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What Will DeFi’s Next Phase Look Like? 5 Key Takeaways from 1inch’s Unite DeFi Singapore

Unite DeFi is a flagship initiative by 1inch to deliver collectively builders, protocols, and liquidity throughout decentralized finance via shared infrastructure and interoperability. The program embodies 1inch’s mission to make DeFi less complicated, safer, and extra linked—bridging the hole between on-chain innovation and world finance.

Earlier this month, 1inch held one other version of Unite DeFi as a part of TOKEN2049 Singapore Week, hosted on the ArtScience Museum alongside companions Infinex, BOB, and Bitget Wallet. The one-day convention featured main figures, together with Stani Kulechov (Aave Labs) and Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon Foundation), alongside 1inch co-founders Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov.

BeInCrypto had the chance to be on the occasion, and listed here are the important thing takeaways from 1inch’s Unite DeFi Singapore.

RWAs: The $32B Bridge Between TradFi and DeFi

The morning at Unite DeFi Singapore opened with a take a look at the real-world property (RWA) sector. Aggregated knowledge from rwa.xyz and different on-chain dashboards estimate the whole RWA market at roughly $32 billion as of October 2025, with $25.3 billion concentrated in tokenized treasuries and personal credit score. That dominance dwarfs commodities at $3.2 billion and equities at $400 million, exhibiting traders’ pivot towards yield-bearing stability.

Panelists, akin to Fredrik Haga, co-founder of Dune, and Kiln CEO Laszlo Szabo, agreed that RWAs have turn out to be DeFi’s institutional bridge.

“They [asset managers] basically bypass some banking providers and enhance massively distribution,” Szabo stated.

Roberto Klein of Backed Finance pushed again in opposition to the belief that DeFi’s development should come at banks’ expense, calling tokenization “a generational shift.” The change, he stated, is additive, finance increasing onto open rails slightly than one system changing one other. 

With fee cuts drawing liquidity again on-chain, RWAs at the moment are doing for DeFi what sovereign bonds do for conventional portfolios. They anchor volatility and supply predictable returns via clear, programmable debt.

As the dialogue turned to liquidity infrastructure, consensus emerged round one fixed — stablecoins. They stay the connective tissue linking tokenized property to day by day use, the acquainted kind carrying a brand new operate, the on-ramp via which establishments lastly step into DeFi.

67% Hot Wallet Vulnerabilities Demand Hardware Shields

Data shared onstage confirmed that 67% of hacks originate from sizzling wallets, whereas half stem from social engineering techniques like sharing seed restoration phrases (SRPs), in response to Jeff of Ledger and Eowyn Chen of Trust Wallet. AI danger scanners have intercepted roughly $460 million in tried scams. Yet, an estimated 70% of customers nonetheless ignore warnings, sparking debate over how far platforms ought to go in balancing security and autonomy.

Chen summarized the dilemma succinctly: “Balance censorship minimization with consumer safety.” The panel outlined frameworks separating safety “at relaxation” (safe storage) from “at use” (protected signing), emphasizing how {hardware} wallets’ “trusted screens” function verification checkpoints — the crypto equal of a financial institution’s fraud alert.

Against the backdrop of assorted incidents, panelists agreed that schooling, not concern, stays DeFi’s strongest protection. Fewer rugs and stronger reputations have already improved baseline safety; scaling that consciousness to billions will decide whether or not DeFi’s renaissance endures.

Interoperability Becomes DeFi’s Next Race for Scale

Interoperability took heart stage because the antidote to DeFi’s silos. During a dialogue, panelists explored how intent-based swaps and cross-chain aggregation might make DeFi really feel as seamless as Web2 apps. Sergej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch, stated customers more and more “simply wish to guarantee that they get what they anticipate.” He argued that abstraction is important to mainstream development. 

Additionally, Sandeep Nailwal, CEO of Polygon Labs, remarked that “block area has turn out to be infinite,” pointing to Polygon’s upcoming scaling structure that permits protocols to order and combination throughput throughout linked chains. He described this as a approach to take away the bottlenecks that after fragmented DeFi liquidity, making a shared infrastructure the place execution feels boundless.

