1inch Review 2026: DEX Aggregator, Fees, Features & Is It Safe?

Last Updated: November 10, 2026

1inch is a non-custodial DEX aggregator, not a centralized exchange. It compares and splits token swaps across decentralized exchanges on 18 networks, including Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain and Solana, and executes them from the user’s own wallet, with no account.

In Blockchainreporter’s November 2026 review, 1inch suits self-custody DeFi users who want gasless, MEV-protected and cross-chain swaps. It is a weaker fit for beginners who still need to buy their first crypto.

The 1inch app charges no swap fee, although an infrastructure fee of up to 0.30% can apply, plus pool fees and, in some modes, network gas. Its contracts are heavily audited, although a 2024 web app attack and resolver exploits in 2025 and 2026 show where the risks sit.

On DefiLlama, 1inch is the second-largest DEX aggregator by all-time volume, about $803 billion, but eighth by 30-day volume, with $2.80 billion in the 30 days to November 9, 2026.

Key Takeaways:

• What it is: a DEX aggregator and DeFi app suite (Swap, Wallet, Portfolio, the 1inch Business API and the Aqua liquidity layer) that routes trades across DEX liquidity on 18 networks; swaps settle on-chain from the user’s wallet.
• Fees: no swap fee in the 1inch app; an infrastructure fee of 0 to 0.05% on stablecoin pairs and 0 to 0.30% on other pairs can apply; in the default intent-based swap mode, resolvers usually pay the gas, except on Solana and native-token swaps.
• Safety record: audited contracts and six bug bounty programs paying up to $500,000, but users lost about $768,000 in an October 2024 web app supply-chain attack, and resolvers were hit in March 2025 (about $5 million, returned minus a bounty) and May 2026 (TrustedVolumes, about $6.7 million).
• Market position: about $803 billion in all-time volume on DefiLlama, second only to Jupiter, but monthly volume fell from between $6.0 billion and $38.8 billion in 2025 to between $2.6 billion and $3.5 billion since April 2026.
• 1INCH token: about $0.075 on CoinMarketCap at 21:35 UTC on November 10, 2026, with a market cap of about $106.9 million, roughly 99% below its 2021 high of $7.87.
• New in 2026: Trade mode and Terminal, AI agent access through an MCP server, pay-per-call API payments in USDC, the public launch of Aqua, a wider range of tokenized stocks for eligible users, and Robinhood Chain, Monad, Cronos, HyperEVM and Arc.

1inch Review 2026: Verdict at a Glance

1inch remains one of the most complete DEX aggregators in November 2026, combining aggregated routing with intent-based swaps, cross-chain swaps without bridges, limit orders, tokenized stocks and a large developer platform. Its weak points are a shrinking share of aggregator volume, a token that has lost about 99% of its value since 2021 and a security record with incidents around its web app and its resolver network. The table sums up this review.

What Is 1inch?

1inch is a decentralized exchange aggregator and DeFi platform founded in 2019 by Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov at the ETHNewYork hackathon. According to the 1inch website, it has processed more than $815 billion in swap volume across more than 267 million swaps, with more than 28 million wallets connected. DefiLlama, which counts each swap once using 1inch-maintained Dune data, puts all-time volume at about $803 billion.

Rather than being a DEX itself, 1inch is a routing and execution layer that sits on top of existing DEXs. When a user wants to swap Token A for Token B, 1inch’s Pathfinder algorithm scans hundreds of liquidity sources, such as Uniswap, Curve, Balancer and PancakeSwap, and splits the trade across several pools when that gives a better result. In its default intent-based mode, professional market makers called resolvers compete to fill the order instead.

The 1inch product suite in November 2026 includes:

• 1inch Swap: the core aggregator in the 1inch app, with a simple Swap view that uses intent-based execution, a Trade mode for market and limit orders, and Terminal for advanced users.
• 1inch Limit Orders: target-price orders that resolvers fill when the market reaches the set rate.
• 1inch Fusion and Fusion+: intent-based swaps with MEV protection on one chain (Fusion) and across chains without a bridge (Fusion+).
• 1inch Wallet: a non-custodial mobile wallet for iOS and Android with built-in swaps.
• 1inch Portfolio: a tracker for holdings, profit and loss and DeFi positions.
• 1inch Business: the developer platform that sells access to 1inch’s swap, data and RPC APIs.
• Aqua: a shared liquidity layer, launched publicly in July 2026, that lets liquidity providers back several strategies with the same tokens.

Is 1inch a DEX or a Crypto Exchange?

