1inch

1inch Website Review

• 1inch is a decentralized exchange aggregator (DEX)


• It is responsible for scouring the cryptocurrency market to find the best rate and the lowest fees in regard to any trade.


• There are no deposit or withdrawal fees within the platform, and there are a variety of different wallets which work with 1inch.


• Its overall website design is simple to use, follows a color tone that's soothing to the eyes, and can be switched from light to dark.


• 1inch has a market cap of $983 million as of January 2022.

The 1inch protocol is an Ethereum (ERC-20) based token that runs on top of the Ethereum blockchain and accumulates the price lists of the exchanges with the goals of letting the user know which price is best for a specific token. It also has access to around 50 exchanges, including big names such as SushiSwap, Uniswap, and even Bancor.

The goal of this platform is to essentially let users have the best choice in regards to swapping between multiple exchange sources at an instant. There is no requirement for creating an account in order to use 1inch, and it doesn't really ask users to complete any Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedure. All you have to do if you are a user who wants to use the 1inch protocol is simply connect your cryptocurrency wallet and partake in a transaction.

Some of the exchange platforms which are currently available for users to connect to through the utilization of 1inch include:

• Bancor


• Balancer


• Oasis


• KyberSwap


• 0x RElayer


• UniSwap


• SushiSwap


• MultiSwap


• MultiSplit


• C.R.E.A.M Swap


• DeFi Swap


• Synthetix


• Sake Swap

The native cryptocurrency token which powers 1inch is the 1INCH token, which is created specifically for the process of governance as well as primary transactions. 

1inch Website

From the very moment a user visits the 1inch website, they are greeted with one of the most simplistic user interfaces out there, and that's a good thing. The website does not waste anyone's time and has a solid Swap Menu and Limit Menu from the start, alongside a large, blue "Connect Wallet" button that lets users get in on the action right away.

Initially, users can choose from which token they'd like to swap and which token they would like to swap, where they get an instantaneous estimation about the top decentralized exchanges that can initiate the transfer and the cost. There's also information about the rate, the route, and the gas refund.

Then there are five categories located on the top bar, including:

• Trade – this is a drop-down menu that will allow you to access either the simple mode, which is the user-friendly way to trade or the classic mode, which takes advantage of solid tools.


• DAO – This is another drop-down menu that lets you access the governance tab, the pools, the farming section, analytics, and the forums.


• More – here, you can get access to the documentation, blog, help page, about page, get externally linked to the IPFS deployment page or the Skynet deployment page.


• Bridges – This gives you access to the Binance Smart Chain Bridge, the Polygon Bridge, the Optimism Bridge, and the Arbitrum Bridge.


• Buy ETH – This is an option that instantly moves you to the MoonPay platform, where you can buy Ethereum (ETH) through the USD FIAT currency.

On the top right of the screen, you can also select your preferred network, including:

• Ethereum


• BSC Mainnet


• Polygon Network


• Optimism


• Arbitrum

Once you click on the “Connect Wallet” menu, you need to accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, after which you can select a network, as well as a wallet. 1inch supports the following wallets: 1inch WalletConnect, Web3, Coinbase Wallet, Ledger, Trezor, KeepKey, Portis, MEW, Formatic, Authereum, Torus, Bitski, Binance Chain Wallet, Venly, and FunFair Wallet.

History of 1inch

1inch, as is the case with many other Ethereum-based projects, was brought to life through an ETH developer conference. Specifically, this occurred at the ETHGlobal hackathon, which took place back in 2019.

The 1inch protocol was founded by Sergej Kunz, who fills the role as the CEO of 1inch, and Anton Bukov, who is its CTO.

In August of 2020, 1inch completed a Seed round from Binance Labs, which got it $2.8 million, after which, in December of 2020, the project managed to close a $12 million funding round, which was led by Pantera Capital this time.

The founders of the 1inch Exchange initially created a separate portal specifically created for yield farming, and this was known as Moonswap. In December of 2020, the 1inch Liquidity Protocol was launched, which deprecated Moonswap.

However, on February 25, 2021, the 1inch Foundation deployed the 1INCH token on the Binance Smart Chain, which made the 1inch Aggregation Protocol and the 1inch Liquidity Protocol available across all of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) users.

At this point in time, the 1INCH token on the BSC became used as a bridge between Binance and Ethereum networks, and when users sent 1INCH tokens to the BSC, they became locked in a Binance Bridge, where a corresponding value in 1INCH tokens on Binance was unlocked. 

That said, 10 million tokens were initially issued on the BSC and are used as liquidity in the Binance Bridge for transactions between Ethereum and the Binance Smart Chain.

1inch Functionality

1inch leverages what is known as a proprietary application programming interface (API) which is dubbed Pathfinder, which contains a discovery and routing algorithm. It is essentially responsible for the process of finding the best possible paths for any proposed token swap, where it splits a swap across several exchanges and across different market depths of the same exchange if required. The exchange rate or the gas fees a user gets is better than they could get on any single exchange as a result of this.

