Stani Kulechov dismisses claims of cut-price AAVE sale to Kraken

Aave founder Stani Kulechov has rejected reports suggesting Aave would sell AAVE tokens to Kraken at a roughly 70% discount, while confirming that discussions around long-term strategic partnerships have taken place.

Earlier, a report claimed that Kraken is in advanced talks to invest 35,000 ETH in exchange for 250,000 AAVE tokens and a 15% equity stake in Aave Group. The reported transaction was valued at approximately $71 million and implied an Aave Group valuation of about $385 million.

Responding to the report, Kulechov argued that its framing did not accurately describe the discussions. He said there was “no way” Aave would sell AAVE tokens at a 70% discount. While disputing that characterization, he did not deny that negotiations with strategic partners have occurred.

Instead, Kulechov explained that Aave Labs holds an allocation of AAVE tokens that several market participants have expressed interest in purchasing as part of deeper, long-term partnerships. His comments drew a distinction between Aave Labs, which develops the protocol, and the Aave DAO, which governs the ecosystem and controls protocol economics.

Protocol revenue continues flowing to the DAO

Expanding on that structure, Kulechov said every dollar of revenue generated by the Aave Protocol and the GHO stablecoin accrues to AAVE through the Aave DAO. He added that the same arrangement now covers revenue from Aave App, Aave Pro, and swap-related products following the approval of the Aave Will Win governance proposal.

Under that framework, Aave Labs does not keep protocol or product revenue. Instead, the development company receives funding approved by the DAO to continue building the protocol.

Kulechov said Aave is currently generating approximately $134 million in annualized revenue, with those proceeds flowing to the DAO rather than the development company. He also stated that the Aave brand, protocol software, and other intellectual property created for the ecosystem now belong to AAVE under the updated governance model.

Separately, Kulechov revealed that the team is designing Aavenomics 3.0, which he said will introduce an automated, non-discretionary AAVE buyback mechanism. He did not disclose the launch timeline, funding source, or expected size of the program.

Aave already operates a buyback system funded by excess protocol revenue. Based on Kulechov’s comments, the proposed mechanism would automate purchases rather than relying on governance decisions for each buyback.

Tokenized assets remain central to Aave’s valuation case

Looking beyond governance, Kulechov said Aave is expanding its focus beyond crypto lending to include tokenized real-world assets and other financial products.

That strategy aligns with a recent assessment from crypto.news, which reported last week that Grayscale Research considers AAVE undervalued at current prices using a cash-flow model commonly applied to traditional financial companies.

Grayscale estimated Aave could generate roughly $60 million in revenue during 2026 and placed the token’s current fair value between $80 and $100 based on a 20x to 25x fintech earnings multiple.

According to Grayscale Research, a fair value of about $175 could become possible within a year if regulatory clarity accelerates the use of tokenized assets such as Treasury products, private credit, and money market funds as collateral in DeFi lending.

The research noted that the estimate is model-based rather than a guaranteed price target and depends on tokenized assets bringing additional deposits, borrowing activity, and fee generation to the protocol.

Following Kulechov’s comments, AAVE climbed to an intraday high of $87.50 before easing to around $82, while the token continued to receive support from Standard Chartered’s previously published $3,500 price target for the end of 2030.