Aave founder Stani Kulechov has rejected claims that the decentralized lending protocol could be sold at a steep discount, after a report linked Payward, Kraken’s parent company, to talks involving AAVE tokens.
His comments pushed back on the idea that Aave could be valued far below its current token-based market valuation.
Kulechov disputes discounted sale framing
The discussion followed claims that Payward had been negotiating to acquire a 15% equity stake in Aave for $385 million.
That pricing would value Aave at about 30% of AAVE’s fully diluted token valuation, which was near $1.32 billion, based on DefiLlama data cited during the debate.
“First off, there is NO WAY we’d sell AAVE at a 70% discount lol,” Kulechov said on X.
Kulechov did not fully deny that Aave Labs, the for-profit company behind the protocol’s development, could sell part of its AAVE token allocation.
He said several market participants had discussed buying AAVE, directly or indirectly, as part of a wider long-term partnership with Aave. However, he described the public framing of the matter as inaccurate.
The distinction matters because Aave Labs holds a separate AAVE allocation. A sale from that allocation would be a treasury transaction by the company, not a protocol-level sale by the Aave DAO.
Aave revenue strengthens valuation argument
Kulechov pointed to Aave’s revenue profile as a reason to reject any large discount. He said Aave generates about $134 million in annualized revenue and is preparing Aavenomics 3.0, which includes an automated and non-discretionary buyback mechanism.
Aave’s revenue approach was outlined through the Aave Will Win framework. That plan proposed sending revenue from Aave-branded products to the DAO treasury and setting a one-year development budget. The DAO later approved a $25 million stablecoin grant and 75,000 AAVE tokens for Aave Labs under the same framework.
DefiLlama showed AAVE trading near $82.49 when the debate emerged. The dashboard also tracks Aave’s total value locked, fees, revenue, active loans, and treasury metrics.
Governance tensions surround Aave
The Payward report comes as centralized exchanges and fintech firms seek exposure to DeFi infrastructure. Kraken and Aave already have a link through Ink, Kraken’s incubated Layer 2 network, which launched Tydro as a white-label version of Aave.
The timing is sensitive because Aave has faced governance disputes after the April Kelp DAO rsETH exploit. Aave was not the original target, but the attacker used unbacked rsETH as collateral, creating downstream lending risks.
Aave Chan Initiative, BGD Labs, and Chaos Labs have also moved away from DAO roles. Kulechov’s response aimed to reassure token holders that protocol value remains tied to Aave economics, rather than to discounted outside buyers or insiders.
