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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 Price Analysis: What’s Next for BTC After Breaking Above $104K?

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Bitcoin kicked off the second week of May with a powerful continuation move, breaking through key resistance levels and climbing to fresh local highs. While the rally has been rapid, and the current technical signals suggest there’s still gas left in the tank, caution is still warranted.

The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, BTC has pushed decisively above the $100K resistance and is now hovering around the $104K mark. This breakout marks a clear escape from the month-long compression between the rising trendline and the 100 and 200-day moving averages.

The price has reclaimed both the moving averages around the $90K price level, and the RSI is holding above 70, indicating strong momentum. However, it also points to slightly overbought conditions. If the buyers maintain pressure and avoid sharp rejections, a run toward a new all-time high is likely.

The 4-Hour Chart

Zooming into the 4H chart, the breakout becomes even clearer. BTC exited an ascending channel pattern to the upside, rallying through the previous key supply zone around $98K with almost no resistance. Since then, the asset has been grinding higher in an orderly fashion, supported by the RSI cooling off.

The latest price action shows signs of slowing momentum, but there’s no reversal confirmation yet. A healthy pullback into the $100K–$98K range would be a logical area to look for continuation setups if the buyers remain in control. However, if that level fails, support at $94K could catch the next wave of bids.

Onchain Analysis

Miner Reserve

On-chain data reveals a persistent downtrend in the Bitcoin Miner Reserve, which has now dropped to around 1.8M BTC, the lowest in recent years. This suggests that miners are not accumulating, but rather continuing a long-term distribution pattern. Instead of increasing their holdings during this rally, they appear to be gradually offloading BTC, possibly to capitalize on higher prices or manage operational costs post-halving.

While this doesn’t necessarily signal aggressive selling, it does indicate that miners are not contributing to long-term supply tightening at the moment. Their lack of accumulation, in contrast to strong spot buying, reinforces the idea that current demand is being driven by other market participants, such as institutions and retail investors.

 

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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

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Cryptocurrency

AB Foundation and AB Blockchain Jointly Champion Tech-driven Global Philanthropy: Building Trust through Technology

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[PRESS RELEASE – Dublin, Ireland, May 11th, 2025]

The AB Foundation and AB Blockchain successfully hosted the inaugural “Tech-driven Global Philanthropy Closed-door Forum” today in Dublin.

The forum brought together distinguished global leaders, including His Excellency Bertie Ahern, former Prime Minister of Ireland and former President of the European Council; His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria and former Chairperson of the African Union; Malcolm Byrne, Member of the Irish Parliament and Chairperson of the Artificial Intelligence Committee, alongside other prominent states persons and scholars. The attendees convened to discuss the transformative potential of cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence in global philanthropy.

The forum was chaired by Bertie Ahern, Chairman of AB Foundation, former Prime Minister of Ireland, and former President of the European Council, who delivered the keynote speech titled “Technology and Trust: Building a New Global Philanthropic Order.”

Subsequently, Anthony Tsang, spokesperson for AB Blockchain, presented key developments on AB Blockchain’s high-performance mainnet, innovative cross-chain system AB Connect, and the groundbreaking zero-Gas stablecoin protocol Universal Transfer. He emphasized AB Blockchain’s mission to provide fully compliant infrastructure platforms for global philanthropy.

The AB Foundation will actively forward the key proposals from this forum to relevant international organizations and partners, continuing to promote a new global paradigm of “Technology for Good.”

About AB Foundation

The AB Foundation is an independent international non-governmental organization registered in Ireland with recognized legal status within the European Union. Supported by technology and funding from AB DAO, the Foundation leverages advanced technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence to create transparent, trustworthy, and traceable philanthropic infrastructures, thus promoting sustainable development in education, healthcare, environment, and humanitarian aid.

For more information, users can visit the official website: www.ab.org

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Why ETH’s Undervaluation May Not Signal a Buying Opportunity: CQ Report

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Ethereum (ETH) plunged into territory not seen since 2019 before it posted a substantial recovery in the past few days. However, it’s still trading at a steep discount to Bitcoin (BTC).

According to the latest weekly report from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, the ETH/BTC MVRV ratio, which measures market value relative to realized value, has entered “extremely undervalued” territory, a level that in past cycles set the stage for major ETH rebounds.

 A Discount Amid Growing Headwinds

CryptoQuant’s analysis noted that Ethereum’s deep discounts against BTC have historically signaled prime buying opportunities.

However, it pointed out that the current environment is markedly different, with a series of fundamental headwinds responsible for the undervaluation. These include the unraveling of Ethereum’s once-promising deflationary supply narrative, with the asset’s total supply hitting an all-time high of 120.7 million.

The analytics platform attributed the reversal to March 2024’s Dencun upgrade, which drastically reduced transaction fees and collapsed the ETH burn rate. With fewer tokens being burned, inflationary pressure found its way back into the ETH market.

Further compounding the issue is that on-chain activity has been stagnant for a while. Since 2021, key metrics such as transaction counts and active addresses have dropped, mostly because Layer 2 (L2) networks diverted usage away from the Ethereum mainnet. Even though they have improved scalability, L2s have also diluted demand for base-layer block space, undermining ETH’s utility narrative in the process.

CryptoQuant also noted that institutional interest in the asset has been waning. The amount of staked ETH has reportedly dipped from its November 2024 peak of 35 million to about 34.4 million. ETF holdings have also shed as much as 400,000 ETH since February this year, reflecting weakening investor confidence.

“Bitcoin is benefiting from robust institutional demand, capped supply, and ETF-driven inflows,” read the report, contrasting the fortunes of the two cryptocurrencies.

Undervalued but Not Without Risk

Despite the obstacles, ETH staged a sharp rebound towards the end of the week. It shot up to roughly $2,400 on Friday.

Additionally, over the past week, the altcoin soared just above 30%, crushing Bitcoin’s 7.5% climb and vastly outpacing the global crypto market’s 8% gain. The rally coincided with the successful activation of the long-awaited Pectra upgrade on May 7, which introduced account abstraction and improved staking mechanics via 11 bundled EIPs. However, its impact may be muted.

Past experiences show that Ethereum’s discount to Bitcoin is often a buying signal. Still, CryptoQuant’s analysis suggests that the returning inflation, weakening demand, and stagnant activity may mean that this could be the first cycle in which ETH’s undervaluation isn’t a springboard but a trap.

“While ETH appears undervalued on a historical basis, its recovery path may be more complex and slower than in prior cycles,” CQ concluded.

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