1inch routes over $800B in trades, co-founder says DeFi still too small to turn a profit

Processing $814 billion in trades sounds like the kind of number that would keep the lights on. For 1inch, the leading decentralized exchange aggregator, it apparently hasn’t been enough.

Co-founder Sergej Kunz has stated that despite routing more than $800 billion in cumulative swap volume since the protocol’s 2019 launch, 1inch has not turned a profit. The reason, according to Kunz, is straightforward: DeFi is still too small to generate sustainable revenue.

Massive volume, missing margins

The numbers themselves are genuinely impressive. According to Dune Analytics data, 1inch’s cumulative swap volume reached approximately $814 billion by mid-2026. In 2025 alone, the protocol processed $214 billion in trades, a 39% increase year-over-year, spanning roughly 114 million transactions.

The core challenge for DEX aggregators like 1inch is that they route trades to wherever users get the best price across decentralized exchanges. 1inch has leaned into gasless trading and MEV protection as differentiators, features that benefit users but don’t exactly scream “revenue engine.”