Misha Putiatin, Symbiotic’s co-founder, added that abstraction layers now let “customers see one optimized quote.” The debate over transaction finality, or “sturdy transactions” as he phrased it, revealed ongoing friction between pace and certainty.

The rise of app-specific chains like Hyperliquid might lastly harmonize these trade-offs, stitching fragmented networks right into a single interoperable system. For establishments looking for effectivity with out publicity, interoperability now represents the lacking piece between liquidity depth and consumer belief.

Maturity Over Cycles as Path to DeFi Renaissance

In one of many discussions on the Unite DeFi occasion, some panelists remarked that DeFi is coming into a section of quiet maturity. Volumes and complete worth locked (TVL) have surpassed prior bull cycles regardless of the notion of a “boring” market. 

Anton Bukov, co-founder of 1inch, famous, “Higher volumes and TVL than prior bull runs regardless of that ‘boring’ notion.” 

He added that the distinction lies in self-discipline. Fewer exploits, higher audits, and a stronger repute economic system at the moment are changing reckless yield-chasing. According to Bukov, this pragmatism mirrors 1inch’s personal rebrand, which dropped the unicorn motif for a cleaner identification targeted on gasless swaps (Fusion) and capital-efficient structure (Aqua).

It alerts a market much less pushed by hype and extra by sustainable instruments. Even previous misjudgments, akin to Kain Warwick’s notorious “ETH to $10K in 2017” prediction talked about jokingly onstage, now learn as classes in realism. 

Additionally, panelists agreed that DeFi’s future shall be constructed by operators who deal with danger, not hypothesis, as the brand new alpha.

Values and Legitimacy: Ethereum’s Human Core 

Aya Miyaguchi, president of the Ethereum Foundation, joined the occasion for a fireplace chat that shifted the dialogue from liquidity and throughput to inclusion and legitimacy. Her message reminded the viewers why Ethereum exists: to increase entry and alternative via expertise.

“When I met Bitcoin, I believed this might be actually revolutionary within the area of economic inclusion or microfinance,” she stated. “It is about together with those that weren’t included earlier than… restoring the steadiness.”

She described Ethereum as a shared public good that “belongs to nobody exactly as a result of it belongs to everybody,” noting how that precept is starting to form actual methods, from decentralized IDs to land registries and stablecoins now being explored by governments.

Still, she stated the most important hole lies in understanding. “It’s actually about higher schooling,” she instructed the viewers, urging regulators and builders alike to pair innovation with comprehension. “It is important for this expertise to do the position that it’s alleged to do.”

Referencing Vitalik Buterin’s perception that “crucial scarce useful resource is legitimacy,” Miyaguchi referred to as on the DeFi neighborhood to guard that legitimacy collectively. She defined that the Ethereum Foundation doesn’t management the community. Its position is to protect neutrality and empower others to construct.

Her closing thought landed quietly but firmly. The way forward for decentralized finance relies on whether or not the individuals constructing it may preserve its values intact because it scales.

The DeFi Horizon: From 2% to Billions Through Unity

Across panels, one throughline emerged. DeFi is unifying. Tokenized property are stabilizing yields, safety frameworks are restoring belief, intent layers are simplifying UX, and interoperability is dissolving silos. Collectively, these advances purpose to carry crypto’s world penetration from 2% to the subsequent billion customers.

But development will demand a steadiness between innovation and regulation, privateness and compliance, simplicity and depth. As rates of interest fall and establishments scale on-chain publicity from RWAs to $1 billion DeFi loans like Morpho’s, the trail forward appears much less speculative and extra infrastructural. 

In Singapore’s charged ambiance, Unite DeFi ended with a way of conviction and objective slightly than hype. DeFi is transferring from area of interest experiment to monetary necessity, one interoperable layer at a time.

For those that missed the dwell classes, you possibly can watch the panel discussions from Unite DeFi Singapore right here:

BeInCrypto continues to have interaction straight with the trade’s defining conversations, together with 1inch’s Unite DeFi and extra. Our reporters deliver insights straight from the phases the place Web3’s future is being formed. 

Stay tuned for extra unique protection from essentially the most influential Web3 and crypto occasions worldwide!

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