1inch is neither a centralized crypto exchange nor a classic DEX. It is a DEX aggregator: for classic swaps it routes trades through exchanges such as Uniswap and Curve, and in Fusion mode resolvers fill signed orders.

Unlike Binance or Coinbase, 1inch never takes custody of funds, has no deposits or withdrawals and needs no account: trades settle on-chain from the user’s own wallet. With Aqua, 1inch now also runs its own shared liquidity layer, so the line between aggregator and DEX is narrowing.

Behind the protocol are several bodies. The 1inch Business API is provided by Degensoft Ltd., a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, under BVI law, according to the API terms of service dated July 27, 2026. The 1inch DAO, whose members vote with staked 1INCH, governs the protocol. The 1inch Foundation proposed the 2025 plan to reimburse victims of the 2024 web app attack.

Co-founder Anton Bukov said in July 2026 that he had left 1inch’s day-to-day operations after disagreements over strategy, while remaining a co-founder with a 50% ownership stake. He also launched a new venture, Second Tier.

How Does 1inch Compare to Other DEX Aggregators in Finding the Best Swap Rates?

1inch finds swap rates the same basic way as its main rivals, by comparing prices across many liquidity sources and splitting trades between them. It adds intent-based execution, an auction in which professional resolvers compete to fill a signed order.

No independent research has found an aggregator, 1inch included, that gives the best rate on every trade. Results depend on trade size, chain, token pair, gas and MEV exposure. The practical way to find the best rate is to quote the same swap on several aggregators and compare the amount you would receive after all fees.

Sources: chain counts from DefiLlama’s DEX aggregator data on November 3, 2026 (networks with recorded volume); 1inch fees from the 1inch help center and 1inch Business documentation, November 3, 2026; other aggregators’ fees and features from their official documentation and help centers, last checked October 29, 2026. Network gas and liquidity pool fees apply on top of every fee shown.

By volume, 1inch is one of the largest aggregators of all time but no longer a leader. In the 30 days to November 9, 2026, DefiLlama’s DEX aggregator dashboard recorded $2.80 billion of volume through 1inch, about 4.4% of the $64.0 billion total, which ranked it eighth, behind CoW Swap at $3.35 billion and just ahead of LiquidMesh at $2.68 billion. Jupiter, the leading Solana aggregator, handled almost five times as much.

Source: DefiLlama DEX aggregator dashboard, 30 days to November 9, 2026. Volume shows popularity, not which aggregator quotes the best rate on a given trade.

1inch’s own volume has shrunk since 2025. DefiLlama shows about $207 billion of 1inch swaps in 2025, with monthly totals between $6.0 billion and $38.8 billion. Since April 2026, it has handled $2.6 billion to $3.5 billion a month, and $36.6 billion in 2026 through November 9.

BNB Chain, which carried $9.3 billion of 1inch volume in September 2025, contributed about $0.13 billion in the 30 days to November 9. Ethereum now accounts for roughly 83% of 1inch’s volume and Base for about 6%.

Which DEX Aggregator Gives the Best Swap Rates?

No aggregator wins every trade. Research on intent-based, or solver-based, exchanges points the same way. A study by Yuki Yuminaga, Dex Chen and Danning Sui, first published in March 2025 and revised in May 2025, looked at solver-based protocols such as CoW Swap, 1inch Fusion and UniswapX. It found they improved execution for users compared with routing directly through Uniswap within certain trade size ranges.

The effect was clearest on USDC and wrapped Ether trades and weaker on a long-tail token such as PEPE. Results also differed between the three protocols depending on solver competition and liquidity.

What decides the best rate is the trade itself:

• Small trades: gas and visible fees matter more than routing, so a gasless intent mode such as 1inch Fusion or CoW Swap, or a cheap chain, usually helps most.
• Large trades of major tokens on Ethereum: auction-based systems tend to beat simple routing because solvers compete and trades are shielded from MEV.
• Long-tail tokens: the aggregator with the widest coverage on that chain usually wins.

The practical rule is to compare the final amount received, after all fees, on two or three aggregators before a large swap.

How to Check Which Aggregator Gives You the Best Rate

• Quote the same swap on several aggregators, using the same amount, token pair and chain, and compare the amount received, not the headline price.
• Count every cost: the aggregator’s fee, gas (unless the mode is gasless), liquidity pool fees built into the route and the slippage tolerance you set.
• Match the mode to the trade size. On small trades, gas and visible fees usually decide the result; on large trades, price impact and MEV protection matter more.
• Check the chain. Jupiter covers only Solana and CoW Swap only EVM networks, so coverage of your chain and token narrows the field before any rate comparison.
• Repeat the check over time. Quotes change by the second, and an aggregator that wins one trade can lose the next.

