Aqua Now Live: 1inch's Shared DeFi Liquidity Layer Goes Mainstream

1inch has opened its shared DeFi liquidity layer Aqua to all users across 13 EVM chains, eight months after releasing it in developer-only mode. The protocol went live on Tuesday, with a front end that was originally slated for the first quarter. Aqua is billed as 'the foundation for scalable, capital-efficient DeFi,' working as a registry rather than a pool.

Liquidity providers can approve token balances and create positions that draw on them without depositing tokens into a contract. When a swap matches a position's terms, the protocol pulls tokens and returns proceeds and fees atomically. Approvals are set per token and per chain, and can be revoked.

Every swap on Aqua is executed by a 'verified counterparty,' which 1inch defines as 'a market maker or arbitrage bot that has been verified.' This check is enforced on-chain at swap time. The company claims it's the first risk-controlled liquidity venue, part of a shift toward 'risk-controlled and regulated DeFi.'

1inch offers the example of a $100,000 balance supporting three positions that collectively quote $300,000. Nothing is borrowed, and exposure is capped by holdings rather than the positions' combined size.