1inch Aims to Shake Up DEX Liquidity with Aqua Protocol Incentives
1inch has launched a campaign to incentivize liquidity on its Aqua protocol, which allows users to provide liquidity without locking up tokens in pools. The three-month campaign, running through Merkl across over 80 1INCH markets, offers rewards funded by 10 million 1INCH and 500k USDC.
Aqua, a self-custodial shared liquidity layer, was launched to the public on July 28, with a developer-only launch in November last year. Instead of depositing tokens into pools, providers approve a wallet balance that multiple positions can quote against, allowing for more efficient use of capital.
The campaign aims to drive liquidity and swap activity across supported pairs, according to Sergej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch. 'The liquidity provisioning space is broken,' he said, 'but you only see how broken once there's an alternative.'