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Inside 1inch with Aleksandra Fetisova: From Institutions and Memes to the Future of DeFi

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At the heart of DeFi innovation, 1inch has built one of the most popular decentralized exchange aggregators in the space.

At Paris Blockchain Week 2025, we sat down with Aleksandra “Sasha” Fetisova, Head of Business Development at 1inch, to understand what’s next: for 1inch, DeFi, and the industry, in general.

Sasha revealed the latest upgrades, challenges in the ecosystem, and the trends she believes will reshape DeFi over the next few years.

1inch_cover

Reinventing the Swap Experience

For those unfamiliar, 1inch doesn’t operate like a traditional DEX — it’s a DEX aggregator. Instead of providing a standalone marketplace, it scans hundreds of decentralized exchanges to deliver the best possible rates to its users.

Recent updates, Sasha explained, have pushed this even further.

“We improved our swap experience with an intent-based, cross-chain gasless solution called Fusion,” she said. “It’s interoperable across EVM chains, doesn’t rely on third-party bridges, and is protected against MEV [maximum extractable value] attacks. It’s all about making swaps faster, cheaper, and safer.”

For regular users, this means lower friction and lower cost, particularly when moving assets across chains — a pain point that’s long plagued decentralized finance.

Fees are a sensitive topic in crypto, where gas costs and platform cuts can quietly drain portfolios.

“Our users can be sure they’re doing direct swaps without any added fees,” Sasha emphasized. “We’re a community-driven project, and we don’t charge users on our DApp or mobile wallet.”

Behind the scenes, she credits the project’s developers for optimizing routing and smart contracts to keep swaps efficient and cheap. But that’s not the only factor:

“We aggregate liquidity from over 500 DEXs across 10 to 13 chains,” she said. “Plus, in Fusion mode, we work with professional market makers — resolvers — who pull liquidity not just from decentralized sources but also from centralized exchanges.”

Security Through Minimalism

One feature of 1inch’s approach is its laser focus on security.

“We’ve never been hacked,” Sasha stated firmly. “That’s because we do at least five to ten audits every time we update or launch something new.”

But it’s not just audits. She pointed to co-founder and CTO Anton Bukov’s philosophy of writing minimal, highly efficient smart contracts.

“Instead of creating bloated, complex code, Anton spends hours thinking and then writes a small, functional piece of code — something that can be audited quickly and runs efficiently,” she explained. “It’s a very intentional design.”

Going Global: From Decentralized Team to Dubai Hub

Although 1inch was born during the remote-work explosion of COVID, the team recently opened its first physical office in Dubai.

“We see the IMEA region as very fruitful, especially under current market conditions,” Sasha shared. “If our community is traveling to Dubai, we’re happy to show them around!”

She hinted that Dubai’s choice aligns with favorable conditions for crypto innovation.

Looking beyond 1inch’s immediate roadmap, Sasha reflected on the broader trends shaping DeFi.

“In the next cycle, we’ll see more institutions entering DeFi,” she predicted. “We’re already seeing centralized exchanges like Binance and OKX launching Web3 wallets, and even banks — like Societe Generale with its FORGE platform — exploring DeFi integrations.”

On the more chaotic side of the market, she acknowledged the rise of meme coins.

“When Trump launched his meme coin, it brought in a lot of new users, but many of them got wrecked,” she said. “I’d love to see some kind of education or maybe even system notifications warning people that meme coins are meme coins — they’re not guaranteed wealth machines.”

Real-World Assets and AI: The Next Frontiers

Sasha is particularly excited about the tokenization of real-world assets.

“I met someone who tokenized mangoes for an African central bank — can you imagine?” she said, laughing. “We’re going to see more real estate tokenization, hedge fund tokenization… These are the trends that could bring the first billion users into crypto.”

And what about onboarding those billions?

“We need AI agents,” Sasha asserted. “Imagine an AI assistant in the 1inch wallet that guides new users, answers their questions, and helps them navigate features. I can only help maybe 100 people a day; an AI agent can help thousands, 24/7.”

Towards the end of April, 1inch had a major announcement: its expansion to Solana.

“We’re not just EVM-compatible anymore; we’re expanding to Layer 1s, and we invite users to guess which chains are coming next.”

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Bitcoin Reacts to US Federal Reserve’s Decision to Maintain Interest Rates

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The US Federal Reserve has remained true to its recent monetary policy by maintaining the key interest rates at the same levels of 4.25% to 4.5%.

Bitcoin’s price slipped by around a grand immediately after the announcement went live, but the impact is expected to be minimal in the following days.

Today’s FOMC meeting didn’t bring any big surprises as the US central bank said it continues to strive for a 2% inflation rates over the longer run, which is somewhat close to the actual numbers for the previous month.

To achieve its goals, which also include reaching maximum employment, the Fed “decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent.”

While the financial markets had priced such a development, some hoped that Fed Chair Jerome Powell would succumb to US President Trump’s warnings and reduce the rates. Recall that the POTUS threatened to fire Powell if he refused to lower the rates.

Still, BTC’s price slipped immediately after the Fed’s announcement went live, going from over $96,800 to under $96,000. It has recovered almost half of the losses as of press time, but still trades about a grand lower from its peak earlier today of over $97,600.

BTCUSD. Source: TradingView
BTCUSD. Source: TradingView
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NymVPN: Redefining Privacy in the Digital Age

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There’s no question that we live in a hyper-connected world, and it certainly brings many benefits and makes our everyday lives easier. But it also comes with its own set of problems and risks. Your personal information has become the new oil, and protecting your online privacy has never been more critical.

