Aave hits $1T in DeFi loans as DAO weighs Aave Labs funding

Aave became the first decentralized lending protocol to exceed $1 trillion in cumulative on-chain loans, while advancing an institutional market on Ethereum and putting a funding plan for its core developer to a DAO vote.

Aave Labs chief executive Stani Kulechov disclosed the lending total on X. The protocol secures about $27.2 billion in total value locked, based on figures shared by the project, and has generated about $83.3 million in fees over the past 753 days, nearly four times the next closest lending rival by that measure.

The institutional push has centered on Aave Horizon, a permissioned market on Ethereum launched in August. It lets approved firms borrow stablecoins against tokenized real-world assets. Early participants include asset managers VanEck and WisdomTree and tokenization firm Securitize.

Governance is evaluating a package for Aave Labs that would grant up to $42.5 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE. In return, Aave Labs would direct all revenue from Aave-branded products to the DAO treasury under a DAO-funded operating model.

On Feb. 15, Kulechov outlined a plan to extend DeFi lending to tokenized “abundance assets,” citing solar generation, batteries for energy storage and robotics for labor, and estimated the combined value of those assets could reach $50 trillion by 2050.

Aave is among the largest DeFi lenders by deposits and active borrowing, alongside Morpho, JustLend, SparkLend, Maple, Kamin Lend and Compound Finance, each reporting more than $1 billion in total value locked. The protocol lets users earn interest on deposits and borrow against crypto collateral through overcollateralized loans.

The project started as ETHLend in 2017 and rebranded to Aave in 2018. The Aave DAO now sets key parameters and treasury allocations. The current vote highlights ongoing debate over funding and revenue control between Aave Labs and the community treasury.