Victoria d’Este
Printed: March 24, 2025 at 10:49 am Up to date: March 24, 2025 at 10:50 am
Edited and fact-checked:
March 24, 2025 at 10:49 am
In Transient
Aleksandra Fetisova, partnerships & BD at 1inch, shares how the corporate is driving innovation in DeFi. From fixing interoperability challenges to enhancing person expertise for each retail and institutional gamers. She highlights how 1inch goes past simply providing higher pricing, main the {industry} with options like Fusion and MEV safety.
On this interview, Aleksandra discusses the largest limitations to cross-chain liquidity, the function of institutional adoption in DeFi’s progress, and the way rising tendencies like Bitcoin DeFi and AI-driven instruments are shaping the market.Â
Are you able to share your journey to Web3?Â
I labored within the banking {industry} for seven years. In the future, considered one of my former shoppers noticed me on the road and invited me to lunch. That shopper was Konstantin Lomashuk, one of many co-founders of cyber.Fund, Satoshi Fund, and now Lido. I nonetheless deeply admire that he trusted me.
Throughout lunch, he invited me to his workplace simply half-hour later. He instructed me they had been engaged on an ICO and engaged within the blockchain {industry}. That’s how I began. I spent the subsequent 4 years together with his workforce at cyber.Fund and Satoshi Fund. We additionally launched one other challenge that ultimately turned a on line casino.
Along with my great pal Nadia, who now coordinates Cyber Academy, we contributed to cyber occasions. After 4 years, I burned out and left. I then suggested Sensorium Galaxy and contributed to a number of accelerators.
Throughout this journey with Konstantin, I participated in just a few automotive hackathons, the place I met the 1inch workforce. At the moment, I used to be engaged on one other thrilling challenge referred to as Azuro, which was constructing infrastructure for prediction markets. Whereas working there, Sergej from 1inch noticed me in motion and invited me to affix their workforce part-time. That’s the way it occurred.
Now, I take into account myself extremely fortunate to be a part of a neighborhood of good contributors worldwide. 1inch is greater than only a challenge—it’s a household. Our co-founders are my mentors and pals. We’re DeFi dreamers, working collectively to reshape the monetary world and convey decentralization to finance.
What’s the most underestimated technical problem in constructing an efficient aggregator throughout the DeFi ecosystem?
Technically talking, interoperability shouldn’t be simple. I wouldn’t say it’s underestimated, however it’s undoubtedly one of many greatest challenges.
We solved a big a part of this subject with Fusion for the EVM layers, and shortly, we’ll shock the market with options for L1s as properly. Our objective is to create seamless interoperability throughout all chains. We’re constructing a chain-agnostic, cross-chain liquidity layer.
What are the largest limitations to seamless cross-chain liquidity aggregation in DeFi? How is 1inch addressing them?
One of many greatest limitations to seamless cross-chain liquidity aggregation is person expertise. However not only for retail customers—B2C customers. The UX for B2B liquidity suppliers nonetheless wants enchancment.
One other key problem is the variety of customers out there. We have to create a seamless expertise for third-party resolvers, making certain they’ve clean onboarding and the precise incentives to take part. On the similar time, we have to develop the person base in order that liquidity suppliers see profitability in collaborating.
With Most Extractable Worth (MEV) issues affecting DeFi merchants, what improvements are being explored to mitigate its impression?
MEV assaults, significantly sandwich assaults, have been an enormous drawback in DeFi. That’s why our workforce designed Fusion—our resolution to fight MEV.
Earlier than Fusion, almost $4 billion in liquidity was affected by sandwich assaults. This was one of many major causes we developed our MEV safety system inside Fusion Plus. This innovation not solely presents MEV safety but additionally allows gasless transactions and aggregates liquidity throughout each centralized and decentralized exchanges.
With rising competitors amongst DEX aggregators, how do {industry} gamers differentiate themselves past simply providing higher pricing?
Providing higher pricing is already a big differentiator as a result of, on the finish of the day, customers at all times select the very best price. When a pockets integrates a number of choices, customers will naturally gravitate towards the platform offering the very best offers.
That mentioned, differentiation goes past pricing. Consumer expertise is a significant factor. In Web3, UX stays one of many greatest industry-wide challenges, and it’s no completely different for aggregators.
