Kulechov to Kraken: No 70% Fire Sale — Aave's Token Is the Treasure, Not the Garage 🏦

Aave founder Stani Kulechov pushed back on reporting that crypto exchange Kraken would acquire a 15% stake in Aave Group at a $385 million valuation, dismissing claims that the protocol would sell AAVE tokens at a steep discount. Kulechov confirmed only that outside parties had discussed purchasing an AAVE allocation currently held by Aave Labs, adding that any transaction would build on an existing partnership. In 2025, the Aave DAO voted 99.8% to license its code to Kraken's Ink network, which now operates a white-label lending market that shares revenue back to Aave.

According to the original report, the package would consist of 35,000 ETH (~$55M), 250,000 AAVE tokens ($20M), and a 15% common equity stake in Aave Group, totaling roughly $71 million. Aave Labs does not take any of the protocol's revenue, Kulechov said, with 100% of Aave Protocol and GHO revenue routed to $AAVE holders under the Aave Will Win framework. Aave is currently generating $134M in annualized revenue, which goes to the Aave DAO, he noted. Kulechov stated plainly: "there is NO WAY we'd sell AAVE at a 70% discount lol."

Kulechov also outlined upcoming changes, teasing Aavenomics 3.0, which would introduce a "new automated and non-discretionary buyback mechanism." That program would extend a discretionary buyback already authorized to repurchase up to $50 million of AAVE per year. AAVE traded near $82, up almost 5% over 24 hours following the remarks, and the token has rebounded more than 50% from a local bottom near $50 in late May, even as it remains down about 77% from its 2025 record of $386.

The talks land as Aave continues to recover from April's KelpDAO exploit, which left up to $230 million in bad debt after attackers borrowed against unbacked tokens. Although Aave's smart contracts were never breached, the fallout erased more than a third of its deposits, which now sit near $12 billion. Standard Chartered this week initiated coverage on AAVE with a Geoff Kendrick price target implying nearly 50 times upside by the end of the decade, which would put the token around $4,000 versus roughly $81 at the time of his note.

For Kraken parent Payward, a stake would extend an acquisition push ahead of a planned public listing. The exchange agreed earlier this year to acquire derivatives venue Bitnomial for up to $550 million, securing rare US derivatives licenses. Aave has scheduled a quarterly community call within weeks, where the status of any Kraken deal and the mechanics of Aavenomics 3.0 are likely to draw closer scrutiny.