Aave is a decentralized finance protocol for borrowing and lending, where users can participate as depositors or borrowers. Depositors provide liquidity to the market to earn a passive income, while borrowers are able to borrow in an overcollateralized (perpetually) or undercollateralized (one-block liquidity) fashion. AAVE is used as the center of gravity of Aave Protocol governance, allowing users to vote and decide on the outcome of Aave Improvement Proposals (AIPs). Additionally, AAVE can be staked within the protocol's Safety Module to provide security/insurance to the protocol and depositors. Stakers earn staking rewards and fees from the protocol.
Aave 创始人 Stani 表示,近期对 Aave 上低采用率资产及网络的逐步收缩,不应被解读为对任何 L1 或 L2 的立场判断。此举主要是为了降低 Aave 在运营、技术及经济层面的风险敞口,从而将资源集中于更具影响力的重点方向,包括扩大现有高价值市场以及拓展证券融资业务。
DeSci protocol Bio Protocol has announced the launch of OpenLabs, positioning it as a coordination layer for human-agent collaboration in scientific research, aimed at transforming scientific ideas into funded execution projects. OpenLabs comprises five interconnected layers: Posts & Discovery, Projects, Agent Collaboration, Web3 Incentive Layer, and a Bounty System. Regarding incentives, OpenLabs plans to adopt a USDC yield-based funding mechanism to finance agent reasoning and tool usage. Users can deposit USDC and select projects to support; funds are allocated to audited yield vaults such as Morpho and Aave. The generated yield flows to projects for computation, queries, and simulations, while the principal assumes no risk. When a project reaches the stage requiring real capital, it can issue tokens via the Bio launchpad or pursue private fundraising and follow the traditional biotech path.
Ripple is advancing the addition of a lending infrastructure layer on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), enabling institutions to raise funds using on-chain tokenized assets as collateral. The protocol will automatically execute loan terms, while credit evaluation and lending decisions remain handled by off-chain institutions.According to disclosures, the proposal is named the XRPL Lending Protocol (corresponding to XLS-65 and XLS-66 standards). It is currently in the technical draft stage and will require approval through validator voting before launching on the mainnet, but developer testing has already been opened on the test network.The protocol’s design splits the lending process into two parts: on-chain management of liquidity pools, interest calculation, repayment execution, and default handling; while borrower credit assessment and loan term setting remain with traditional financial institutions to meet compliance requirements across different jurisdictions.Ripple states that the mechanism is primarily aimed at institutional short-term liquidity needs. For example, in cross-border payment scenarios, temporary financing through stablecoins or collateral assets can be obtained before settlement is completed, thereby improving capital efficiency.Analysts believe that while the plan attempts to introduce a “rule-enforced lending infrastructure” similar to traditional finance while maintaining XRPL's open network attributes, it will still face competition from established on-chain lending protocols such as Aave, Compound, and Maple. (CoinDesk)
Kraken 正洽谈以 3.85 亿美元估值收购 DeFi 借贷协议 Aave 的 15% 股份,投资额约 7100 万美元。此次投资是 Payward 为潜在 IPO 推进多元化布局的一部分。
Odaily Odaily: In response to recent community discussions, the Aave CEO issued a statement clarifying that Aave will never sell AAVE tokens at a 70% discount.According to the "Aave Will Win (AWW)" proposal, 100% of the revenue generated by the Aave protocol and the GHO stablecoin belongs to AAVE token holders. This principle also applies to all product revenues, including Aave App, Aave Pro, and Swaps. As a service provider for Aave DAO, Aave Labs is solely responsible for protocol development and expansion and does not receive any protocol or product revenue.The Aave CEO revealed that Aave's current annualized revenue has reached $134 million, all of which belongs to Aave DAO. Additionally, the Aave brand and related software intellectual property rights belong to AAVE.Furthermore, the team is designing Aavenomics 3.0, which plans to introduce a new, automated, non-discretionary buyback mechanism. More details will be announced later. He stated that Aave's goal is not only to serve the crypto market but also the entire financial asset market, including Real World Assets (RWA).
