1inch Aqua launches as a shared liquidity layer

1inch Aqua activates DeFi liquidity. Back multiple positions with one token balance and keep your assets in your wallet until swap.

DeFi liquidity isn’t working. Most tokens in most pools do nothing most of the time. You still bear the risk, without the reward DeFi was built on. 1inch Aqua is here to solve that.

Now you can back multiple liquidity positions with the same token balance, without depositing your assets in a pool, while your tokens safely remain in your wallet and any swap fees are protected from JIT attacks.

That means assets can stay active across more markets and positions from a single balance instead of being split across fragmented positions. 

We call this approach Shared Liquidity. 

We released the protocol for developers last November. Now, 1inch Aqua is available for all users to access at 1inch.com/aqua.

The liquidity problem

Most DeFi liquidity sits idle most of the time. A protocol can show high TVL, but only part of that liquidity may be useful when swaps actually happen. Liquidity can sit outside the active price range, earn no fees and still carry exposure to market movement.

And even if it does see activity, LPs’ liquidity is fragmented. They have to split limited balances across protocols, pairs and price ranges. No single position has the full balance behind it, reducing capital utilization.

To make things worse: tokens deposited into a pool leave the LP’s wallet, meaning their utility is lost, and bringing all the security and control issues that come when you give up custody of your tokens. 

In addition, LPs’ tokens are exposed to attacks from JIT (just-in-time) bots that skim fees the LPs should have earned.

1inch Aqua addresses all of these problems.

What 1inch Aqua is

1inch Aqua is a self-custodial shared liquidity layer. It enables your liquidity to stay active across many positions, while your tokens stay in your wallet.

It works as a registry: a user connects their wallet to approve a token balance and create liquidity positions that can access that balance.  The Aqua protocol tracks that balance, and when it receives a swap order that meets the criteria of the position, it pulls the requested tokens from the wallet and pushes back received tokens and fees in a single atomic transaction.  

Otherwise, the user’s funds remain in their wallet and completely under their control. Tokens are not deposited into Aqua - or any other - contracts. They remain in your wallet and move only when a taker swap fills against a position.

How Aqua works

1inch Aqua lets you create positions by choosing the pair, range and swap fee. A position can be full range, concentrated or pegged, depending on the selected pair and position type. You can open and close positions yourself, with no lock-up.

Your exposure is capped by the tokens you actually hold, not by the theoretical combined size of every position you create. If your wallet cannot cover a swap, Aqua simply does not call on your funds.

From today, you can create positions across 13 EVM chains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Robinhood Chain and BNB Chain.

Why shared liquidity matters

1inch Aqua changes the way you think about liquidity provision. In a traditional model, providing liquidity often means splitting tokens between multiple pools and positions. That can reduce capital utilization.

With Aqua, the same wallet balance can stand behind many positions. This gives you better capital utilization and more flexibility.

This is especially important in a multi-chain DeFi market, where liquidity is spread across venues, networks and trading flows. 

Self-custody by design

1inch Aqua is built around self-custody. You do not deposit tokens into a pool. You do not hand custody to Aqua. Your tokens remain in your wallet until a swap fills.

Approvals are handled per token and per chain, and they can be revoked. Your actual exposure is still limited by your wallet balance.

This matters because liquidity provision has often required LPs to move tokens into a specific pool or contract. 1inch Aqua keeps you closer to the wallet-native DeFi model: keep your keys, keep your tokens, choose your positions.

Risk-controlled liquidity

We’re rapidly moving toward risk-controlled and regulated DeFi. And Aqua is the first risk-controlled liquidity venue where every swap is settled by verified counterparties, while you keep full self-custody of your tokens.

Why is Aqua liquidity risk-controlled? Every swap is executed by a verified counterparty - a market maker or arbitrage bot that has been verified, enforced on-chain at swap time. Therefore, LPs are not exposed to unverified counterparties.

And the product itself has been audited by 8 independent teams, including Hexens, OpenZeppelin, Bailsec and Nethermind.

JIT protection

Aqua liquidity is protected from JIT fee sniping by design. In normal pooled AMMs, JIT bots can insert liquidity right before a large swap and pull it out right after, skimming the fees that waiting LPs should have earned. Due to JIT attacks, LPs could lose up to 44% of their fee income. An Aqua position has a single owner, making it impossible for a JIT bot to carry out such an attack.

The future of liquidity

DeFi does not just need more liquidity. It needs more risk-controlled and useful liquidity - liquidity that can be active where demand appears. 1inch Aqua is designed to make that possible. 

Disclaimer: Aqua involves risk, including loss of funds. It's built for experienced users - do your own research. Not financial advice.

Activate your DeFi liquidity with 1inch Aqua.