At 1inch, our builders and CTO, Anton, are visionaries. They predict {industry} tendencies earlier than they occur. We don’t simply compete; we lead innovation. A superb instance is Fusion—after we launched it, Uniswap adopted with their UniswapX and acknowledged the effectiveness of our mannequin. This proves that being forward of the curve is essential to differentiation.
How do decentralized exchanges method the chance of malicious liquidity swimming pools, and what industry-wide methods are in place to stop them?
One of the simplest ways to stop malicious liquidity swimming pools is thru training. Consciousness might help customers keep away from dangers earlier than they even come up.
Moreover, working with sturdy, respected companions who’ve in depth expertise within the {industry} is essential. Safety audits additionally play a big function, making certain that initiatives bear a number of audits earlier than integration to attenuate dangers. These three elements—training, sturdy partnerships, and thorough safety audits—are key to mitigating dangers.
How does institutional adoption of DeFi impression the long run progress and growth of DEX aggregators?
Institutional adoption is the pathway to mass adoption. As soon as establishments totally embrace DeFi, we’ll see an enormous inflow of buying and selling quantity, which is able to improve revenues and liquidity for decentralized alternate aggregators.
That is the place we count on the primary billion customers to enter the house, adopted by the second, and so forth. As establishments be part of, it’ll solidify DeFi’s legitimacy and drive broader adoption.
What’s the most ignored macroeconomic issue that might considerably impression DeFi adoption?
Institutional adoption is actually one main issue, however one other ignored one is political help. When political leaders publicly endorse crypto, it attracts extra consideration and capital into the market.
A superb instance is the Trump coin case. Although I’m not a fan of meme cash—since some individuals win and others lose—it did herald a whole lot of hundreds of recent customers. When international leaders brazenly help crypto, it has a ripple impact on adoption.
How do you see DeFi evolving within the subsequent 5 years, and what function will aggregation play in its growth?
We’re DeFi dreamers, and we consider decentralized finance will give monetary freedom to everybody. Folks gained’t have to attend for days or even weeks for transactions to course of—they’ll have on the spot, permissionless entry to finance.
DeFi is already reshaping economies. As an example, take a look at how Axie Infinity impacted the Philippines or how African markets are leveraging DeFi. Extra alternatives will emerge, particularly in underserved areas.
Aggregation will proceed taking part in a key function by offering the very best person expertise and making certain customers at all times get the very best charges.
What are the important thing tendencies in Web3 and DeFi proper now in comparison with final yr?
AI is the largest pattern in Web3 proper now. AI-powered assistants are serving to onboard new customers by guiding them by means of self-custody wallets, dangers, and finest practices.
One other pattern is meme cash. Many new individuals are participating with them, however they carry dangers. Not like conventional playing, there are not any regulators to warn individuals when they’re making harmful bets.
In DeFi, we’re seeing the rise of Bitcoin DeFi. Beforehand, Bitcoin and DeFi had been separate ecosystems, however now Bitcoin is being built-in into DeFi purposes. It is a main shift from previous cycles.
Moreover, extra conventional monetary establishments (TradFi) are coming into the market. The final cycle was centered on gaming and Web3 experiments, however this time, severe institutional gamers are becoming a member of the house.
What main developments are anticipated in Web3 and DeFi within the coming months?
It is a query higher suited to Anton, our co-founder, since he’s the visionary behind lots of our initiatives. Nevertheless, what I can share is that we’re centered on making liquidity open, cross-chain, and interoperable.
We’re additionally engaged on self-custody, chain-agnostic atomic swaps—options that remove the necessity for belief in third events.
One other essential growth is the rising function of messaging platforms in crypto adoption. Platforms like Telegram, KakaoTalk, and Line are integrating mini-apps that introduce extra customers to DeFi. This might be a key space of progress within the subsequent 6 to 12 months.
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About The Writer
Victoria is a author on quite a lot of know-how matters together with Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her in depth expertise permits her to put in writing insightful articles for the broader viewers.
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Victoria d’Este
Victoria is a author on quite a lot of know-how matters together with Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her in depth expertise permits her to put in writing insightful articles for the broader viewers.
