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Traditional financial firms have been discussing a move “onchain,” but Sergej Kunz argues that many institutions are approaching DeFi in the wrong way. His central critique is that firms are spending heavily to rebuild systems that already function on public blockchain infrastructure, rather than using mature, liquid, and production-tested protocols. In Kunz’s view, the current institutional push is less a technology story than a test of whether legacy finance is willing to adopt open infrastructure—or whether it still feels compelled to recreate every layer within its own walls, despite years of experimentation by major firms.
Kunz says the fragmentation created by duplication is not only inefficient, but also misses the practical purpose of DeFi. He urges institutions to stop working in silos and instead partner with protocols that have already addressed core issues such as execution, routing, and efficiency.
In the case of 1inch, Kunz points to scale as evidence that the “rails” are already in place. He cites that the protocol routes trades across more than 400 decentralized exchanges on 13 networks and has processed more than $800 billion in cumulative swap volume. For Kunz, these figures support the argument that institutions should build on existing infrastructure rather than attempt to replicate it.
Kunz’s framework also extends to artificial intelligence. He views AI as useful when it helps developers integrate faster and operate more efficiently, but he does not see it as essential to core trade execution, which he describes as already heavily optimized.
The distinction matters, in his telling, because it challenges the assumption that every new product must center on autonomous decision-making. Instead, Kunz appears to place more value on AI as an operational layer around DeFi rather than as an entity making financial choices inside it.
When the discussion turns to autonomous agents, Kunz draws a clear boundary around systems that decide for users. He argues that DeFi still depends on personal responsibility and informed action rather than delegated judgment.
He describes a broader tension across the sector: efforts to automate processes more smoothly on one side, and the insistence that users remain accountable on the other. His message to institutions is direct: the technology is ready, liquidity is deep, and the smarter move is not rebuilding DeFi, but learning to build on it.
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