1inch's $814B Trade Volume Can't Turn a Profit Yet
1inch has processed over $814 billion in trades since its launch in 2019, but despite this massive volume, the protocol has not turned a profit. According to co-founder Sergej Kunz, DeFi is still too small to generate sustainable revenue.
The core challenge for decentralized exchange aggregators like 1inch is that they route trades to wherever users get the best price across multiple exchanges. While features like gasless trading and MEV protection benefit users, they don't exactly scream 'revenue engine.'
Despite its impressive volume growth of 39% in 2025, 1inch's market capitalization sits in the $100 million to $130 million range, and the price of its token has declined by roughly 99% from its all-time high set during the 2021 DeFi bull run.
The protocol has evolved significantly since its humble beginnings as a hackathon project. It now supports over 13 blockchains and has introduced new technologies like Fusion and Fusion+, which enable cross-chain swaps without requiring users to bridge tokens manually.