are on the horizon, and what is being seen now is just the beginning.

1inch prioritizes user security and safety, conducting extensive security audits from the very beginning. The company also works with partner security firms that support this effort. Additionally, 1inch has built a product that it offers to integrators and partners to help prevent scams and fraud. It lets 1inch detect what wallet is connected and whether there’s an asset transfer to a specific address.

1inch can identify if a wallet is associated with hackers or scammers, especially if it has been flagged or tracked. Security companies like TRM Labs can determine whether a wallet belongs to a malicious actor—possibly a hacker, a sanctioned individual, or even someone linked to North Korea. 1inch takes this responsibility very seriously and has built its own API and software service around this, integrated into the 1inch Wallet—a non-custodial wallet—as well as in its dApp and swap interface.

DAOs are still somewhat experimental, but several projects—like Curve, MakerDAO, Compound, and even Chainlink—have strong communities. There are challenges, as many people participate but not all of them are experts. However, the DAO model is evolving, with daos beginning to hire professional firms that specialize in helping manage assets, process grant requests, and handle proposals.

1inch’s DAO provides grants to support development on the 1inch Network, funding projects that contribute to the network’s growth or supporting contributors who want to work full-time on the ecosystem. Some of them receive annual grants to develop specific products or sub-projects.

1inch is excited to announce the integration of Solana, an important step forward for the company. By adding another chain, 1inch is continuing to enhance the user experience, allowing users to focus less on which network they’re using and more on the assets they want to exchange. The goal is seamless interoperability across networks.

1inch plans to integrate more blockchains, including Bitcoin, Sui, Aptos, and others currently trending or actively traded on centralized exchanges. Whether it’s Bitcoin-like coins or newer protocols like Sui and Aptos, 1inch aims to support as many assets as possible. The vision is to unify liquidity across chains and deliver a truly seamless experience for users.

Bitcoin is next on 1inch’s integration roadmap. There’s a massive amount of Bitcoin out there, representing the largest pool of liquidity in the entire crypto space. 1inch is planning to integrate Bitcoin for seamless swaps, allowing users to buy real Bitcoin and receive real Bitcoin without having to hand over their money to a third party. It will be a trustless, peer-to-peer program with no single point of failure. The smart contract will do exactly what it’s designed to do.

After Bitcoin, 1inch will focus on integrating other high-performing blockchains like Sui, Aptos, and more.