By
Temitope Olatunji
April 24th, 2024
1inch joins Optimism to offer cheaper and much faster transactions. The DEX aggregator is also available on Polygon and Binance Smart Chain.
1inch Network is launching on Optimism, an Ethereum scaling platform that increases Ethereum‘s speed by running off-chain computations. The decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator expands to Optimistic Ethereum in a bid to provide quicker transactions with substantially lower fees.
Optimistic Ethereum facilitates faster transaction speed and higher throughput, in addition to lower fees than the Ethereum mainnet. According to 1inch Network co-founder, Sergej Kunz, the deployment to the Ethereum Layer 2 solution “will facilitate a dramatic increase in transaction speed”. Also, this move makes 1inch Network the second decentralized finance (DeFi) app on Optimism, after Uniswap. The latter deployed to the Layer 2 scaling platform as part of its V3 update in July this year.
This move is not 1inch Network’s first foray into Ethereum Layer 2 networks. Earlier in May this year, the DEX aggregator launched on Polygon, enabling users to access several liquidity sources on the latter’s protocol. These included Aave V2, Cometh, Curve, SushiSwap, and QuickSwap.
According to 1inch Network spokesperson Sergey Maslennikov, the company intends to add more protocols. Furthermore, the DEX aggregator is also considering more blockchains, including Solana, Avalanche, Tron, and Near. The spokesperson further added that other L2 solutions such as Arbitrum and zkSync are on the 1inch Network radar and may be added soon. At the moment, 1inch is also available on Polygon and the Binance Smart Chain.
Optimism Still in Development even as 1inch Network Becomes Latest Entry
Despite already hosting two decentralized finance apps, Optimism is still undergoing development. Its transaction speed caps at 0.6 transactions/sec but is expected to increase dramatically as the team works toward a public launch.
Co-founder of the Ethereum Layer 2 solution, Jing Wang, also expressed his opinion on 1inch Network’s decision to join Optimism. In Wang’s own words:
“It’s been a pleasure getting to know the incredible technical minds on the 1inch team, and now we are so stoked for the launch of 1inch on Optimistic Ethereum. This integration brings users the best prices across multiple DEXs at the fastest speeds on Optimistic Ethereum. We couldn’t be more excited for everyone to try it out!”
Optimism is also compatible with Metamask wallets, which 1inch Network users can also take advantage of as they migrate assets to the Layer 2 scaling solution. In addition, it is worth noting that deposits to the Optimistic Ethereum’s mainnet will be instant. However, withdrawals will initially take up to seven days until the platform increases the speed of its withdrawal service.
As DeFi protocols begin to expand to Optimistic Ethereum as a veritable platform for their protocols, some accusations have been levied against the platform. SushiSwap CTO Joseph Delong, accused Optimism of giving preferential treatment to Uniswap. Delong opines that Optimism displayed favoritism to Uniswap due to influence from venture capital (VC) investors.
Sushiswap and Uniswap are two of the largest decentralized exchanges on the Ethereum blockchain. However, Sushiswap said Optimism pushed to have Uniswap launch first on its platform. As a result of this, the Sushiswap CTO announced that his exchange would launch on Arbitrum instead.
In response to these allegations, Optimism released a tweet denying any wrongdoing and suggesting that it followed due process.