As 2020 came to an end, which aptly coincided with the launch of the 1inch token (DEX aggregator), talks surrounding aggregation theory and its relationship to defi protocols resurfaced. This is by no means a new topic. Still, with the recent growth in 2020 of DEX aggregators (1inch, Matcha, ParaSwap), Defi Dashboards (Zapper, DeBank, Zerion), and Defi “blue-chips” vertically/horizontally integrating, questions regarding the relative long-term value capture of defi projects are at the forefront.
One protocol, and its design decisions, will become a strong-case study in 2021 for the optimal strategy and type of protocol that finds success. This project is 1inch. The reason for this is for one, 1inch is an aggregator play, two, builds out integrations under its umbrella (liquidity pools, etc.), three, has an extensive team/funding to execute, and four, has clear rent-extraction design choices (positive slippage extraction). As the first two-points have been covered in previ
