1inch co-founder says DeFi too small for profit despite $814B volume
1inch (1INCH)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
cryptobriefing.com reports that 1inch has routed over $814 billion in cumulative swap volume since its 2019 launch but remains unprofitable. Co-founder Sergej Kunz attributes this to a DeFi market that is still too small to generate sustainable revenue. The protocol processed $214 billion in trades during 2025 alone, marking a 39% year-over-year increase across 114 million transactions.
Despite this scale, 1inch’s fee structures remain competitive with underlying venues, limiting its ability to charge meaningful fees without losing users. The 1INCH token currently trades between $0.07 and $0.09, down roughly 99% from its 2021 all-time high. The protocol now supports more than 13 blockchains and utilizes Fusion technology for intent-based execution.
It has also partnered with Ondo Finance to facilitate over $3 billion in tokenized real-world asset volume by March 2026. Upcoming products like the Aqua protocol aim to address liquidity fragmentation across chains. Kunz noted that the demand side is trending positively, yet profitability remains elusive. The protocol’s market capitalization sits between $100 million and $130 million.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for 1INCH, measured when this story was written up on 10 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
1INCH is trading at $0.09070 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 42.5%, indicating that nearly half of recent volume was buy-side. This buying pressure is fading compared to the 1-hour buy ratio of 33.3% and the 4-hour ratio of 39.1%, suggesting short-term momentum is weakening. Volume delta confirms this outflow, showing -$10,828 in the last hour and -$29,651 over four hours. Over 24 hours, the cumulative volume delta is -$60,133, with a closing Cumulative Volume Delta of -$61,972. These negative deltas mean sellers are outweighing buyers in net terms, draining liquidity. Only 8 out of 24 hours saw net buying, highlighting a predominantly selling session.
The latest daily buy ratio of 49.8% sits at the 66th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 48.2% - ordinary for this coin.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for 1INCH, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
The current 24-hour buy ratio of 42.5% is below the 7-day average of 46.7%, showing a -4.2 point drop in buying interest. Volume is also subdued, trading at 0.54x the weekly average, indicating reduced participant engagement. While the price rose 4.0% over the past 8 days, the weekly volume delta totals -$420,900, reflecting sustained selling pressure. This day is unusual for its lower-than-average volume and buying ratio compared to the preceding week's trends.