On Thursday (April 8), the team behind the 1inch project, which is perhaps best known for its highly regarded DEX aggregator, decided to formally introduce all five components of the 1inch Network.

The 1inch Network “unites decentralized protocols whose synergy enables the most lucrative, fastest and protected operations in the DeFi space.”

Here are a few interesting stats:

Source: 1inch

There are five separate but interoperable components in the 1inch Network:

1inch Aggregation Protocol

This “facilitates cost-efficient and secure atomic transactions by utilizing a wide range of protocols and performing argument validation and execution verification.”

Here is how it works:

The protocol provides aggregation information services on exchange protocols and networks. The core part of the protocol is the 1inch v3 smart contract, which performs runtime verification of transaction execution.

As a result, user funds can’t be lost even in case of interaction with an unsafe liqudity source. Since the smart contract ensures security, the protocol can be used in various aggregation information services, such as Pathfinder, developed and run by the 1inch Network.

1inch Liquidity Protocol

This “next-generation automated market maker” allows users “to earn with 1inch by providing liquidity to pools and collect extra rewards in 1INCH tokens for participating in liquidity mining programs.”

Source: 1inch

1inch DAO

This is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that “governs the 1inch Network, enabling 1INCH stakers to vote for key protocol parameters and take part in the network’s governance.”

Source: 1inch

1inch Labs

This is “a decentralized group of software builders that develop a range of open-source protocols governed by users through the 1inch DAO.”

1inch Foundation

This is “the non-profit organization that issued the 1INCH token and is dedicated to fostering the 1inch Network and initiatives that benefit the network’s community.”

The 1inch Foundation is focused on the following areas: community; grants; and yield farming.