Which Features Make 1inch a Popular Choice for Crypto Trading?

1inch’s appeal for crypto trading comes from combining aggregated routing with execution features that most rivals offer only in part:

• No swap fee in its own app, with an infrastructure fee capped at 0.05% on stablecoin pairs and 0.30% on other pairs.
• Gasless, MEV-protected swaps in the default intent-based mode, where resolvers usually pay the gas and orders stay out of the public mempool.
• Cross-chain swaps without a bridge between 18 networks, covering both EVM chains and Solana.
• Trading tools: Trade mode with per-trade gas and slippage settings, limit orders with lifecycle tracking, and Terminal for experienced traders.
• Tokenized stocks and other real-world assets (RWAs) for eligible users, including bStocks on BNB Chain, Ondo Global Markets stocks and ETFs, xStocks and Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base.
• Developer tools: the 1inch Business API, an MCP server for AI agents and pay-per-call payments in USDC.

Its weaker points are a falling share of aggregator volume and the lack of independent evidence that it beats auction-based rivals such as CoW Swap on large trades.

Blockchainreporter’s verdict: 1inch suits users who want one interface for swaps across EVM networks and Solana, with no swap fee in its own app, although an infrastructure fee can apply, and gasless, MEV-protected Fusion orders. It is not the volume leader, and no study shows any aggregator winning every trade, so for large Ethereum swaps compare its quote with CoW Swap, and on Solana with Jupiter.

How Does 1inch Work?

The 1inch protocol is a family of audited smart contracts rather than a single exchange:

• The Aggregation Protocol, whose router is now in version 6, executes classic swaps.
• The Limit Order Protocol, in version 4, settles limit orders and Fusion intents.
• A separate cross-chain protocol powers Fusion+.
• Dedicated programs run Fusion and cross-chain swaps on Solana.
• Aqua, with its SwapVM engine, handles shared liquidity.

Each has public audit reports in 1inch’s audits repository on GitHub.

Pathfinder routing algorithm. In a classic swap, 1inch’s Pathfinder algorithm queries liquidity pools across all integrated protocols. It weighs token prices, pool depth and estimated gas costs to build an execution path, sometimes splitting a single swap across several pools and protocols to reduce price impact. Users pay gas themselves in this mode and can set gas and slippage per trade in Trade mode.

Fusion protocol. Fusion is 1inch’s intent-based swap layer, launched in December 2022. Instead of sending a transaction directly, users sign a swap intent. Resolvers compete to fill it through a Dutch auction in which the offered rate starts high and declines until a resolver accepts it.

Resolvers usually pay the gas, and because orders are not exposed in the public mempool, they are protected from front-running and sandwich attacks. After a March 2026 update, 1inch said the median intent swap settles in about 14 seconds, down from about 26 seconds, with a quarter of swaps settling in under nine seconds.

Fusion+. Fusion+ extends the same model to cross-chain swaps. It uses escrow contracts with hashlocks and timelocks on both chains, so users can swap tokens on one network and receive assets on another without a bridge or wrapped tokens.

1inch Limit Orders. Users can set limit orders at a target price. Orders are signed off-chain and filled by resolvers when the market reaches that price, so placing an order costs no gas beyond a one-time token approval.

Aqua. Aqua is 1inch’s shared liquidity layer: liquidity providers keep tokens in their own wallets, the same capital can back several positions, and tokens move only when a swap fills. Aqua had a developer release in November 2025 and launched publicly on 13 chains on July 28, 2026, The Block reported. 1inch says its contracts went through eight independent audits and that Aqua had processed more than $500 million in swaps by September 4, 2026.

How to Use 1inch to Swap Crypto Efficiently

To swap efficiently on 1inch, use the default intent-based Swap mode on a low-cost network, approve only the amount you trade and check the final amount received before you sign. Step by step:

1. Open the official app. Go to the official 1inch website or the 1inch Wallet app, and check the domain before connecting, because copycat phishing sites are a common way users lose funds.
2. Connect a wallet and pick the network. Connect an EVM wallet such as MetaMask or Ledger, or a Solana wallet such as Phantom. The wallet and the 1inch app must be on the same network.
3. Choose the tokens and the amount. Compare the amount you will receive, the rate and the price impact shown in the quote.
4. Choose the mode. The default Swap view uses intent-based execution, in which resolvers usually pay the gas. Trade mode lets you set gas and slippage per trade or place a limit order, and selecting a different destination network makes the swap cross-chain.
5. Approve and sign. Approve only the amount you are swapping rather than an unlimited allowance, then sign the order. Swaps on Solana and from native tokens, and very small swaps routed through the aggregator, include network gas paid by the user.
6. Check the result. Confirm the tokens arrived and revoke approvals you no longer need.