Aave founder Stani Kulechov has responded to reports suggesting Kraken's parent company Payward is interested in acquiring a 15% stake in the Aave protocol, stating that AAVE is "not going to be sold at a 70% discount."Prior reports from CoinDesk indicated that Payward was in talks to acquire a 15% stake in Aave at a valuation of $385 million. If calculated at this valuation, it would represent only approximately 30% of AAVE's fully diluted valuation, significantly below the market valuation.In a post on X, Kulechov stated that the relevant reports were not entirely accurate. He did not completely deny the possibility of Aave Labs selling a portion of its held AAVE tokens, but noted that Aave Labs does have a certain allocation of AAVE, and that multiple market participants have discussed purchasing either directly or indirectly, or engaging in deeper collaboration centered around long-term partnerships.Aave is the largest decentralized lending protocol on the Ethereum ecosystem. Kulechov stated that Aave currently generates an annualized revenue of approximately $134 million, with the relevant revenue flowing to the Aave DAO. He has also previously proposed a governance plan to redirect revenue from Aave Labs, the protocol, and its products to the Aave DAO and token holders.These rumors emerge at a time when Aave is experiencing certain pressures. Following the Kelp DAO incident in April, Aave's TVL saw a significant decline. Although Aave itself was not directly attacked, the KelpDAO cross-chain bridge attacker utilized Aave to convert the stolen rsETH into other assets.
Odaily News: Andre Cronje, founder of DeFi platform Flying Tulip and creator of Fantom Network, stated that most DeFi protocols are no longer truly decentralized, with only a few niche areas still qualifying as DeFi. He believes DeFi has evolved into "on-chain finance" or "open finance." He pointed out that true DeFi should possess characteristics such as decentralization, immutability, and the absence of intermediaries, whereas the intermediaries in most current protocols have become corporations, taking on traditional financial institution roles such as decision-makers and risk committees. Cronje noted that this does not mean true DeFi has completely disappeared, as some protocols are still innovating. Data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has dropped from $167 billion in early October 2025 to $75 billion at the time of the original report over the past 10 months, a decline of more than half. In a working paper published in March, the European Central Bank (ECB) analyzed Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap, finding that based on holding snapshots from November 2022 and May 2023, the top 100 addresses holding governance tokens in these protocols each controlled over 80% of the token supply. The ECB consequently questioned the level of decentralization of these DAOs and whether they should continue to be regarded as "fully decentralized" services exempt from the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News - Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-8363 ("Tapered Issuance Burn") has triggered strong backlash from the community, becoming one of the most contentious debates over Ethereum's economic model since The Merge. The proposal, put forward by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake, ETHCC co-founder Jerome de Tychey, and others, aims to gradually reduce validator rewards as the ETH staking ratio rises, ultimately bringing new issuance down to zero when staked ETH reaches 50% of the total supply.However, the proposal has drawn opposition from DeFi developers, staking service providers, and institutional investors alike. Critics argue that lowering staking yields could weaken the network's decentralization, disrupt Ethereum's DeFi ecosystem, and heighten market uncertainty around ETH's monetary policy. Opponents believe market mechanisms can already naturally regulate staking demand. Berryman noted that as yields decline to around 2%, new staking demand may naturally taper off, without the need for protocol-level changes to issuance policy.Ether.fi founder Mike Silagadze stated that the proposal is "detrimental to decentralization, Ethereum adoption, and the network's reputation." Bitwise Ethereum business lead Steve Berryman also pointed out that institutional investors require policy certainty, and adjusting the issuance mechanism could introduce additional uncertainty. Greg Koumoutsos, technical research lead at the Lido Labs Foundation, noted that Ethereum pays not only in "slashable ETH" but also in decentralization, node diversity, censorship resistance, and network resilience. Aave founder Stani Kulechov also warned