According to BlockBeats, 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz said on Sept. 10 that the protocol has processed about $809 billion in token swap volume since launching in 2019, but the company still has not become profitable.
Kunz said the current DeFi market is still too small for platforms to generate large-scale revenue by extracting value. Rather than prioritize short-term profit, 1inch is choosing to keep building infrastructure.
Aqua targets fragmented liquidity in DeFi
Kunz said 1inch is using its newly launched shared liquidity protocol, Aqua, to tackle liquidity fragmentation in DeFi.
A study conducted by Dune on behalf of 1inch found that in the first half of 2026, about 85% of concentrated liquidity on major decentralized trading platforms was in a low-utilization state. Of the $1.84 billion in liquidity tracked, around $1.6 billion was not being fully used, and an estimated $150 million in annual fee revenue was going uncaptured.
Aqua lets liquidity providers support multiple trading pairs through wallet balances without depositing assets into liquidity pools. Trade settlement is handled by market makers that have passed compliance reviews.
About $25 million was committed on the protocol’s first day, alongside incentives of 10 million 1INCH and 500,000 USDC.
1inch says infrastructure comes before monetization
1inch has already partnered with major platforms including Coinbase, while Robinhood has listed it as a Robinhood Chain partner.
Kunz said 1inch would rather build infrastructure first and look for commercialization opportunities later, once traditional finance and larger pools of capital enter the market.