Aave (AAVE) is a leading decentralized money market protocol where users can lend and borrow cryptocurrency across 20 different assets as collateral. Lenders can earn interest by providing li
Aave (AAVE) is a leading decentralized money market protocol where users can lend and borrow cryptocurrency across 20 different assets as collateral.
Lenders can earn interest by providing liquidity to the market, while borrowers can borrow by collateralizing their crypto assets to take out loans from the liquidity pools.
The protocol's native token, AAVE, is also a governance token that lets the community decide the direction of the protocol in a collective manner.
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AAVE surged during the decentralized finance (DeFi) boom around 2020-2021 and hit the all-time high (ATH) of $661.69 on May 18, 2021.
But as newer lending protocols entered the market and became popular, volume got distributed. Moreover, the users became more cautious of borrowing funds as the crypto market entered a bearish zone during the last few months.
The platform suffered a major setback in April 2026 when bad actors who hacked the KelpDAO esETH bridge used stolen tokens worth approximately $290 million as collateral to borrow real assets on Aave. The lending protocol lost up to $230 million during the crisis.
AAVE has lost more than 70% of its value in a year and was currently trading 88% lower than its ATH.
Standard Chartered's digital assets research head Geoff Kendrick has initiated coverage of Aave, predicting the token could hit $3,500 by 2030 as DeFi and real-world asset tokenization pick up steam, CoinDesk reported on June 24.
As AAVE is currently trading at $75, Kendrick's price target represents an upside of more than 5,000%.
Kendrick said the bank believes Aave has moved past the April incident and is well-poised to maintain its dominance in the DeFi lending market.
The analyst highlighted that Aave held roughly $75 billion in deposits at its peak in October 2025; the figure would have placed it among the 30 largest banks in the United States. He called the protocol an automated, blockchain-based bank operating without employees or discretionary decision-making.
Kendrick said he expects the value of active tokenized assets within the DeFi ecosystem to surge 37 times by the end of 2030.
As a leading lending protocol, Aave is bound to benefit from the potential surge, leading to the token's skyrocketing value, as per the analyst's prediction.
Despite the crypto market downturn, Kendrick expects prices to recover, with Aave among the biggest beneficiaries as capital flows back into DeFi.
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