Ways to cut costs further:

• Use a cheaper network for small trades. Arbitrum, Base and other low-fee networks keep gas from eating small swaps.
• Keep slippage tight on liquid pairs, and widen it only for volatile or thin tokens.
• Use limit orders when you have a target price and no need to trade at once.
• Compare with another aggregator before large swaps, using the same amount and chain.
• Split very large trades or use intent mode to reduce price impact and MEV exposure.

1inch Solana Integration

In April 2025, 1inch integrated the Solana blockchain, bringing intent-based Fusion swaps and access to more than 1 million Solana tokens to the 1inch interface. Wallet support includes Phantom and Trust Wallet through WalletConnect.

In August 2025, 1inch added cross-chain swaps between Solana and EVM chains, which it describes as the first trustless cross-chain swaps between the two. Users can move between, for example, Ethereum and Solana assets in one swap without a bridge. On October 20, 2026, 1inch added Ondo tokenized stocks and ETFs on Solana for eligible users.

Solana users still rely mainly on native aggregators such as Jupiter, which remains the largest DEX aggregator by volume, and Solana accounted for less than 1% of 1inch’s volume in the 30 days to November 9, 2026, according to DefiLlama. 1inch’s advantage on Solana is that the same interface also covers EVM networks, which suits users who hold assets on both.

1inch AI and MCP Integration

On March 30, 2026, 1inch launched Model Context Protocol (MCP) access through 1inch Business, letting AI agents work with live 1inch infrastructure instead of static documentation. The MCP server connects coding assistants and agents to 1inch’s documentation, API references and examples at no separate charge.

With authentication, it can build quotes and run classic, intent-based and cross-chain swaps and orderbook actions. On September 16, 2026, 1inch added the ability to create and close Aqua liquidity positions through a preview version of the MCP server.

On August 14, 2026, 1inch added pay-per-call pricing: verified 1inch Business customers can pay for each API request from a prepaid USDC balance on Base through the x402 standard, without a subscription. The tools are aimed at teams building automated trading and portfolio tools, which can research swap routes and prepare transactions within a single AI-driven workflow, with developers setting limits and choosing how transactions are signed.

Societe Generale Stablecoin Integration

In October 2025, 1inch integrated Flowdesk as a resolver for Societe Generale-FORGE’s EURCV and USDCV, euro and dollar stablecoins issued by the digital asset arm of the French bank Societe Generale. Flowdesk, a Paris-based liquidity provider registered with France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers, handles order execution and liquidity for both tokens, which 1inch Swap can route.

The move reflects a wider trend of regulated, bank-issued stablecoins and tokenized assets reaching decentralized trading infrastructure. By late 2026, 1inch also routed swaps in tokenized stocks, tokenized Treasury products and tokenized gold for eligible users.

1inch Fees Explained

1inch does not charge a swap fee in its own app. What a user pays depends on the mode. In the default intent-based swap mode, resolvers usually pay the network gas and cover any infrastructure fee, while in swaps routed through the aggregator the user pays both.

Positive slippage, the surplus when a trade executes better than quoted, is kept by 1inch Business on API swaps, according to 1inch’s help center. Liquidity pool fees are built into every quote.

Sources: 1inch help center and 1inch Business infrastructure fee documentation, checked November 3, 2026.

On a $1,000 swap between two non-stablecoins, the infrastructure fee can range from $0 to $3 and pool fees typically add $0.10 to $3, so on Ethereum mainnet, gas is often the biggest cost of a small classic swap. That is why layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum and Base, or gasless intent swaps, are usually the cheaper choice for smaller trades.

For comparison, according to their documentation when last checked on October 29, 2026, Matcha charged 0.25% on most swaps, CoW Swap took a 0.02% volume fee plus a share of quote improvement, and Jupiter charged 0 to 0.5% in its default Ultra mode, depending on the pair.

Supported Chains

1inch’s help center lists 18 supported networks, its developer documentation lists 17 (all except Robinhood Chain), and the 1inch website advertises “18+” networks:

• Ethereum and Ethereum layer 2s: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync Era, Linea, Unichain and Robinhood Chain.
• Other EVM chains: BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, Gnosis, Sonic, Cronos, Monad, HyperEVM and Arc.
• Non-EVM: Solana.

