1inch Unleashes Aqua: One Wallet, 13 Chains, Zero Reasons to Split Your Stack 🐳

Decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch has opened Aqua, its shared DeFi liquidity protocol, to all users eight months after first releasing it to developers. The protocol went live Tuesday across 13 EVM-compatible networks, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain and Robinhood Chain. Aqua functions as an onchain registry rather than a conventional liquidity pool. Providers approve a token balance from their wallet and create positions that draw on it; tokens are never deposited into a contract, and when a swap matches a position's terms, the protocol pulls the assets, executes the trade and returns proceeds and fees atomically. Approvals are set per token and per chain and can be revoked at any time.

The model is designed to address capital fragmentation in DeFi by letting a single wallet balance back multiple positions without locking funds in separate pools. 1inch illustrates the mechanic with a $100,000 balance supporting three positions that collectively quote $300,000 — nothing is borrowed, and a swap can only execute against tokens actually in the wallet, capping exposure by holdings rather than by combined quoted size. A 1inch spokesperson told Cointelegraph that positions are quoted against the market maker's live wallet balance, so after a fill the remaining position quotes against what is left, adding that "if a swap would exceed the actual balance, it reverts atomically." Every swap on Aqua is executed by a "verified counterparty," which 1inch defines as "a market maker or arbitrage bot that has been verified," with the check "enforced on-chain at swap time." The company describes Aqua as the first "risk-controlled" liquidity venue and part of a shift toward "risk-controlled and regulated DeFi," noting that each position's single owner makes just-in-time fee skimming uneconomic, putting the cost of such attacks at up to 44% of provider fee income.

Liquidity access is gated by 1inch-issued credentials, and not all protocols are supported. The launch package includes a generalized onchain registry, wallet-backed automated market making strategies, atomic settlement and consumer-facing position management. Aqua has undergone eight independent audits by firms including OpenZeppelin, Nethermind, Hexens and Bailsec, and 1inch has cautioned that the product is built for "experienced users," noting that fees are not guaranteed, prices can move against a position, and providers carry market and smart contract risk.

To seed adoption, the 1inch Foundation has committed 10 million 1INCH in provider rewards for the launch, with a further 500,000 USDC from the 1inch DAO distributed through Merkl. 1inch said the initiative is designed to accelerate liquidity growth and swap activity across supported pairs. The rollout follows a statement earlier this month from Anton Bukov, a co-founder of 1inch, who said that he was "fired" from 1inch in November 2025 after "push[ing] for change" in the company's management and operations.