For that reason, many people have been using Virtual Private Networks (commonly referred to as VPNs) as a go-to solution when they want to mask their online activities.

However, most commercial VPNs rely on centralized infrastructures, which, despite encrypting traffic, leaves considerable room for trust issues and potential single points of failure.

As a counterpoint to this, NymVPN is an innovative solution that aims to take privacy to the next level. It’s a decentralized privacy infrastructure that’s designed to ensure metadata protection at a level very few services can match. It’s built on cryptographic techniques, powered by a global community, and leverages novel tokenomics,  promising a new era of online privacy and anonymity.

But let’s back up a bit and check out some of the basics.

What Makes NymVPN Different?

First things first, at its core, NymVPN provides a decentralized solution. Unlike traditional VPNs that route traffic through central servers, NymVPN mixes together the data packets of different users and shuffles them among a network of volunteer-run nodes. Each packet is encrypted and passed through multiple hops, making it nearly impossible for any observer to trace the origin, destination, or content. This is called a Noise Generating Mixnet.

While VPNs can mask your IP address and encrypt your data, they fail to hide traffic patterns, which can reveal a lot about your behavior (this is known as your metadata). NymVPN’s solution, on the other hand, obscures the content and the metadata, providing a much higher level of anonymity.

This is why it’s a good fit not just for regular users seeking privacy, but also for journalists, for instance, as well as for other individuals who are looking to obfuscate their online presence.

What this also means is that Nym allows you to pay for different services (including a subscription to NymVPN) without your payment information being linkable to your browsing habits. This ensures a greater degree of financial privacy than other privacy solutions. NymVPN’s zero-knowledge payment system is pretty much the first in the industry.

How Does it All Work?

Well, the network is made of three different components. These are:

  1. Mix Nodes: Mix nodes on the Nym network are operated by individuals who are rewarded in  NYM tokens for their work. They shuffle and relay data packets through layered encryption.
  2. Credentials System: NymVPN introduces anonymous credentials (called zk-nyms), which allow users to prove certain rights or attributes (like a valid NymVPN subscription) without revealing their identity.
  3. NYM token: The NYM utility token not only rewards mix node operators and blockchain validators, but also produces a perpetual buyback mechanism or circular economy. All payment methods for NymVPN are converted into NYM tokens to generate anonymous credentials and increase node rewards..

Of course, this is just a condensed explanation of Nym’s complex ecosystem, but you can learn all about it on Nym’s official website. Naturally, the network is powered by the native NYM token. It is designed to incentivize node operators and validators to maintain a secure system. This design guarantees the network’s stability, sustainability, and decentralization, which also removes the reliance on centralized entities (which can be compromised).

Why should you care?

Well, for once, at the very basic of layers, the internet today is riddled with surveillance. From various ISPs tracking your every move to corporations harvesting tremendous amounts of behavioral data, your privacy is under constant threat. While VPNs can help, they require you to trust the provider.

With NymVPN’s decentralized architecture removing the need for trust, this is no longer the case. Since no single entity is in full control of the network and encryption itself is inherent to its infrastructure, users can enjoy a much stronger guarantee of anonymity.

Check out NymVPN Now

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Dogecoin (DOGE) Ready to Pop? Here’s What These Analysts Predict

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TL;DR

  • Dogecoin is showing bullish momentum, breaking past key support levels, with analysts eyeing short-term targets as high as $0.28.
  • However, there are also some warning signs on the DOGE front, such as declining trading volumes and retail interest.

Further Gains Ahead?

The price of Dogecoin (DOGE) has pumped by almost 5% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at around $0.17 (per CoinGecko’s data). Some popular analysts believe there is much more room for growth based on the potential breakout of key levels. 

On May 6, Ali Martinez – an X user who often explores the meme coin’s performance – claimed that DOGE “is testing key support” around $0.167. He thinks that holding this zone could spark a rebound toward $0.175 and even $0.183. Dogecoin did not struggle with that task, and as mentioned above, rallied beyond $0.17. 

For their part, Efloud described $0.169 as the low time frame (LTF) support level. “I don’t see a big problem if (the) price doesn’t lose this zone. This zone may work as (a) support area on pullbacks.” 

The X user also told their more than 170,000 followers that a further ascent would depend on the potential rise above $0.174.

Trader Tardigrade assumed that DOGE’s chart has recently formed a so-called “Diamond Bottom” reversal pattern, suggesting a possible shift to an uptrend. The industry participant set a short-term target of around $0.28. 

Kamran Ashgar chipped in, too. They think DOGE “is waking up,” and when it does, it may fuel an overall revival of “the whole meme coin army.”

What Are Indicators Suggesting?

Contrary to the bullish predictions outlined by the analysts above, some metrics signal that the meme coin might suffer a setback soon.

Data compiled by the blockchain analysis platform Arkham shows that DOGE exchange inflows have surpassed outflows in the past week. This hints at a shift from self-custody methods toward centralized platforms and could increase the immediate selling pressure.

Additionally, DOGE’s trading volume has been on a significant decline in the past month, while the interest in it has faded lately. The Google searches involving the leading meme coin in the last weeks are far from the peaks observed in November last year and February 2025. Diminished interest in the asset may signal waning investor confidence, especially from retail.

DOGE Google Searches
DOGE Google Searches, Source: Google Trends

Finally, let’s observe DOGE’s Relative Strength Index (RSI), which measures the speed and magnitude of the latest price changes. The momentum oscillator varies from 0 to 100, and readings below 30 indicate the token could be overbought and headed for a rally. Conversely, anything above 70 is considered bearish territory.

On May 6, the ratio dropped to 30, but it rose in the following hours. It is currently set at around 50, which is a neutral zone. 

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