1inch, one of the largest DeFi trading platforms, has published reDeFine Money, a 464-page oral history of decentralized finance written by 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 for free via the 1inch website and physical copies will be distributed at selected 1inch events.
Get your PDF copy later this summer
1inch considers it the first book to chronicle the history of DeFi through the people who built it, chronicling the industry’s growth to over $80 billion in on-chain value at its peak, the collapse of Terra-Luna and FTX, and where the industry goes from here.
What the 2022 crash actually proved
The book does not avoid the darkest chapter of DeFi.
In 2022, the collapse of Terra-Luna, followed by the failures of Three Arrows Capital and FTX, wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars and shook confidence in the industry.
Yet many of the founders interviewed argue that the crisis has exposed the weaknesses of centralized companies, not DeFi itself.
“When I look back at 2022, it was essentially a failure of centralization. Most of the things that failed were in CeFi.” noted Kain Warwick, co-founder of Synthetix and Infinex.
Get your PDF copy later this summer
Dune co-founder Fredrik Haga 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 the core promise of crypto.”
Others were more self-critical. MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen said bluntly:
“Much of the core ideology that crypto is built on doesn’t hold up in the real world. You have to be realistic: instead of building around almost religious beliefs, you have to focus on what the market actually wants.”
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Not all protocols survived
More than 40 DeFi protocols have been disabled so far in 2026.
Some struggled to attract users, others were hit by hacks, and many failed to generate enough revenue to continue functioning.
Security remains one of DeFi’s biggest challenges, although 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 average loss per exploit has fallen sharply.
Bridge exploits, which caused the most losses in 2022, accounted for a small portion of stolen funds in 2025.
In April 2026, attackers stole $293 million from KelpDAO by exploiting a weakness in the cross-chain infrastructure, leading to losses elsewhere in DeFi and a wave of withdrawals.
The January 2026 Chainalysis report found that criminals are increasingly targeting users rather than protocols, with impersonation scams increasing sharply year on year.
Where DeFi goes from here
The book arrives as DeFi enters the mainstream. Regulatory frameworks such as the US CLARITY Act and the European MiCA are taking shape, tokenized real-world assets are expanding rapidly and institutional capital continues to move up the chain.
Founders disagree on how quickly DeFi is merging with traditional finance, but most see the convergence as inevitable.
“I believe that, over a long enough timeline, DeFi will overtake TradFi,” says Jared Gray, general manager of Sushi Labs, who warned it could take another 15 to 20 years.
Flashbots’ Reid Yager offered a similar long-term view: “One day we may look back and realize that the entire traditional financial system has been rewritten along the lines of DeFi.”
According to 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz, that is exactly why the company is releasing the book now.
“The industry is about to completely change. It’s about to revolutionize TradFi, so what better time to tell the story.” added Sergej Kunz, co-founder, 1inch.
Get your PDF copy later this summer