Crypto Trading App 1inch Launches on Ethereum Scaling Solution Optimism

Though gas fees on Ethereum have dwindled of late, various crypto protocols are still exploring scaling solutions via the likes of Binance Smart Chain or Layer 2 solutions such as Polygon. Popular trading aggregator 1inch Exchange is no exception as today it launches its fourth multi-chain expansion. 

1inch collects trading data from various decentralized crypto exchanges, like Uniswap and Bancor, to provide traders with the best price per trade. Instead of searching various platforms for the highest returns for specific trades, the app does the work for you. 

This convenience has earned 1inch a ton of users too. 

At the moment, it’s the third-largest application on Ethereum by number of users at more than 290,000, per data from Dune Analytics. Compound hosts roughly 328,000 users, and Uniswap is by far the largest application with well over 2 million users. 

These figures, however, only include users on Ethereum. 1inch has also launched its services on Binance Smart Chain as well as Polygon earlier this year, to cater to a growing user base and combat rising fees. 

Now, the aggregator is live on the Ethereum scaler Optimism. 

"Optimistic Ethereum is a highly promising [layer-2] solution focused on scalability, and the 1inch launch on Optimistic will facilitate a dramatic increase in transaction speed," Sergej Kunz, a co-founder of 1inch, told Decrypt.

The exchange aggregator joins several other Ethereum applications that have integrated with Optimism, including Uniswap and Synthetix.

The technology builds on optimistic rollups, which batch transactions off of Ethereum to lighten the network’s load. These batched transactions are then confirmed on Ethereum in a single block. 

It’s a promising technology, but it’s not quite fully developed. 

Like Uniswap’s alpha launch in July, throughput on 1inch’s iteration will be limited to 0.6 transactions per second. For context, Ethereum’s mainnet currently processes about 30 transactions per second and Bitcoin processes roughly 7 transactions per second. 

As the Optimism team continues building out its scaling solution, however, integrated projects like 1inch will enjoy an uptick in throughput. 

Hopefully, these upgrades arrive right in time for the next bout of congestion on Ethereum.