1inch is a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator that sources liquidity from various exchanges and can split a single trade across multiple DEXs to find the best rates for users. It is designed to provide the most efficient swapping routes, optimizing for price and low transaction costs. The core of the 1inch Network is its Pathfinder algorithm, a smart routing mechanism that finds the optimal paths for a token swap across dozens of liquidity sources on different protocols, such as Uniswap, SushiSwap, and Balancer. By splitting orders, the protocol aims to reduce price slippage, especially for large trades, and secure a better overall exchange rate than any single DEX could offer. To address prominent user concerns like high gas fees and the negative impact of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV), 1inch developed Fusion mode. This upgrade allows users to execute trades without paying network gas fees directly and provides enhanced protection against front-running and sandwich attacks. In Fusion mode, professional traders known as Resolvers compete to fill user orders, covering the gas costs themselves in exchange for a portion of the trade's surplus. The 1inch ecosystem also includes the 1inch Limit Order Protocol, which enables users to place more complex orders like stop-loss and trailing stops with specified prices and conditions, without incurring gas costs until the order is filled. The ecosystem is governed by the 1inch DAO, with the 1INCH token serving as a utility and governance token for protocol development and staking. As a multi-chain platform, 1inch operates on numerous blockchains including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Avalanche, offering a unified access point to the decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity landscape.