253 -💥BONUS EPISODE : He built 1inch in a weekend. What happened next?

This week, we’re joined by Sergej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch and one of the early builders in DeFi.

Sergej built the first version of 1inch at a hackathon in New York over a single weekend in 2019. Before crypto, he worked as a security engineer in Germany, including at Porsche. Now he’s launched Aqua, a shared liquidity layer designed to tackle one of DeFi’s biggest problems: fragmented and underused liquidity.

We talk about the weekend that started 1inch, building through multiple crypto cycles, why so much liquidity sits unused, and what Aqua is trying to change. We also get into self-custody, the growing relationship between DeFi and traditional finance, and where Sergej thinks the industry is heading next.

A fascinating conversation with someone who has been building in DeFi from the very beginning.

Let's get into it 🚀

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Talking Points:

→ The hackathon that started 1inch

→ Leaving a career in security engineering for crypto

→ Building through multiple market cycles

→ Why so much DeFi liquidity sits unused

→ What Aqua is actually trying to change