Overview
- Bukov publicly posted that he was dismissed in late November 2025 and says he no longer takes part in 1inch’s operations or product security while remaining a co‑founder and a 50% shareholder.
- 1inch responded that Bukov has not been actively involved since December 2025 and that the network, protocols and roadmap continue to operate under existing leadership.
- Alongside his departure statement Bukov launched a new DeFi project called Second Tier and described it as focused on building secure, efficient financial infrastructure.
- Reporting notes two prior security incidents linked to 1inch infrastructure: a December 2024 private key compromise and a March 2025 exploit of an obsolete Fusion V1 resolver that initially cost about $5 million with most assets later recovered.
- The split raises questions about governance and continuity at a major DeFi protocol and could increase scrutiny of how projects manage core developers, security responsibility and upgrades going forward.