1inch Fees

In terms of the fees found at the 1inch exchange, there are no deposit nor withdrawal fees. The only costs that a user needs to worry about are dependent on the decentralized exchanges used to source the liquidity for trades, and 1inch does its best to limit these by using the Infinite Unlock feature and the CHI Gas Tokens.

To stake on 1inch, users can go to the DOA tab on the website to navigate to the Governance section. Those that want to stake their 1INCH tokens can receive rewards from the swap fee and the price impact fee. Those who hold the 1INCH token can vote on these parameters and get governance rewards.

The CHI Gas Token

The CHI Gas token was introduced as a means for the 1inch exchange users to save on Ethereum gas fees. The CHI gas token is an ERC-20 token used to pay for the transaction costs within the 1inch exchange. According to 1inch, the transactions on the exchange can be up to 42% cheaper as a result of the CHI gas token.

Its price is pegged to that of the Ethereum gas cost, so when the gas price is high, the cost of CHI will also be high, and the same is true in the opposite case. Buying CHI saves users 1% in comparison to minting GasToken while selling CHI saves you 10%.

Infinity Unlock

Then there's Infinity Unlock. This feature gives the platform permission to spend a specific token forever, which means that you do not need to spend gas to unlock the token again in the future. This is an efficient way through which users can save on transaction fees. However, it can be tricky if hackers find a way to exploit it in the future. Thus far, this has not happened, but it can be a possibility. The basic unlock feature is a bit more expensive but a lot more secure in the long term.

1inch Liquidity Pools

The Moonswap was the original portal through which the liquidity pools of 1inch were facilitated, which was based on the Uniswap model. However, it rebranded to the 1inch Liquidity Protocol and moved over to the 1inch Exchange entirely.

The 1inch Liquidity Pool is located on the page once the user navigates to the DAO section on the website and goes to the Pools tab in the drop-down menu. There will be a number of tools available, all of which have solid liquidity and different APYs.

The 1INCH Token Explained

The 1inch token is an ERC-20 utility token specifically created for the 1inch Exchange and is an instant governance token that is used as a means of providing governance to this DEX aggregator and liquidity protocol.

What this means is that holders of the 1INCH token are given the opportunity to vote and decide on various parameters within the 1inch protocol, such as the governance reward, the swap fee for the protocol, the price impact fee, and the decay time for the exchange.

These are all features that can be easily seen in the DA tab of the exchange's website, and users can even go there to vote on the current proposals, which are constantly updated and added upon.

Note that there is a maximum supply of 1.5 billion 1INCH tokens which can ever exist. However, 30% of that has been allocated to the 1inch community. These tokens can be bought on many cryptocurrency exchanges. However, they are typically paired with other cryptocurrencies, so you cannot really get them through utilizing FIAT currencies and have to own crypto in order to do so.

Pros and Cons of 1inch

Pros of 1inch

• The 1inch exchange has had no security breaches or hacking incidents ever since it has been active, and as such, maintains a high level of security and trust among its users.


• The website itself is extremely user-friendly and simple to use, opening the path to cryptocurrency newcomers who are exploring the world of crypto for the very first time.


• The exchange charges no deposit nor withdrawal fees, which is exceptional.


• Through the addition of the 1inch Liquidity Protocol, users are given the opportunity to engage in the process of yield farming.

Cons of 1inch

• You cannot really use FIAT currencies on the 1inch platform, as it is crypto-exclusive. 


• The Infinity unlock feature could put the protocol at risk throughout the long term.


• A lot of beginners could be discouraged by the lack of deposit methods, despite the fact that it is simple to use.

The Bottom Line

There are many innovative features and tools that 1inch brings to the table. It has so far done a solid job in handling any protocol issues and maintaining a high level of security with zero breaches. 

Through 1inch, it can be easy to compare the rates as well as gas fees which are on offer across a multitude of different exchanges, and for active traders, this can save a lot of time that would otherwise get wasted looking across the order books within multiple exchanges. Overall, it is a solid platform with an exceptionally simple website, which is excellent.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can you get a refund from the 1inch Network?

Due to the fact that 1inch is a decentralized network, 1inch does not hold custody of any user funds, and each user signs every transaction within their own wallet, where they take total responsibility for any or all lost funds. Blockchain transfers are permanent, and as such, users cannot be refunded for any failed transactions, gas costs, or losses due to market dynamics.

Can a pending transaction on 1inch be canceled or sped up?

Pending transactions can only be canceled if they have not been added to the block yet. This can be performed by copying and pasting the transaction ID into its respective block explorer. It cannot be canceled once the transaction has at least one confirmation in the block explorer.

Why can a transaction fail when using 1inch?

A transaction can fail due to a variety of different reasons. For example, it can fail because the cryptocurrency a user has put on their order is no longer available at the specified price.

How secure is the 1inch network?

1inch puts special attention on security issues and ensures that all user funds and transactions are safe. In fact, 1inch smart contracts have been audited by high-end audit teams in the cryptocurrency industry, such as OpenZeppelin, Consensys diligence, SlowMist, Haechi Labs, Coinfabrik, Certik, Hacken, Scott Bigelow, Mix Bytes, and Chainsulting.