1inch added Solana, Linea, Sonic and Unichain in 2025. In 2026 it added Robinhood Chain, where DefiLlama records 1inch volume from June 24, then Monad on September 9, Cronos and HyperEVM on September 10 and Arc, Circle’s stablecoin-focused layer 1, on September 16. Fantom, Kaia and Aurora have been deprecated. Not every 1inch protocol runs on every network: only Ethereum supports all of them, according to the help center.

1inch Wallet

The main benefits of the 1inch Wallet are built-in aggregated swaps, including gasless, MEV-protected and bridgeless cross-chain swaps, and full self-custody without an account. The 1inch Wallet is a non-custodial mobile wallet for iOS and Android. It features:

• Built-in swaps at 1inch’s aggregated rates, with custom gas settings and cross-chain swaps across supported networks
• Support for the 18 networks 1inch lists, including Solana and Robinhood Chain
• Ledger hardware wallet integration
• WalletConnect and an in-app Web3 browser for connecting to dApps
• Backup through iCloud on iOS or Google Drive on Android, a seed phrase, a private key or an encrypted file
• Scam protection, with audits by SlowMist and Cure53 shown on 1inch’s wallet page
• The 1inch Card, powered by CryptoLife, for spending crypto

Because the wallet uses 1inch’s aggregator, users can swap at aggregated rates without leaving the app. It competes with MetaMask, Trust Wallet and Phantom as a non-custodial option. For a detailed look, see our 1inch Wallet review.

1inch API

1inch Business is 1inch’s developer platform. It gives wallets, portfolio trackers and DeFi apps access to the Swap API (classic, intent-based and cross-chain swaps), the orderbook for limit orders, token, price, history and gas price data and RPC nodes, so they can offer aggregated swaps without building their own router. The APIs are live on 17 networks, including Cronos, Monad and HyperEVM since September 8, 2026 and Arc since September 16, 2026.

Access is sold through subscription plans (Dev, Startup, Pro and Business). Each completed API swap carries an infrastructure fee that falls with the plan, from 0.10% to 0.02% on stablecoin pairs and from 0.30% to 0.05% on other pairs, deducted from the amount received.

Since August 14, 2026, verified customers can also pay per request in USDC through x402, and on October 28, 2026, 1inch said it had made 1inch Business registration easier. The API terms of service are with Degensoft Ltd. of the British Virgin Islands and governed by BVI law.

Which Services Integrate With the 1inch Ecosystem?

Services that integrate with 1inch fall into four groups, based on 1inch’s own announcements:

• Wallets and apps: Ledger, Safe Wallet and HashPort Wallet appear among the 2025 partners 1inch named, alongside Coinbase, Barter, Innerworks and Rango Exchange, and 1inch partnered with OneKey and Rewardy in January 2026 to bring its products to more wallets. Phantom and Trust Wallet connect to 1inch on Solana through WalletConnect.
• Tokenized asset issuers: Ondo Global Markets stocks and ETFs, xStocks, 77 bStocks on BNB Chain, Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base, Reserve’s decentralized token funds, Maple’s syrupUSDC and syrupUSDT, and Tenbin’s tokenized gold and currency tokens, available to eligible users only. Availability depends on the asset and jurisdiction; some are unavailable in the US, UK, EU or other restricted regions.
• Institutions and market makers: Flowdesk routes Societe Generale-FORGE’s stablecoins, and independent resolvers such as TrustedVolumes fill Fusion orders.
• DeFi protocols: in April 2026, 1inch built emergency routing at Fluid’s request during an Aave ETH withdrawal freeze, and Aqua liquidity can be used with looped Aave positions.

1INCH Token

1INCH traded at about $0.075 on CoinMarketCap at 21:35 UTC on November 10, 2026, with a market capitalization of about $106.9 million, ranking 167th.

1INCH is the governance and staking token of the 1inch Network. Staking it gives “Unicorn Power,” which counts toward votes on 1inch DAO proposals, known as 1IPs, and can be delegated. DAO votes decide matters such as the 2025 proposal to reimburse victims of the 2024 web app attack from the DAO treasury.

Resolvers, the market makers that fill Fusion orders, are onboarded through 1inch Business under separate resolver terms of use, the latest dated August 14, 2026.

Source: CoinMarketCap, November 10, 2026.

1INCH trades about 99% below its all-time high, and growth in 1inch’s products has not translated into token value. In late January 2026, on-chain data showed millions of dollars in sales from early investor wallets, and 1INCH hit a then record low of $0.112 on January 28. The 1inch team distanced itself from the sales and promised a tokenomics review, The Defiant reported on January 29.

The token set a new low of $0.065 on July 1, 2026, and the broader market stayed weak into November, with the Crypto Fear and Greed Index at 32 (Fear) on November 10. A “Staking v2: The Unified Power Model” proposal has been posted for discussion on the 1inch governance forum.

