1inch co-founder exits after firing claim, unveils Second Tier
1inch co-founder Anton Bukov says he has fully stepped away from the decentralized finance project’s operations after more than seven years and is now launching a new venture called Second Tier.
Summary
- Anton Bukov says 1inch fired him in November 2025 after he pushed for management changes.
- Bukov says he remains a co-founder and 50% shareholder but no longer oversees company operations.
- 1inch says Bukov stopped active involvement in December 2025 and insists its systems remain unaffected.
Bukov said the company fired him in late November 2025 after he pushed for changes to management and operations.
However, 1inch gave a different account of his recent role. The company said Bukov had not been actively involved in organizations linked to the project since December 2025. Bukov said he remains a co-founder and 50% shareholder but no longer has operational authority.
Bukov says management push ended with his firing
In a statement published on X, Bukov said feedback from users and colleagues led him to become more involved in leadership and company operations. He said he spent months working on his leadership and communication approach while trying to change how the organization operated. “In late November 2025 I was fired,” he said.
Bukov also drew a clear line between his ownership position and his current responsibilities. “I no longer take part in the company’s operations,” he said.
He added that he has no role in product architecture or security and no oversight of either area. His statement leaves him as a shareholder and co-founder without a stated day-to-day management role.
1inch says operations and infrastructure remain unaffected
1inch responded on X by saying Bukov had not been actively involved in any associated organizations since December 2025. The statement presents a different timeline for his operational departure but does not change Bukov’s claim that the company dismissed him the previous month. The company has not publicly detailed the internal discussions that preceded the split.
Meanwhile, co-founder Sergej Kunz sought to reassure users about the project’s operations. He said Bukov’s departure “is not disrupting, will not disrupt, 1inch Network’s infrastructure or systems.” Kunz remains in charge as the protocol continues developing its trading and liquidity products.
Second Tier becomes Bukov’s next project
Alongside his departure statement, Bukov announced Second Tier as his next venture. He said he is building the project with people who share the same values from the start. However, public information about its products, funding and launch schedule remains limited.
The move closes Bukov’s active operating role at a project he co-founded with Kunz in May 2019. During his time at 1inch, Bukov worked on protocol architecture and security, according to his account. The project later expanded from decentralized exchange aggregation into cross-chain trading tools and other DeFi infrastructure.
1inch continues expanding its DeFi products
As previously reported by crypto.news, 1inch partnered with Rewardy Wallet in January to provide gasless cross-chain swaps across five blockchain networks through its Swap API. The integration formed part of 1inch’s broader effort to simplify decentralized trading while keeping users in control of their assets.
More recently, the leadership split comes after renewed attention on security across 1inch-linked infrastructure. In May, TrustedVolumes lost about $5.87 million after an attacker targeted its custom RFQ swap proxy. The incident did not affect a standard 1inch user swap route.
Kunz later called for safer lending structures following separate stresses in DeFi markets. Bukov’s latest statement now makes clear that he no longer oversees 1inch product architecture or security, while the company maintains that its systems and ongoing operations remain unaffected by his departure.