Aave news

Aave Labs has acquired the team and technology behind Avon, a startup specializing in fixed-rate lending, to bring predictable borrowing costs to its onchain lending network. The deal includes Avon's fixed- and floating-rate protocols, an onchain order book, and core engineers, including founder Prince Sinha. Financial terms were not disclosed. Aave, the largest onchain lending network with over $30 billion in deposits and $12 billion in active loans, aims to serve institutional clients by addressing technical challenges in interest rate pricing and risk isolation. The acquisition aligns with Aave's V4 development, which will support a wider range of lending structures. The acquisition targets institutions and fintechs needing predictable rates, with key milestones including V4 rollout and integration details. Any core protocol changes will involve AAVE token governance.

Aave Labs has acquired the team and technology behind Avon, a developer of fixed- and floating-rate lending protocols, as part of its push to add fixed-rate lending to its onchain network. The deal includes Avon's lending protocols, an onchain order book, domains, and related assets, with financial terms undisclosed. Founders Prince Sinha and Ayush Kaul will join Aave's engineering team, while Omar el-Ashaal will join business development. Aave Labs CEO Stani Kulechov said the acquisition aims to bring products like fixed rates to users, and the Avon team will help expand Aave's offerings to institutions, fintechs, and everyday users. Avon's work includes interest-rate pricing, risk isolation, and lending market design. The team will initially focus on fixed-rate lending as Aave, the largest onchain lending network with over $30 billion in deposits and $12 billion in active loans, grows its loan types.

Deposits of Coinbase-issued tokenized SpaceX shares (SPCXc) into Aave V4's Equities Hub on Base reached approximately $871,000 by November 5, 2026, up 1,602% since October 31. Users are posting the stock-backed tokens as collateral to borrow USDC stablecoins. The token, reflecting SpaceX Class A common stock, is held in segregated custody by Alpaca Securities and issued under Coinbase's B20 standard. Aave set a 55% collateral factor for SPCXc, meaning users can borrow up to $55 in USDC for every $100 deposited. A supply ceiling of 37,000 tokens caps exposure, and pricing comes from Chainlink oracles. Access is restricted to eligible non-US users. The Equities Hub, launched September 25, supports seven tokenized stocks as collateral in an isolated market, allowing holders to access liquidity without selling their positions.

A fund and clients affiliated with Kraken parent Payward have acquired an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens via secondary-market purchases, Payward announced Thursday. The investment, made through Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP, reflects long-term conviction in onchain credit markets and DeFi, with further purchases possible, according to Payward's Gurpreet Oberoi. The move follows Aave founder Stani Kulechov's pushback against a June report that Payward was in talks to buy a 15% stake at a steep discount. Kulechov acknowledged investor discussions about buying Aave Labs' AAVE allocation. AAVE tokens confer governance rights, and under the 'Aave Will Win' framework, protocol revenue flows to the DAO treasury. Kulechov called the Payward partnership a strategic step toward broader adoption.

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has purchased an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens via its affiliated investment fund for itself and its asset management clients, signaling a deeper push into decentralized finance (DeFi). The deal, announced Thursday, involves only tokens, not an equity stake in Aave's developing company, and the two sides are exploring further collaboration. This purchase follows earlier talks in June 2026, which proposed acquiring 250,000 AAVE tokens and a 15% equity stake in Aave Group at a $385 million valuation, but that deal was not realized amid public pushback from Aave founder Stani Kulechov over perceived undervaluation. Payward's move aligns with its strategy to expand beyond exchange operations into asset management and DeFi, building on existing ties like Kraken's DeFi Earn product and its white-label Aave deployment on the Ink Layer-2 network. The undisclosed token amount leaves the scale of the investment unclear.

