1inch Co-Founder Sergej Kunz Takes Aim at Centralized Exchanges
1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz says the project’s mission is to make centralized exchanges unnecessary by unifying liquidity across chains and delivering a UX that feels as simple as a single click. After a fresh rebrand, 1inch now spans 14+ networks, recently adding Solana, with Kunz arguing that users shouldn’t care which chain they’re on only that swaps are trustless and execution is best price across the most liquidity available.
Kunz frames 1inch’s “intent based” protocol as a direct answer to front-running and sandwich attacks routing user orders to a competitive marketplace of professional market makers to maximize outcomes. He even cites cases where large swaps achieved materially better fills than going straight to a single DEX, pitching the model as akin to an open, on chain version of exchange order routing.
The roadmap stretches beyond EVM 1inch plans deeper cross chain rails, Bitcoin support, and a path to unify liquidity for virtually any asset, including tokenized RWAs via institutional-grade, non custodial APIs. The end state, Kunz suggests, is a chain-agnostic user flow where bridges and networks fade into the background and stablecoins anchor the experience.
All of this sets up a direct showdown with centralized exchanges. Kunz is explicit about competing head-on over the next one to three years, and the timing may be favorable: spot volumes at CEXs reportedly fell nearly 28% in Q2 2025, a data point DeFi proponents will read as momentum shifting toward on chain venues.
In short, 1inch is positioning itself as DeFi’s liquidity unifier and UX layer pushing the space toward trustless, cross chain simplicity while turning order flow into a market for best execution. If the team can keep abstracting complexity and plugging into new ecosystems, the “ultimate battlefield” Kunz describes may be less about tokens and more about who owns the user experience.
Here’s my take on a interview 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz. had with cryptoslate.
