Anton Bukov, the co-founder of the renowned DeFi protocol 1inch, is officially departing from the platform’s active operations after a 7 years journey. At the same time, Anton Bukov is introducing his own exclusive venture, Second Tier. As per Anton Bukov’s official X announcement, his exit from active engagement at 1inch is a result of some differences over the long-term strategy of 1inch and its future direction. Particularly, the platform’s team had barred him from his active role at the end of November last year following months of trying to align with the current management.
He said that “At a certain point, my view of the next market cycle and strategic development diverged from the direction of 1inch’s current management. After a long period of trying to find alignment, it became clear that building the next stage together was no longer the right path.”
Anton Bukov Retains 50% Share of 1inch
Irrespective of leaving day-to-day operations, he confirmed that he remains the co-founder of the company while retaining a 50% ownership stake. During his tenure at the firm, Bukov played a critical role in building the technical foundation of 1inch. He led the establishment of many flagship innovations, such as the 1inch Router. It was widely known as the earliest DEX aggregator.
Apart from that, he advanced the development of 1inch Fusion, which unveiled Dutch-auction-centered price discovery in the case of token swaps. Additionally, he also bolstered the trustless cross-chain capital swaps of the protocol via atomic swap technology. Simultaneously, he also considers the impending Shared Liquidity Automated Market Maker (AMM) a critical category that he assisted in pioneering.
While elaborating on the reasons that led to his departure from active engagement on the platform, he highlighted the shifting responsibilities. While the primary focus of Bukov had always been the economic design, security, and protocol architecture, the feedback from colleagues and users pushed him to enter operational and management matters. Thus, he spent several months focusing on communication and leadership to enhance the organization ahead of his ultimate dismissal from the executive role.
Second Tier Aims to Build Next-Generation DeFi Infrastructure
Now, Anton Bukov does not have any responsibility for 1inch’s product architecture, operational oversight, or protocol security leaving him with ample time to focus on his next project. Additionally, and more importantly, Second Tier’s rollout as an exclusive DeFi-centered venture is poised to develop an effective and secure blockchain stack, minimizing the gap between transfer execution and economic intent. With his vast experience, the success of Second Tier is already visible.
