What Will Defi’s Next Phase Look Like? 5 Key Takeaways From 1Inch’s Unite Defi Singapore

What Happened

The morning at Unite DeFi Singapore opened with a look at the real-world assets (RWA) sector. Aggregated data from rwa.xyz and other on-chain dashboards estimate the total RWA market at roughly $32 billion as of October 2025, with $25.3 billion concentrated in tokenized treasuries and private credit. That dominance dwarfs commodities at $3.2 billion and equities at $400 million, showing investors’ pivot toward yield-bearing stability.

Data shared onstage showed that 67% of hacks originate from hot wallets, while half stem from social engineering tactics like sharing seed recovery phrases (SRPs), according to Jeff of Ledger and Eowyn Chen of Trust Wallet. AI risk scanners have intercepted roughly $460 million in attempted scams. Yet, an estimated 70% of users still ignore warnings, sparking debate over how far platforms should go in balancing safety and autonomy.

He added that the difference lies in discipline. Fewer exploits, better audits, and a stronger reputation economy are now replacing reckless yield-chasing. According to Bukov, this pragmatism mirrors 1inch’s own rebrand, which dropped the unicorn motif for a cleaner identity focused on gasless swaps (Fusion) and capital-efficient architecture (Aqua).

Market Context

Unite DeFi is a flagship initiative by 1inch to bring together builders, protocols, and liquidity across decentralized finance through shared infrastructure and interoperability. The program embodies 1inch’s mission to make DeFi simpler, safer, and more connected—bridging the gap between on-chain innovation and global finance.

With rate cuts drawing liquidity back on-chain, RWAs are now doing for DeFi what sovereign bonds do for traditional portfolios. They anchor volatility and provide predictable returns through transparent, programmable debt.

As the discussion turned to liquidity infrastructure, consensus emerged around one constant — stablecoins. They remain the connective tissue linking tokenized assets to daily use, the familiar form carrying a new function, the on-ramp through which institutions finally step into DeFi.

Additionally, Sandeep Nailwal, CEO of Polygon Labs, remarked that “block space has become infinite,” pointing to Polygon’s upcoming scaling architecture that allows protocols to reserve and aggregate throughput across connected chains. He described this as a way to remove the bottlenecks that once fragmented DeFi liquidity, creating a shared infrastructure where execution feels boundless.

The rise of app-specific chains like Hyperliquid may finally harmonize these trade-offs, stitching fragmented networks into a single interoperable system. For institutions seeking efficiency without exposure, interoperability now represents the missing piece between liquidity depth and user trust.

In one of the discussions at the Unite DeFi event, some panelists remarked that DeFi is entering a phase of quiet maturity. Volumes and total value locked (TVL) have surpassed prior bull cycles despite the perception of a “boring” market.

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

It signals a market less driven by hype and more by sustainable tools. Even past misjudgments, such as Kain Warwick’s infamous “ETH to $10K in 2017” prediction mentioned jokingly onstage, now read as lessons in realism.

Why It Matters

Interoperability took center stage as the antidote to DeFi’s silos. During a discussion, panelists explored how intent-based swaps and cross-chain aggregation could make DeFi feel as seamless as Web2 apps. Sergej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch, said users increasingly “just want to make sure that they get what they expect.” He argued that abstraction is essential to mainstream growth.

Details

Earlier this month, 1inch held another edition of Unite DeFi as part of TOKEN2049 Singapore Week, hosted at the ArtScience Museum alongside partners Infinex, BOB, and Bitget Wallet. The one-day conference featured leading figures, including Stani Kulechov (Aave Labs) and Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon Foundation), alongside 1inch co-founders Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov.

BeInCrypto had the opportunity to be at the event, and here are the key takeaways from 1inch’s Unite DeFi Singapore.

RWAs: The $32B Bridge Between TradFi and DeFi

Panelists, such as Fredrik Haga, co-founder of Dune, and Kiln CEO Laszlo Szabo, agreed that RWAs have become DeFi’s institutional bridge.

“They [asset managers] essentially bypass some banking services and increase massively distribution,” Szabo said.

Roberto Klein of Backed Finance pushed back against the assumption that DeFi’s growth must come at banks’ expense, calling tokenization “a generational shift.” The change, he said, is additive, finance expanding onto open rails rather than one system replacing another.

67% Hot Wallet Vulnerabilities Demand Hardware Shields

Chen summarized the dilemma succinctly: “Balance censorship minimization with user protection.” The panel outlined frameworks separating security “at rest” (secure storage) from “at use” (safe signing), emphasizing how hardware wallets’ “trusted screens” serve as verification checkpoints — the crypto equivalent of a bank’s fraud alert.

Against the backdrop of various incidents, panelists agreed that education, not fear, remains DeFi’s strongest defense. Fewer rugs and stronger reputations have already improved baseline security; scaling that awareness to billions will determine whether DeFi’s renaissance endures.

Interoperability Becomes DeFi’s Next Race for Scale

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

Maturity Over Cycles as Path to DeFi Renaissance