1inch Security

1inch’s smart contracts have public audit reports from many security firms, including OpenZeppelin, Consensys Diligence, ChainSecurity, Nethermind, Hexens, Theori and SlowMist. 1inch runs six bug bounty programs on HackenProof and Immunefi. Rewards reach $500,000 for smart-contract flaws, $100,000 each for the Business API, Aqua and the Wallet, $50,000 for the web app and $20,000 for infrastructure.

In August 2026, 1inch joined the SEAL Whitehat Safe Harbor agreement, which lets whitehat hackers step in during an attack. It reported more than 1,000 bug submissions across its programs in the first half of 2026. Its record is not spotless, however:

• October 2024: a supply-chain attack on Lottie Player, a third-party animation library, compromised the 1inch web app on October 30, 2024. Users lost an estimated $768,026 in total. In June 2025, the 1inch Foundation proposed reimbursing verified victims in USDC from the DAO treasury (proposal 1IP-80), subject to KYC and proof of loss, Decrypt reported.
• March 2025: an attacker exploited a flaw in the deprecated Fusion v1 settlement contract and took about $5 million from resolvers that still used it. 1inch said end users’ funds were not affected, and the attacker returned the funds after negotiations, keeping a bounty.
• May 2026: TrustedVolumes, an independent market maker that acts as one of 1inch’s resolvers, lost about $6.7 million through a flaw in its own custom swap contract, Decrypt reported on May 7, 2026. Security firm Blockaid linked the attacker to the March 2025 exploit, while 1inch said there was “no impact on 1inch systems, infrastructure or user funds.”

Non-custodial architecture. 1inch never holds user funds. Swaps are executed on-chain from the user’s own wallet, and if a classic swap fails, the tokens stay in the wallet. 1inch also says its smart contracts are non-upgradable, with no privileged admin keys.

MEV protection and screening. Fusion’s intent-based design keeps orders out of the public mempool, which protects eligible swaps from front-running and sandwich attacks. 1inch’s security page also describes wallet and address screening, transaction and domain scanning, warnings on scam tokens that imitate real ones, and ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification.

For users, the bigger everyday risks are phishing sites that copy the 1inch interface and unlimited token approvals. Always check that you are on the official 1inch domain, approve only the amount you need to swap, revoke old approvals regularly and never type your seed phrase into a website.

Is 1inch Trustworthy? Trust and Fees Evaluation

By the usual DeFi trust criteria, 1inch scores well on custody, transparency and security spending, and less well on its incident record and token economics. Blockchainreporter’s trust and fees checklist below sums up what was verified on November 3, 2026.

The overall picture: 1inch is a reasonable choice for users who manage their own keys and check what they sign, and its fees are disclosed and capped. Users who want customer support, account recovery or insured balances may be better served by a regulated centralized exchange.

1inch Forward: Education Initiative

On March 18, 2026, at the DC Blockchain Summit, 1inch launched 1inch Forward, an education campaign that pairs an open letter urging US business and law schools to teach DeFi with a campus tour for students.

The tour started at the University of Pennsylvania on March 27, followed by Yale University on April 10 and Cornell Tech on April 24. Later stops were planned at Stanford University, Harvard University, Indiana University and the University of Michigan.

The initiative coincided with 1inch research showing an 84% year-over-year increase in Google searches for “Blockchain Jobs,” from 5.59 million to 10.3 million, and a roughly 269% rise in searches for “DeFi Developer Jobs.”

What’s New at 1inch in 2026

• January: partnerships with Rewardy and OneKey to bring 1inch products to more wallets.
• February: security guides made with partners and an integration with Alvara.
• March: Trade mode and Terminal, which replaced Pro mode, with faster intent swaps (March 3); the 1inch Forward campaign (March 18); MCP server access for AI agents (March 30); and a collaboration with xStocks on tokenized stocks.
• April: emergency routing, requested by Fluid during an Aave ETH withdrawal freeze and built in under six hours; see our report on how 1inch built emergency routing for Aave users.
• June and July: Robinhood Chain support and the public launch of Aqua on 13 chains (July 28).
• August: pay-per-call API payments in USDC through x402 and the SEAL Whitehat Safe Harbor agreement (August 14), Coinbase tokenized stocks on Base (August 24) and a bug bounty report counting more than 1,000 submissions in the first half of 2026 (August 27).
• September: Monad (September 9), Cronos and HyperEVM (September 10) and Arc (September 16), with 1inch APIs on all four; Reserve token funds and Tenbin’s tokenized gold and currency tokens; and Aqua passing $500 million in swaps.
• October: 77 bStocks on BNB Chain (October 5), Ondo tokenized stocks and ETFs on Solana (October 20), RWA swaps for apps through the 1inch Swap API (October 23) and simpler 1inch Business registration (October 28).