that reducing ETH staking yields could impact the DeFi ecosystem, as a large volume of staking derivatives has become an integral part of lending and yield strategies.Additionally, the community is concerned that lowering staking rewards could paradoxically intensify centralization. Since individual validators lack economies of scale, declining yields may drive smaller nodes to exit, while large exchanges and institutional staking providers—backed by greater business demand—could continue expanding their market share.Currently, EIP-8363 involves not only staking reward adjustments but has also sparked broad discussions over Ethereum's long-term monetary policy, governance stability, and institutional confidence. The community believes that such a significant change to the economic model requires more thorough debate and a longer evaluation period. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News: Aave founder Stani Kulechov published a lengthy post stating that Ethereum's EIP-8361 progressive issuance burn proposal has systemic issues. The proposal aims to gradually burn consensus layer issuance rewards, reducing the net staking yield to zero when the total amount of staked ETH reaches 60.25 million, approximately 50% of the total supply. Stani Kulechov believes that the second-order ripple effects of this proposal have not been fully modeled and could damage the foundations of the Ethereum ecosystem across multiple dimensions. He stated that a zero-yield mechanism may exacerbate staking centralization, with home validators being the first to exit due to fixed costs such as hardware and electricity, while non-yield-driven entities like ETF issuers, exchanges, and corporate treasury funds will remain. MEV rewards, which are unaffected by the proposal, would also expand the advantages of top professional operators. He also noted that individual stakers could face tax and operational risks. If tax authorities calculate taxes based on the full issuance amount and classify the burned portion as a capital loss, home node operators could experience after-tax losses. With penalty standards for faults remaining unchanged, the node recovery period after a fault could be extended by up to 14 times as net yields decline. Stani Kulechov stated that staking yields serve as the pricing benchmark for on-chain ETH interest rates. A decline in yields could cause DeFi lending and fixed-income markets to lose their pricing anchor, potentially driving on-chain capital toward stablecoins offering 4% to 5% annual returns. For institutional investors, predictable yields are a core competitive advantage of ETH relative to BTC. If yields fall to zero while volatility increases, ETH's differentiation in the store-of-value track would diminish. He also pointed out that after the proposal is implemented, MEV's share of total validator revenue could rise from the current 7% to nearly 30%, potentially incentivizing operators to prioritize relay nodes that support censorship, thereby weakening Ethereum's credible neutrality. If an MEV burn mechanism is subsequently added, validator revenue could be nearly eliminated. Stani Kulechov suggested that the proposal's authors release after-tax yield assessments for individual node operators, tax opinions from major jurisdictions, and cascade risk models for the DeFi ecosystem, while setting a non-zero net yield floor. He believes that staking centralization should be addressed directly with targeted measures, rather than by suppressing validator yields across the board.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov posted on platform X, stating that now more than ever, the industry needs to build consensus and do everything possible to ensure the smooth passage of the U.S. CLARITY Act.Stani stated that although the CLARITY Act is not perfect and many details still need to be formulated by regulatory agencies in the future, the bill will become the first regulatory legislation involving decentralized finance (DeFi). It will provide a clear legal framework and regulatory certainty for institutions, fintech companies, and banks to participate in on-chain finance. Once the CLARITY Act is officially passed, its driving effect on the on-chain finance ecosystem is expected to be similar to the development opportunities the GENIUS Act previously brought to the stablecoin industry, attracting more investment and institutional capital into the on-chain space.Stani added that over the past year, and especially in recent weeks and days, the Aave team has been in close communication with relevant policymakers in Washington, D.C., USA. He stated that they have now entered the "last mile" of pushing for the bill's enactment, a phase that is critically important.
