Decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator 1Inch (1INCH) announced Aqua, a protocol aimed at unifying the liquidity pools of numerous markets in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, Aqua allows liquidity providers to authorize several strategies against one wallet inventory, while the assets remain in the wallet until a trade settles — rather than depositing the funds to any particular liquidity pool. The protocol has been deployed on 13 blockchains including Ethereum, Arbitrum (ARB), Base, Robinhood Chain and BNB Chain (BNB).
Source: 1Inch
The protocol provides an integrated package including a generalized onchain registry, wallet-backed automated market making strategies, atomic settlement and consumer-facing position management. Liquidity becomes more widely available, as it does not have to be tied to any protocol in particular — but it also does not multiply as assets can be involved only in one operation at a time.
A user providing $10,000 of liquidity can advertise $10,000 on three protocols for a total of $30,000 — but only $10,000 of simultaneous trades can happen with those funds. The system resembles coordinated overbooking and may improve the utilization of liquidity capital if it is unlikely to be called for multiple operations simultaneously.
A 1Inch spokesperson told Cointelegraph that Aqua can be used by resolvers holding a 1Inch-issued access credential as not all protocols are supported.
The spokesperson also explained that all positions are quoted against the market maker’s live wallet balance, so after a fill the remaining position quotes against what is left. “If a swap would exceed the actual balance, it reverts atomically,” they said.
In a related development, pending tokenholder vote approval, the protocol will allocate 500,000 USD Coin (USDC) to incentives for adoption of Aqua alongside 10 million 1INCH (worth roughly $825 at the time of writing.) “The initiative is designed to accelerate liquidity growth and swap activity across supported pairs,” according to 1inch’s announcement.
Today’s announcement follows a statement earlier this month from Anton Bukov, a co-founder of 1inch, who said that he was “fired” from 1inch in November 2025 after “push[ing] for change” in the company’s management and operations.
