Expanding Horizons of DeFi Swap Marketplaces and Beyond – Sergej Kunz

Sergej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch, discusses the expanding horizons of DeFi swap marketplaces, focusing on cross-chain DeFi, fragmented liquidity, and the evolution from early crypto adoption to today’s decentralized finance landscape. He highlights DeFi’s core principles: accessibility, composability, trustlessness, and non-custodial ownership. Kunz explains the growth of DeFi from Ethereum to multiple blockchains (Polygon, BSC, Solana, Tron), the challenges of liquidity fragmentation, and the advantages over centralized exchanges.

He introduces 1inch’s intent-based swap protocol, which uses Dutch auctions and atomic swaps to enable secure, gasless, cross-chain trading, protecting users from MEV and sandwich attacks. The protocol is extensible, supports 13+ networks, and emphasizes self-custody, security, and decentralization. Kunz concludes by encouraging participation in DeFi innovation and hackathons.

00:00 Introduction
00:37 Early Crypto Adoption vs. Internet Adoption
01:48 Web3, Ownership, and DeFi Fundamentals
02:45 DeFi: Accessibility, Composability, Trustlessness, Non-Custody
04:20 1inch Origins and Hackathon Experience
05:34 DeFi Market Growth and Composability
07:01 Trustless and Non-Custodial DeFi
07:27 DeFi Market Size and Centralized vs. Decentralized Exchanges
09:16 Global Access and Liquidity Fragmentation
11:02 Cross-Chain DeFi and Fragmented Liquidity
13:01 Security Risks and MEV Protection
14:42 Intent-Based Protocols and Atomic Cross-Chain Swaps
16:11 Features: Gasless, Secure, Extensible, Competitive
18:35 Network Expansion and Decentralization
19:34 Compliance, Market Makers, and Dutch Auctions
20:37 Future of DeFi Trading and Closing Remarks

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🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes*
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ETHGlobal’s Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past.

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