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1inch, one of the largest DeFi trading platforms, has published reDeFine Money, a 464-page oral history of decentralized finance written by its editor-in-chief, Vladimir Kozlov.
The book features interviews with 25 founders and builders, including Stani Kulechov of Aave, Rune Christensen of MakerDAO, Michael Egorov of Curve, and Haseeb Qureshi of Dragonfly.
The digital edition is available free through the 1inch website, and physical copies will be distributed at select 1inch events.
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1inch bills it as the first book to chronicle DeFi's history through the people who built it, covering the sector's growth to more than $80 billion in on-chain value at its peak, the collapses of Terra-Luna and FTX, and where the industry goes from here.
What the 2022 crash actually proved
The book does not avoid DeFi's darkest chapter.
In 2022, the collapse of Terra-Luna, followed by the failures of Three Arrows Capital and FTX, erased hundreds of billions of dollars and shook confidence across the industry.
Yet many of the founders interviewed argue the crisis exposed the weaknesses of centralized businesses, not DeFi itself.
"When I look back on 2022, it was essentially a failure of centralization. Most of the things that failed were in CeFi," noted Kain Warwick, co-founder, Synthetix and Infinex.
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Fredrik Haga, co-founder of Dune, said of actors like FTX and Three Arrows:
"You become disillusioned by how greedy and lacking in integrity some of these people are," adding that it was "more a matter of sentiment than a structural failure of crypto's core promise."
Others were more self-critical. MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen said bluntly:
"Much of the core ideology crypto is built on doesn't hold up in the real world. You have to be realistic: instead of building around near-religious beliefs, you need to focus on what the market actually wants."
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Not all protocols survived
More than 40 DeFi protocols have shut down so far in 2026.
Some struggled to attract users, others were hit by hacks, and many failed to generate enough revenue to keep operating.
Security remains one of DeFi's biggest challenges, though the data shows progress.
According to Immunefi's April 2026 report, losses from exploits peaked at $2.62 billion in 2022 before falling to $680 million in 2025, and the median loss per exploit has dropped sharply.
Bridge exploits, which drove most losses in 2022, accounted for a small share of stolen funds in 2025.
In April 2026, attackers stole $293 million from KelpDAO by exploiting a weakness in its cross-chain infrastructure, triggering losses elsewhere in DeFi and a wave of withdrawals.
Chainalysis' January 2026 report found criminals increasingly target users rather than protocols, with impersonation scams rising sharply year over year.
Where DeFi goes from here
The book lands as DeFi pushes into the mainstream. Regulatory frameworks like the U.S. CLARITY Act and Europe's MiCA are taking shape, tokenized real-world assets are expanding fast, and institutional capital keeps moving on-chain.
The founders disagree on how quickly DeFi merges with traditional finance, but most see the convergence as inevitable.
"Over a long enough timeline, I believe DeFi will overtake TradFi," said Jared Grey, Managing Director, Sushi Labs, who cautioned it could take another 15 to 20 years.
Flashbots' Reid Yager offered a similar long view: "One day, we may look back and realise that the entire traditional financial system has been rewritten on the rails of DeFi."
According to 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz, that is exactly why the company published the book now.
"The industry is about to change completely. It is about to revolutionise TradFi, so what better time to tell the story." added Sergej Kunz, co-founder, 1inch.
Receive your PDF copy later this summer