This is a guide to the understand the new 1inch wallet for android. But first, I think it will be better to understand what exactly is 1inch. Those who have an idea about 1inch can skip this part.

What is 1 inch?

Simply put, 1 inch is a DEX aggregator.

Now what is a DEX and what is a DEX aggregator?

DEX refers to a Decentralized Exchange.

An exchange in the cryptocurrency space, much like an exchange in the stocks and bonds, is a platform where you can buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies. You can exchange a cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency for fiat money or fiat money for cryptocurrency.

Ok. Great.

Now a cryptocurrency exchange is of two types-Centralized and Decentralized.

A centralized exchange is managed by a third party. A third party facilitates the trades between the buyer and the seller. Whereas, a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) facilitates peer to peer trade. A buyer can directly connect with the seller. Read more about Cryptocurrency Exchanges here.

Ok enough of cryptocurrency exchanges and DEX.

There are few popular DEXs like UniSwap, PancakeSwap, SushiSwap. The prices of cryptocurrencies might differ at these exchanges. Yes, you read it right. The prices of cryptocurrencies might differ at specific times at these different exchanges. For example, the price of Bitcoin at UniSwap might be $40K at some time, when, at the same time the price of Bitcoin on SushiSwap is $42K.

1 inch which is a DEX aggregator, scrapes the prices of cryptocurrencies from different DEX and helps you to buy a cryptocurrency` at the best price possible. 1 inch was developed in early 2021 on the Binance Smart Chain (blockchain network-all DEX are built upon a blockchain network).

All right. Now that we understand what 1 inch actually is, let us move further to get a detailed understanding of the 1inch wallet for android.

1 inch wallet for android

1inch wallet for android is a mobile based wallet for android phone users. The IOS version of the wallet was launched last year.

Now, 1inch have launched the android version of their wallet.

• You can store, send, receive, trade hundreds of tokens and cryptocurrencies on Ethereum, BNBChain, Polygon, OptimisticEthereum, Arbitrum, GnosisChain and Avalanche in a secured manner.
• 1 inch supports EIP1559 and ENS features.
  ENS is the Ethereum Name Service, which is a naming convention for crypto addresses, which is stored in the Ethereum blockchain. This means, rather than using complex and long keys/addresses (like 0x4a986a6dCA6dbf99bC3d17F8D71aFb0d60eXXXX), human readable names can be used like john.eth.
  Hence using the 1 inch wallet for android we can send Ether to someone with the ENS name of like john.eth. Read more on ENS here.
• 1inch wallet for android provides custom token support feature, which facilitates searching for tokens or adding them manually.
• The 1inch wallet for android also supports full-featured wallet connect integration for Dapps, which allows the wallet to be connected to Dapps in any browser or any device.
  Wallet connect is the blockchain protocol for connecting wallets with Dapps. That means you can connect 1inch wallet for android on your mobile phone directly to a Dapp like Uniswap, OpenSea, etc.
  A list of popular Dapps is given below, just for reference.

• Some advanced features (as suggested by the Instagram page of 1inch) include cancelling of sent transactions, adjusting gas fees to speed up the execution of transactions and instantly approve and sign transactions, regardless of their size.

Security

1inch wallet offers Flashbot protection from front-running attacks. Flashbot prevents from front-running and “sandwich attacks”, Google Drive and file backup, biometric authentication and the passcode lock.

Front-running attack takes advantage of one of the features of a blockchain network. See, when a transaction is made, then before being added to the blockchain, first it waits in a mempool with other similar transactions.

A mining pool or miner who wins the chance to create the new block, picks these transactions from the mempool to be added to the new block of the blockchain. The point of the matter is that the transactions in the mempool are visible to the nodes in the blockchain network.

Hence anyone who is a full node can see all the transactions in the mempool, before it being added to the blockchain network. Hence, one can get a pre-vision of the transactions going to take place and the Gas fee given for it. This knowledge can be exploited by attackers to gain near to confirmed profits in cryptocurrencies.

For instance a user who knows the maximum Gas fee waiting in the mempool, can offer an even greater Gas fee and ensure that his transaction is executed next by the miner (because normally a miner adds the transactions in the descending order of their Gas fee, meaning the transaction with the highest Gas fee first). Also someone could front run a buy in an exchange to know about upcoming tokens to be bought and accordingly buy tokens at set prices to attain profit.

Front running attack

A Flashbot protects front-running attacks by third parties. As we know third parties can front run by exploiting the transaction information which is visible in the mempools, before being added to the blockchain. In Flashbot the transactions are not visible in the mempool, hence protecting any probable exploits by attackers. This is made possible by a direct connection between wallet providers (like 1inch) and miners who provide this service. As soon as a transaction is mined, it is added to the block and becomes visible to anyone.

Flashbot protection against Front Running attack

Conclusion

1inch had released the wallet for IOS last year in April. It gained decent traction among users. Now they have come up with the 1inch wallet for android. Some of the highlights of the wallet is-its security, its facilitating connection with Dapps, getting you the best rates for cryptocurrencies (1inch being a DEX aggregator), custom token support and supporting ENS and EIP1559.