Daily Crypto Briefs 
CASABLANCA, June 26, 2026
Aave founder Stani Kulechov rejected the idea that AAVE would be sold at a 70% discount after CoinDesk reported that Kraken parent Payward was discussing a 15% stake in the DeFi lender at a $385 million valuation, sending the token higher while bitcoin stayed below $60,000.
The dispute centers on what, if anything, Payward could buy: AAVE tokens, an equity stake in Aave Group, a strategic partnership, or some combination of those pieces. CoinDesk reported that the proposed transaction involved 35,000 ETH in return for 250,000 AAVE tokens and a 15% common equity stake in Aave Group.
Market data showed investors treating the denial as more than a governance footnote. Investing.com data showed AAVE near $89.07 on June 26, up 9.95% in real time, after closing at $86.96 earlier in the session. The same table showed AAVE at $85.71 on May 26, $60.97 on June 6 and $82.41 on June 25.
Aave
AAVEKulechov wrote on X that there was “NO WAY we’d sell AAVE at a 70% discount” and said an Aave Labs allocation has been discussed by market participants through deeper long-term partnerships. The Defiant reported that he also said the report’s framing was inaccurate.
The valuation clash follows a difficult spring for the protocol. Aave was not hacked, but the KelpDAO rsETH exploit triggered heavy withdrawals, emergency coordination and a broader debate over how DeFi lenders manage collateral that depends on bridges, restaking and outside issuers.
The practical signal is ownership clarity. Aave’s token, DAO treasury, product revenue, software brand and any corporate equity are not the same asset, and a strategic buyer can value each piece differently.
What remains unknown is whether Payward will pursue a formal deal after Kulechov’s response, whether another strategic investor is involved, and how the Aave DAO would treat any transaction that touches tokens held by Aave Labs.
Kraken Deal Puts Aave Valuation In Dispute
CoinDesk reported that Kraken was evaluating the Aave investment as the first in a series of deals tied to Payward Asset Management. The reported structure would value Aave at $385 million while giving Payward exposure to tokens and common equity.
That number is what made the story explosive. CoinDesk and The Defiant both noted that the valuation was far below AAVE’s public token market value, while Kulechov’s response made clear that the public token economics cannot be treated as a simple private-company sale.
Kraken has already been expanding beyond its spot exchange. Daily Crypto Briefs covered its move to bring CFTC-regulated U.S. perpetual futures into Kraken Pro through Bitnomial, and its later push to put 2,500 Solana tokens inside a familiar app interface.
Aave would fit the same strategic direction, but on the lending side. A stake or partnership could give Payward closer exposure to DeFi credit infrastructure at a time when centralized exchanges are trying to package onchain products for larger client bases.
No binding agreement has been announced. CoinDesk said a Kraken spokesperson declined to comment, and Aave did not respond to its request before publication.
Aave Revenue Pushes Back Against Discount
Kulechov’s response leaned on Aave’s economics. He said 100% of protocol, GHO and product revenue goes to the AAVE token, according to The Defiant’s summary of his post.
The governance backdrop supports why that claim matters. In the Aave Will Win framework, Aave Labs proposed that fees from Aave-branded products should flow to the DAO treasury rather than remain with Aave Labs, while the DAO would fund Aave Labs operations through a $25 million stablecoin grant and 75,000 AAVE token allocation.
The proposal also described product milestones tied to Aave App, Aave Pro and Aave Card. That is important because the reported Payward talks are not only about a lending smart contract. They sit around a wider product stack that includes consumer access, professional tools and future revenue surfaces.
DefiLlama showed Aave with about $12.4 billion in total value locked on June 26, led by $10.126 billion on Ethereum, $651.16 million on Plasma, $378.02 million on Arbitrum and $365.16 million on Base. Its key metrics page showed annualized fees near $933.8 million, 30-day fees of $40.93 million and 24-hour fees of $1.35 million.
On DefiLlama’s protocol fees ranking, Aave sat inside the top dozen by 24-hour fees, below Uniswap, Ethena, Lido and Sky but still among the larger revenue-generating DeFi protocols. That is a useful peer comparison because Morpho’s recent $175 million DeFi credit raise showed that investors are still willing to fund lending infrastructure when the revenue and distribution case is clear.
KelpDAO Run Still Hangs Over DeFi
The discount debate is sharper because it comes after Aave’s most stressful episode of 2026. CoinDesk previously reported that the KelpDAO bridge exploit triggered an $8.45 billion, 48-hour deposit run on Aave, while Galaxy Research said Aave absorbed the largest part of a broader DeFi outflow after the incident.
That episode exposed a weakness that was not a simple Aave smart-contract bug. The problem started with a restaked ether asset and bridge-related backing risk, then moved through Aave because those tokens had been used as collateral.
The recovery has become part of the investment case. Bulls can argue that Aave survived a bank-run-style stress event and still has more than $12 billion in TVL. Skeptics can argue that the episode proved the protocol depends on emergency coordination, outside issuers and DAO decisions when collateral assumptions break.
That is the broader DeFi question for 2026. Our guide to U.S. crypto regulation and DeFi policy notes that lawmakers are trying to define when software, front ends, issuers and intermediaries become responsible actors. Aave’s structure puts that question in market terms: who owns the risk, who earns the revenue and who can sell what to a strategic buyer?
Fear & Greed Index
June 26, 2026The next catalyst is a formal proposal, denial or updated Aavenomics 3.0 plan. Until then, the confirmed facts are narrower than the headlines: Payward talks were reported, Kulechov rejected the discount-sale framing, AAVE rallied into the response, and Aave’s revenue design is now central to how investors read any strategic deal.
Stay up to date
Get the latest crypto insights delivered to your inbox
Primary sources and further reading
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| | Stani Kulechov on X: Aave response |
| | CoinDesk: Kraken in talks to buy Aave stake |
| | Aave Governance: Aave Will Win Framework |
| | DefiLlama: Aave TVL, fees and revenue |
| | DefiLlama: Protocol fees rankings |
| | Investing.com: AAVE historical data |
| | The Defiant: Kulechov disputes reported Aave discount |
| | Galaxy Research: KelpDAO and LayerZero exploit analysis |
| | Binance: Crypto Fear and Greed Index |
Fact-checked by: Daily Crypto Briefs Fact-Check Desk
Related Articles
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Kraken reportedly discuss with Aave?
CoinDesk reported that Kraken parent Payward was in talks to invest 35,000 ETH for 250,000 AAVE tokens and a 15% common equity stake in Aave Group, valuing the company at $385 million.
Did Aave agree to sell AAVE at a 70% discount?
No sale was announced. Stani Kulechov said there was no way Aave would sell AAVE at a 70% discount and said the report's framing was inaccurate.
Why did the reported Aave valuation draw attention?
The reported $385 million valuation was far below AAVE's public token market value, raising questions about what was being valued, whether tokens were involved and how Aave Labs, Aave Group and the DAO relate to one another.
How large is Aave now?
DefiLlama showed Aave with about $12.4 billion in total value locked, roughly $40.9 million in 30-day fees and about $1.35 million in 24-hour fees on June 26, 2026.
What should AAVE holders watch next?
The next signals are whether any Payward or other strategic deal is formally proposed, whether Aavenomics 3.0 automates buybacks and how the DAO handles product revenue and Aave Labs funding.