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1inch launches Aqua liquidity incentives backed by 10M 1INCH and 500K USDC

The three-month program runs through Merkl across 80-plus 1INCH markets, spanning swaps on Aqua across 13 EVM chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base and BNB Chain.

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1inch has launched its Aqua liquidity protocol publicly, pairing the rollout with a rewards campaign funded by the 1inch Foundation and the 1inch DAO, according to The Defiant.

The company said it is funding the program with 10 million 1INCH and 500,000 USDC, with the three-month incentive running through Merkl across 80-plus 1INCH markets. The effort is also using BNB Chain as the first co-incentive partner, with distribution led by Degensoft Ltd, a British Virgin Islands entity.

Aqua is described as a self-custodial shared liquidity layer that differs from depositing tokens into pools. Instead, liquidity providers approve a wallet balance that multiple positions can quote against, and when a swap order matches a position, the protocol executes an atomic transaction that pulls the tokens from the wallet and returns the received tokens and fees, leaving balances untouched until execution.

The rollout follows a developer-only launch in November 2025, with Aqua going live on 13 EVM chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain and Robinhood Chain. 1inch also cited onchain research by Dune commissioned for the launch, saying 85% of concentrated liquidity across major DEXs was underutilized in the first half of 2026, about $1.6 billion of $1.84 billion tracked, and it said Aqua has completed eight independent audits.

Latest closeEthereum $1,924.19 ▲1.8%|BNB $571.84 ▲1.1%

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