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, and its clients have bought an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens on the secondary market, marking a push into decentralized finance (DeFi) and asset management. The purchases were made through Payward-affiliated fund Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP, according to a Thursday announcement. The deal evolved from earlier talks, first reported by CoinDesk in June, that proposed an equity stake in Aave Group. Thursday's announcement only details token purchases and mentions potential future collaboration between the two firms. Payward said it may make further purchases. The investment expands Payward's asset management business, which spans digital assets, structured yield, and tokenized investments. It comes amid broader dealmaking in the crypto sector, including Payward's recent acquisitions of derivatives exchange Bitnomial and stablecoin payments company Reap.

Aave and Lido saw a combined $1.7 billion decline in total value locked (TVL) between Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, amid a broader crypto market contraction following the Binance security breach. The stablecoin market cap fell by about $10.8 billion over 30 days, with USDT and USDC accounting for roughly $8.4 billion of that drop. During the incident, an exploiter-linked wallet supplied 60 million USDT to Aave and borrowed WETH, prompting guardians to freeze 175 Aave V3 and 117 V4 reserves. The freeze blocked new deposits and borrowing but allowed withdrawals, pushing some reserves to 92%-100% utilization and raising borrowing costs. Reserves reopened by Oct. 31, but USDT, USDC, and USDT0 still have zero collateral borrowing power in affected configurations. The decline partly reflects falling token prices, not necessarily capital flight, and a TVL rebound would not confirm liquidity return. Healthier conditions would require renewed stablecoin issuance, lending deposits, and steadier collateral prices.

Aave Labs, the Kamino Foundation, and Veda Tech Labs have submitted a confidential legal framework to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing that decentralized lending protocols and non-custodial vaults should not be classified as securities. The groups requested a meeting with SEC staff to discuss their position. The submission, dated October 26, 2026, analyzes these products against key U.S. securities laws, including the Howey test and the Reves test. The groups conclude that these arrangements do not constitute investment contracts, are not caught by the Reves analysis, and do not create advisory relationships requiring custody rules. They emphasize that users retain ownership and control, protocols make no repayment promises, and governance is community-led. This filing extends Aave's earlier engagement with the SEC, which closed an investigation into the protocol in December 2025 without enforcement action. The coalition's effort reflects a broader sector stance, as the lending protocol market holds over $50 billion in assets. The SEC has not adopted these conclusions, but if accepted, reduced regulatory uncertainty could boost liquidity and institutional interest. The public summary of the framework offers a template for other builders. The submission is an invitation for the SEC's Crypto Task Force to take a formal position, but it is not a ruling, guidance, or approval.

Aave borrowers in frozen reserves kept paying interest up to 36% APR during the Binance hot-wallet incident, while a freeze blocked new deposits and additional collateral. Withdrawals still allowed, so suppliers exiting raised utilization, making borrowing costlier despite new borrowing being prohibited. LlamaRisk recommended temporarily reducing upper rate slopes to ease borrower burden. The restrictions, introduced Oct. 29 and lifted by Oct. 31, aimed to limit use of Aave during the external compromise. Borrowers couldn't add collateral to frozen reserves, narrowing their debt management options, especially if collateral prices fell. Annualized rates meant a $10,000 loan at 36% accrued about $9.86 daily, versus $2.74 at 10%. After reopening, LlamaRisk suggested restoring earlier settings to attract fresh deposits, with modeled rates showing uneven impacts across reserves.

Chainlink says Aave's institutional lending platform Horizon is using its new weekend pricing service for tokenized stock collateral, starting with high-volume U.S. equities. The service draws quotes from perpetual-futures venues when traditional exchanges are closed, so off-hours valuations reflect derivatives markets rather than actual stock trades. Chainlink filters stale inputs and joins sessions into a continuous series delivered via onchain data feeds. For borrowers, a moving weekend reference can reduce collateral value before exchanges reopen, potentially crossing liquidation thresholds sooner. Stablecoin lenders may see deteriorating collateral earlier, though debt recovery still depends on executable collateral exits. The announcement does not disclose initial equity tokens, feed addresses, or equity-specific liquidation settings, and it remains unclear how Horizon's safeguards apply to the new feeds. This is separate from Aave's V4 Equities Hub on Base, whose configuration has not changed per the announcement.