1inch co-founder announces departure: fired in November last year, launched a new initiative with 50% equity

1inch co-founder Anton Bukov announced on X that he has left the company’s operations, saying he was “fired” in November last year. 1inch immediately hit back, saying he had already stopped being involved. Bukov launched a new project, Second Tier, with 50% equity in hand, as DeFi aggregation leader 1inch faces its first founder fracture.
(Backgrounder: One article to learn about 1inch’s newly launched “Fusion trading model” and its new tokenomics)
(Background update: Messari: a quick look at 1inch’s second-quarter ecosystem report, with clear user growth)

Table of contents

Toggle

• “Fired” and 1inch’s version of events
• With 50% equity, new project Second Tier goes live
• 1inch’s background: from an aggregator to a DeFi ecosystem

Anton Bukov, a co-founder who has long run the DeFi aggregator 1inch, on Thursday published a long post on X, announcing that he has stepped away from the company’s operational work and revealing the internal story of being “fired” in November last year.

According to Bukov’s post on X, he led 1inch’s operations for more than seven years in the past, before leaving at the end of last year, and he is now launching a new project called Second Tier.

“Fired” and 1inch’s version of events

Bukov said that in November 2025, he and 1inch had differences over driving changes in company management and operations, and he was ultimately “fired.” But he did not leave; instead, he stayed behind and quietly observed.

“I’m no longer involved in the company’s operations; most importantly, I’m no longer involved in the design of the product architecture and security, and I’m not overseeing anything on either side.” Bukov said.

1inch then posted its own statement on X, saying Bukov had since December 2025 “no longer been actively involved in any organizational work related to 1inch.” The two sides’ narratives differ slightly in timing, but they point to the same fact: the co-founder has already exited.

With 50% equity, new project Second Tier goes live

Although he stepped away from operations, Bukov still retains his status as a 1inch co-founder and 50% of the company’s equity. He revealed that he has shifted his focus to building second-tier DeFi infrastructure, and the new project Second Tier will focus on “the next layer of on-chain finance,” though specific details have not been disclosed yet.

Another co-founder and developer, Sergej Kunz, is still steering the company. On X, he said Bukov’s departure “will not interrupt 1inch’s network infrastructure and systems.”

1inch’s background: from an aggregator to a DeFi ecosystem

Founded in May 2019, 1inch is one of the earliest route aggregators in the DeFi space. By distributing trades across multiple decentralized exchanges (DEXs), it helps users find the best swap prices. After nearly seven years of development, 1inch has expanded to multiple chains and introduced innovative features such as the Fusion trading model and shared liquidity protocol Aqua.

According to Messari’s second-quarter report, in 2025 Q2, 1inch’s trading volume temporarily surpassed Uniswap, making it the leading DEX, with user growth clearly visible.

This co-founder’s departure, while not affecting the technical side, also reflects issues around management disagreements and route choices among founders after the DeFi sector’s rapid expansion. Second Tier’s future development is worth watching.