1INCH co-founder departs amid leadership differences and is launching a new project focused on frictionless economic architectures.
Regulation & Gov ·
Anton Bukov, co-founder of 1inch, was dismissed in late November 2025 after a period where feedback indicated he could not remain outside management and operations. Bukov had led protocol architecture, security, and economic design since the protocol's May 2019 inception, and architected key systems including the 1inch Router DEX aggregator, Fusion price discovery mechanism, and Cross-chain atomic swaps. He remains a co-founder and 50% shareholder but no longer participates in operations, product, or security roles.
Bukov is launching Second Tier, a new project centered on what it describes as frictionless economic architectures without intermediaries. The team frames its mission around closing the gap between economic intent and execution, treating friction as a design choice rather than inherent constraint. Core operational commitments include user sovereignty over economic actions, architecture rooted in root-cause problem solving, transparent fee structures, and integrity enforced as a non-negotiable identity marker.
The reasons for the departure—whether driven by disagreement over technical direction, governance philosophy, or operational style—remain undisclosed. Details on Second Tier's specific protocol design or launch timeline are not yet public.