The decentralized finance platform Aave has achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing $1 trillion in total lending volume, setting a groundbreaking precedent within the DeFi sector.
“Ten years ago, concepts like DeFi and Aave were merely theoretical. Today, Aave serves as the cornerstone of on-chain lending, facilitating a revolutionary financial ecosystem that is accessible to all and cannot be halted,” stated Stani Kulechov, CEO of Aave Labs, in an X post on Wednesday.
This achievement represents another stride towards Aave’s ambition of establishing itself as the “largest and most efficient liquidity network globally,” Kulechov noted. “It aims to become an essential resource for builders, banks, and fintech companies by default—significantly enhancing liquidity and cost efficiencies across international finance.”
Source: Aave
In August, Aave Labs introduced Aave Horizon—a new lending market built on Ethereum designed specifically for traditional financial institutions and other large investors seeking to borrow stablecoins against tangible assets.
Notable early adopters of this institutional service include VanEck, WisdomTree, and Securitize.
Kulechov mentioned on February 15 that DeFi lending could gain significantly from tokenizing “abundant assets,” such as solar energy resources or robotics used for labor. He anticipates these assets will collectively reach a valuation of $50 trillion by 2050.
Ave was initially launched as ETHLend back in November 2017 before rebranding to its current name in September 2018. The platform now safeguards over $27.2 billion in total value locked (TVL), allowing users to earn interest on their deposits while borrowing instantly using cryptocurrency collateral.
Aave outperforms several leading DeFi lending platforms regarding TVL—including Morpho, JustLend, SparkLend, Maple Finance , Kamin Lend ,and Compound Finance—all boasting over $1 billion each in locked value.
Over the past month alone,Ave has generated more than $83.3 million in fees—nearly four times higher than its closest rival Morpho’s earnings during the same period.
A DAO proposal sparks debate within the Aave community
This significant milestone occurs amidst ongoing tensions regarding how much funding control should be allocated between Aave Labs versus its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
The holders of $AAVE tokens have been asked to vote on approving a funding package valued at up to $42.5 million worth of stablecoins along with 75k $AAVE.
If approved,Ave Labs would direct all revenue generated from products branded under the name ‘AAVE’ into treasury funds managed by DAO under this proposed operating model funded through DAO revenues .