Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov participated in 17 hackathons worldwide, funding their travels with winnings and often sleeping at venues. At the 2019 ETHNewYork hackathon, they built and released the first version of 1inch in just 18 hours.
Following the hackathon, they received a $50,000 Gitcoin grant. Sergej stated: "Gitcoin played a huge role in shaping our destiny."
This funding enabled them to pay their team while directing all resources toward development without taking personal compensation.
The DEX aggregator they created has facilitated over 25 million trades and processed more than $250 billion in trading volume.
Recognizing public goods funding's importance to their success, Sergej and Anton committed to giving back. They allocated $3 million to the 1inch foundation's grant program and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Gitcoin Grants program to support the next generation.
