Crypto16 July, 20262 min read
1inch Confirms Anton Bukov Exit After He Says He Was Fired, Launches Second Tier
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Bukov says he was fired in November 2025 and left 1inch's operations. 1inch confirms Bukov is no longer contributing to the project.
Bukov exit and new venture
Decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch confirmed that co-founder Anton Bukov is no longer involved with the project after Bukov said he was fired from the company in late November 2025 and announced a new DeFi venture called Second Tier. Bukov said in a statement posted on X that he was dismissed in late November 2025 and that he no longer has any role in 1inch’s operations, product architecture or security.
1inch later confirmed that Bukov “has not been actively involved with the project since December 2025,” and stressed that the protocol and its roadmap remain unchanged. The dispute centers on Bukov’s claim that his work focused on the protocol’s architecture, security and economic design, including the 1inch Router, Fusion and its cross-chain infrastructure, while 1inch says the network continues operating normally.
Contradictory statements on role
Bukov told X that he had departed 1inch to launch Second Tier and said he was “fired” in November 2025 after “push[ing] for change” in the company’s management and operations. 1inch responded on X by saying Bukov “had not been actively involved in any associated organizations” related to the project since December 2025, and the company also said the “fired” characterization is factually inaccurate.
Co-founder Sergej Kunz said Bukov’s departure “is not disrupting, will not disrupt, 1inch Network’s infrastructure or systems,” and that Kunz and the existing executive leadership team remain responsible for strategy and development. In a separate account, The Defiant reported a 1inch spokesperson said Bukov “was not a direct employee and, therefore, could not have been terminated from employment in that capacity,” while Bukov said “I no longer take part in the company’s operations.”
Security incidents and market context
The 1inch exit comes after the company addressed security incidents across its broader ecosystem, including a March 2025 case in which attackers exploited an obsolete Fusion V1 resolver contract and caused losses of approximately $5 million. AMBCrypto said 1inch recovered most of the stolen assets after reaching an agreement with the attacker, and it also said a December 2024 disclosure involved a resolver smart contract compromised following a private key breach.
In parallel, Pluang described crypto market movement around the same period, saying Polygon recently upgraded its network with the Zurich hardfork to reduce block times to 1.5 seconds and enable up to 5,000 payments per second. Pluang also tied the broader backdrop to token performance, noting that “Both Polygon and 1inch tokens have plummeted to near all-time lows this year,” while Provenance Blockchain (HASH) led gains on July 14 with a 16.54% price surge to $0.009461.