On July 28, 2026, 1inch officially opened its Aqua shared liquidity layer to the public, marking a significant departure from DeFi’s traditional pool-based liquidity model. Following a developer-only launch in November 2025, Aqua now enables liquidity providers to utilize the same wallet balance across multiple positions without locking assets into pools. The protocol acts as a registry: users approve a token balance, create liquidity positions, and only when a swap matches their criteria does Aqua pull the needed tokens from the wallet and return the swapped assets plus fees in a single atomic transaction. Otherwise, tokens remain fully under the user’s control.
Co-founder Sergej Kunz emphasized the inefficiencies of existing pool structures: “The liquidity provisioning space is broken, but you only see how broken once there’s an alternative. Today, that alternative has arrived.” He noted that Aqua allows providers to offer useful liquidity wherever demand appears without surrendering custody. The launch is accompanied by the 1inch Network Incentives program, powered by Merkl and led by Degensoft Ltd. The 1inch Foundation has committed 10 million 1INCH tokens, and the 1inch DAO added a 500,000 USDC boost to accelerate liquidity growth and swap activity.
1inch commissioned Dune research revealing that in the first half of 2026, 85% of concentrated liquidity on major DEXs was underutilized—roughly $1.6 billion out of $1.84 billion tracked. About $542 million sat completely out of range in an average week, leading to an estimated $150 million in annual fees foregone. Aqua addresses this by letting a single wallet balance back multiple positions simultaneously; for instance, a $100,000 balance can support three positions collectively quoting $300,000 in liquidity, without borrowing. Exposure remains capped by actual holdings.
Aqua supports 13 EVM chains from day one, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Robinhood Chain, and BNB Chain. Additional features include a liquidity leaderboard, incentives screen, liquidity map visualizations, batch position creation, provider profiles with cross-chain positions, and a planned AI-assisted liquidity provisioning flow. Eight independent security audits have been completed by firms like OpenZeppelin, Bailsec, Hashlock, and Decurity. The self-custodial design ensures Aqua never holds user tokens, and a revocation mechanism stops new fills promptly.
