Following its developer launch in November 2025, Aqua now offers a risk-controlled alternative to DeFi’s pool-based model.

1inch has also unveiled a Merkl-powered liquidity incentive program for Aqua, funded with 10 million 1INCH from the 1inch Foundation and 500,000 USDC from 1inch DAO.

Aqua goes live on 13 EVM chains from day one.

ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands, July 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — 1inch, the DeFi ecosystem, announced the full public launch of Aqua, a self-custodial shared liquidity layer that allows liquidity providers to use the same wallet balance across multiple positions without locking assets in liquidity pools.

Following its developer launch in November 2025, Aqua is being positioned as one of the first risk-controlled alternatives to DeFi’s traditional pool-based model, with the goal of enabling more capital-efficient liquidity provisioning.

1inch describes Aqua as a registry. A user connects a wallet to approve a token balance and create liquidity positions that can access that balance. The Aqua protocol tracks the approved balance and, when it receives a swap order that matches the criteria of a position, pulls the requested tokens from the wallet and returns the received tokens and fees in a single atomic transaction. If no eligible order arrives, the user’s tokens remain in the wallet and under the user’s control.

“The liquidity provisioning space is broken, but you only see how broken once there’s an alternative. Today, that alternative has arrived. With Aqua, liquidity providers no longer have to accept the inefficient pool structure they’ve put up with for years,” said Sergej Kunz, 1inch co-founder. “DeFi doesn’t just need more liquidity. It needs more useful liquidity, active wherever demand appears. We built Aqua so providers get that reach without giving up custody: your tokens stay in your wallet until the moment a swap fills.”

Alongside the product launch, 1inch Network Incentives has gone live as a liquidity reward program for Aqua. The program is led by Degensoft Ltd (BVI) and delivered through Merkl. The 1inch Foundation has committed 10 million 1INCH in provider rewards, and the 1inch DAO is contributing an additional 500,000 USDC. According to 1inch, the initiative is designed to accelerate liquidity growth and swap activity across supported pairs. Program terms, markets and safeguards are listed in the published campaign configuration.

1inch said the current pool-based system is a major constraint on DeFi’s ability to scale and attract TradFi capital on chain. Under the existing model, liquidity providers deposit assets into pools and give up custody, while active capital is spread across protocols, pairs and price ranges. In practice, that fragmentation can leave substantial liquidity sitting idle even as users and market makers try to serve multiple venues at once.

Citing on-chain research by Dune commissioned by 1inch, the company said 85% of concentrated liquidity across major DEXs was underutilized in H1 2026, or roughly $1.6 billion of the $1.84 billion tracked. That included about $542 million sitting fully out of range in an average week, which the company said translated into an estimated $150 million in fees foregone per year.

1inch said Aqua is designed to demonstrate a more efficient shared-liquidity model that allows the same wallet balance to back multiple positions at the same time. Unlike the traditional model, in which liquidity must be split across several pools and positions, Aqua enables a single balance to support multiple quotes simultaneously. For example, 1inch said a $100,000 balance can support three positions collectively quoting $300,000 of liquidity, with the potential to quote more. The underlying tokens remain available to each position at all times; nothing is borrowed, and any swap can execute only against assets actually held in the wallet.

Aqua positions can be full range, concentrated or pegged, depending on the selected pair and position type. Users can open and close positions themselves without lock-up. Exposure is capped by the tokens they actually hold, not by the theoretical combined size of all positions they create. If the wallet cannot cover a swap, Aqua does not call on the tokens.

From today, users can create positions across 13 EVM chains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Robinhood Chain and BNB Chain. Aqua also launches with several additional functions, including a liquidity leaderboard, an incentives screen, liquidity map visualizations, batch position creation, provider profiles with cross-chain positions, sub-wallets, and an AI-assisted liquidity provisioning flow via the 1inch Business MCP with safe batch deployment, which is coming soon.

Aqua has undergone eight independent security audits by OpenZeppelin, Bailsec, Hashlock, Hexens, MixBytes, Nethermind, Theori and Decurity. 1inch said that, combined with Aqua’s self-custodial design, which never holds user tokens, a swap can only move assets that are actually in the provider’s wallet at the moment it fills. Revocation stops new fills as soon as it confirms on-chain. Aqua is also designed to prevent JIT fee sniping because each position has a single owner, leaving no shared-fee moment for bots to exploit.

1inch added that swap fees are not guaranteed, prices can move against a position through impermanent loss, and providers bear market and smart-contract risk.

About 1inch

1inch says it accelerates decentralized finance with a crypto trading experience for 27 million users. In addition to being a platform for low-cost token swaps with more than $100 million in daily trades, 1inch offers tools including a self-custodial wallet, a portfolio tracker, a business portal and a debit card for crypto spending. The company says it is working to simplify DeFi for everyone.

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Aqua involves risk, including loss of funds. It is built for experienced users. Do your own research. Not financial advice. Incentive rewards are variable, not guaranteed, and subject to the program’s published terms.