What changed since 2025: in 2025, 1inch added Solana, Linea, Sonic and Unichain, launched a rebrand in October, released Aqua to developers in November and processed 115 million swaps. In 2026 the focus moved to tokenized stocks and other RWAs, Aqua’s public launch, AI agent tools and five more networks, while 1inch’s monthly volume settled far below its 2025 levels.

Who Is 1inch Best For?

Active DeFi traders who make frequent or larger swaps and care about execution quality. Aggregation and MEV protection matter most on larger trades; on small trades, gas and fees tend to outweigh any rate improvement, so intent-based swaps or a layer 2 network are the better choice.

Multi-chain users who swap assets across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, Solana and the other networks among the 18 that 1inch supports from one interface, including cross-chain swaps without a bridge, and eligible users who want tokenized stocks on-chain.

Developers and businesses that need programmatic access to aggregated DeFi liquidity through 1inch Business, including wallet providers, trading firms and teams building AI agents.

DeFi newcomers can use 1inch for simple swaps, but should start on low-cost networks such as Arbitrum or Base. The interface requires familiarity with wallets, token approvals and slippage settings, and is more complex than a centralized exchange. To buy crypto with a card or bank transfer first, see our ranking of the best crypto exchanges.

1inch Pros and Cons

Pros:

• No swap fee in the 1inch app, with infrastructure fees capped at 0.05% on stablecoin pairs and 0.30% on other pairs
• Aggregated routing across 18 networks, including Solana, with bridgeless cross-chain swaps
• Gasless, MEV-protected intent swaps and limit orders
• Tokenized stocks and other RWAs for eligible users
• Public audit reports and bug bounties of up to $500,000
• AI agent (MCP) access, pay-per-call APIs and a full developer platform through 1inch Business
• Non-custodial: user funds stay in the user’s wallet

Cons:

• Complex for beginners: gas, slippage settings and token approvals require DeFi familiarity
• Share of aggregator volume has fallen: eighth by 30-day volume on DefiLlama, and monthly volume far below 2025 levels
• Past incidents: a 2024 web app attack that cost users about $768,000, and resolver exploits in 2025 and 2026
• Some swaps carry an infrastructure fee of up to 0.30%
• Access to tokenized stocks and other RWAs depends on the user’s jurisdiction
• The 1INCH token is down about 99% from its all-time high

Where to Use and Buy 1inch (1INCH)

Using the 1inch aggregator: open the 1inch app from the official 1inch website and connect an EVM wallet such as MetaMask, Ledger or Coinbase Wallet, or a Solana wallet such as Phantom. No account or email is required. The 1inch Wallet app for iOS and Android offers the same swaps natively.

Buying the 1INCH token on centralized exchanges: 1INCH trades on large exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, KuCoin and Gate; check CoinMarketCap’s markets list for current pairs. Binance, which was hacked on October 29, 2026, has been reopening withdrawals in phases since November 1, so check its announcements before buying there if you plan to move tokens to your own wallet.

Buying 1INCH on a DEX: swap for 1INCH directly in the 1inch app, or on Uniswap on Ethereum. To avoid fake tokens, check the contract address: on Ethereum and BNB Chain, CoinMarketCap lists 1INCH at 0x111111111117dc0aa78b770fa6a738034120c302.

Staking 1INCH: staking 1INCH on the 1inch DAO platform gives Unicorn Power for governance votes. A Staking v2 proposal under discussion would change how staking power is calculated, so check the current terms before locking tokens.

Data sources: 1inch website, blog, help center, security and wallet pages, and 1inch Business documentation and terms; 1inch’s audits repository on GitHub; reports by Decrypt, The Block and The Defiant; and the Yuminaga, Chen and Sui study of solver-based exchanges, all checked November 3, 2026. DefiLlama’s DEX aggregator dashboard and data, CoinMarketCap (1INCH at 21:35 UTC) and alternative.me were rechecked on November 10, 2026. Other aggregators’ fees were last checked October 29, 2026.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. DeFi protocols carry smart-contract, market and phishing risks; always verify you are using official websites and do your own research.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is 1inch and how does it work?
1inch is a decentralized exchange aggregator that searches liquidity across many DEXs on 18 networks and routes each swap for the best result it can find, sometimes splitting one trade across several pools. In its default intent-based mode, users sign an order and professional resolvers compete to fill it, usually paying the gas. Trades settle on-chain from the user’s own wallet.

