The Fintech Blueprint

Forty Billion Reasons to Trust the Future of DeFi, with Aave Founder Stani Kulechov

May 30, 2025
Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of Aave, discusses the remarkable journey of decentralized finance (DeFi), highlighting Aave’s achievement of $40 billion in net deposits. He dives into the shift from peer-to-peer lending to pooled liquidity models and the emergence of real-world assets and stablecoins. Stani predicts that tokenized assets will surpass native crypto in value locked within five years. The chat also touches on how Aave is innovating to enhance capital efficiency and attract users in a rapidly evolving landscape.
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INSIGHT

Aave's Landmark DeFi Growth

  • Aave has reached $40 billion in net deposits, the largest TVL for any DeFi protocol ever.
  • Despite this, it is still only a small fraction of all financial value in the world.
ANECDOTE

Aave's Early Peer-to-Peer Model

  • Early Aave was a peer-to-peer lending model using blockchain smart contracts.
  • Users supplied collateral that others could fund directly, without pooled liquidity.
INSIGHT

Aave's Architecture Evolution

  • Aave evolved from peer-to-peer lending to pooled liquidity for better capital efficiency.
  • Their new hub-and-spoke design balances risk segregation and network effects to support native crypto and real-world assets.
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