Is 1inch a DEX or a crypto exchange?
1inch is neither a centralized exchange nor a classic DEX. It is a DEX aggregator that routes swaps through exchanges such as Uniswap and Curve, or through resolvers in its Fusion mode. 1inch never holds user funds, has no deposits or withdrawals and needs no account. Since July 2026, it also runs Aqua, a shared liquidity layer for liquidity providers.

Is 1inch safe to use in 2026?
1inch is non-custodial, its contracts are audited by many firms and its bug bounties pay up to $500,000. Its record includes a 2024 web app supply-chain attack that cost users about $768,000 and resolver exploits in March 2025 and May 2026, which 1inch said did not affect end users’ funds. Phishing sites and unlimited token approvals remain the main risks for users.

What are 1inch fees?
1inch charges no swap fee in its own app. An infrastructure fee of up to 0.05% on stablecoin pairs and 0.30% on other pairs can apply, covered by the resolver in intent-based swaps and limit orders and paid by the user on aggregator-routed swaps. Users also pay pool fees built into quotes and, on Solana, native-token and classic swaps, network gas.

How can I use 1inch to swap crypto efficiently?
Open the official 1inch app or the 1inch Wallet, connect a self-custody wallet and choose a low-cost network such as Arbitrum or Base for small trades. Use the default intent-based swap mode, where resolvers usually pay gas and orders avoid the public mempool, approve only the amount you trade, keep slippage tight and compare the amount received with another aggregator before large swaps.

How does 1inch compare to other DEX aggregators in finding the best swap rates?
No aggregator gives the best rate on every trade. Research on solver-based exchanges found that CoW Swap, 1inch Fusion and UniswapX improved execution over direct Uniswap routing within certain trade sizes, with results differing between them. In Blockchainreporter’s comparison of DefiLlama data, 1inch ranked eighth by volume over the 30 days to November 9, 2026, behind Jupiter, DFlow, 0x, KyberSwap and CoW Swap, among others.

What is the 1inch Fusion protocol?
Fusion is 1inch’s intent-based swap mode, launched in December 2022. Users sign a swap order instead of sending a transaction, and professional market makers called resolvers compete to fill it in a Dutch auction. Resolvers usually pay the gas, and orders stay out of the public mempool, which protects them from sandwich attacks. Fusion+ extends the model to cross-chain swaps without bridges.

How much is 1inch (1INCH) worth?
1INCH traded at about $0.075 on CoinMarketCap at 21:35 UTC on November 10, 2026, down 24% over 30 days and 65% over a year. Its market capitalization was about $106.9 million, ranking 167th, with about 1.43 billion of a maximum 1.5 billion tokens in circulation. The price is about 99% below the all-time high of $7.87 reached in May 2021.

What are the 1inch Network and the 1inch API?
The 1inch Network is the umbrella name for 1inch’s protocols, apps and DAO, and holders of the 1INCH token govern the protocol. The 1inch API, sold through 1inch Business, gives wallets and apps access to 1inch swap routing, cross-chain swaps, limit orders, token and price data and RPC nodes, on subscription plans with infrastructure fees or pay-per-call in USDC through x402.

Does 1inch work with Solana?
Yes. 1inch added Solana in April 2025, bringing intent-based swaps and access to more than 1 million Solana tokens, with wallets such as Phantom supported. Since August 2025, 1inch has offered cross-chain swaps between Solana and EVM networks without a bridge, and in October 2026 it added Ondo tokenized stocks and ETFs on Solana for eligible users.

How does 1inch make money?
1inch earns revenue from infrastructure fees deducted from some swaps, from positive slippage that 1inch Business keeps on API swaps, and from developer subscriptions and pay-per-call payments for its APIs. The swap fee in the 1inch app itself is zero, so users of the app mostly pay network gas and pool fees, plus any infrastructure fee on aggregator-routed swaps.

Who owns 1inch?
1inch was founded in 2019 by Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov. Bukov said in July 2026 that he had left day-to-day operations after disagreements over strategy but remains a co-founder with a 50% ownership stake. The 1inch API is provided by Degensoft Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company, while the protocol is governed by the 1inch DAO through votes of 1INCH stakers.

About the author

Max delves deep into the cryptocurrency realm, with a passion for altcoins and NFTs. Convinced of crypto's transformative potential, he envisions a decentralized financial future. Max's background in the financial sector grants him unique insights into global monetary systems. In his leisure, Max embraces the thrill of adventures and is an avid sports enthusiast, finding balance and rejuvenation away from work.

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