Ripple is advancing the addition of a lending infrastructure layer on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), enabling institutions to raise funds using on-chain tokenized assets as collateral. The protocol will automatically execute loan terms, while credit evaluation and lending decisions remain handled by off-chain institutions.According to disclosures, the proposal is named the XRPL Lending Protocol (corresponding to XLS-65 and XLS-66 standards). It is currently in the technical draft stage and will require approval through validator voting before launching on the mainnet, but developer testing has already been opened on the test network.The protocol’s design splits the lending process into two parts: on-chain management of liquidity pools, interest calculation, repayment execution, and default handling; while borrower credit assessment and loan term setting remain with traditional financial institutions to meet compliance requirements across different jurisdictions.Ripple states that the mechanism is primarily aimed at institutional short-term liquidity needs. For example, in cross-border payment scenarios, temporary financing through stablecoins or collateral assets can be obtained before settlement is completed, thereby improving capital efficiency.Analysts believe that while the plan attempts to introduce a “rule-enforced lending infrastructure” similar to traditional finance while maintaining XRPL's open network attributes, it will still face competition from established on-chain lending protocols such as Aave, Compound, and Maple. (CoinDesk)
Aave has published a post-mortem of the April 18 rsETH incident, stating that the rsETH LayerZero V2 cross-chain bridge of liquid staking protocol Kelp accepted a forged message during a cross-chain transfer from Unichain to Ethereum. This caused the adapter on the Ethereum side to release 116,500 rsETH without a corresponding burn on the Unichain side. Aave stated that the attack occurred on a third-party cross-chain bridge infrastructure. However, the attacker deposited the stolen rsETH into 8 Aave V3 positions, borrowing 82,650 WETH and 821 wstETH, which impacted the Aave market.Aave stated that the attacker's rsETH on Arbitrum has now been burned. The LayerZero OFT adapter has replenished 116,131.72 rsETH in 5 batches, and the asset backing for rsETH has been fully restored. The affected WETH and rsETH markets have returned to normal.
Odaily News: According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale, after a 3-month period of inactivity, staked 4,000 ETH through Lido 2 hours ago, valued at approximately $7.68 million, and received 4,000 stETH in return. Previously, this address had supplied 1.216 million USDC, worth approximately $1.22 million, to Aave.
According to monitoring by on-chain analyst Ember, an address suspected to be linked to Amber Group (0x2a79...51b) withdrew multiple tokens worth $9.97 million from Binance 5 hours ago, including 38.89 million ENA, worth $3.58 million; 28,262 AAVE, worth $2.52 million; 1,140 ETH, worth $2.18 million; 2,017 BNB, worth $1.2 million; and 59,202 LINK, worth $490,000.
Aave-Chan Initiative(ACI)创始人及 Aave 生态治理贡献者 Marc Zeller 在宣布 ACI 项目结束运营后,有社区用户询问其是否仍持有 AAVE 代币还是已抛售,对此 Marc Zeller 回应表示,他在从 Chaos Labs 辞职时已清仓 AAVE(可能还持有非常少数量“尘埃级”的代币)。 此前消息,Marc Zeller 宣布 ACI 为期三年多的治理工作已结束,新项目预计将很快公布,在参与治理期间 Aave 协议从每年约 3500 万美元的赤字转变为年收入约 1.5 亿美元,AAVE 代币同期上涨约 9 倍。
According to monitoring by on-chain analyst Ember, investment institution ParaFi Capital (0x5028...4Db6) withdrew 56 million SKY (worth $2.98 million) from Coinbase Prime an hour ago. In early March, when AAVE was priced at $124, they swapped 42,500 AAVE for 70 million SKY. Currently, they hold a total of 126 million SKY, valued at $6.64 million, with an average entry price of approximately $0.066, resulting in an unrealized loss of $1.72 million.
据链上分析师 Onchain Lens(@OnchainLens)监测,随着 LIT 价格突破 2 美元,知名链上交易员 mk4(@mk4_lul)持有的 LIT 5 倍多头头寸浮动盈利已超 355 万美元。其同时持有 BTC、AAVE、WLD、XPL、MU、黄金及白银的多空头寸,整体浮动利润约 400 万美元,累计总利润已逼近 4100 万美元。
Odaily Aave, a DeFi lending protocol, successfully maintained operations after experiencing capital outflows totaling approximately $8.45 billion. However, the incident has simultaneously triggered renewed market discussion regarding its risk structure and the fragility of the DeFi system.This stress event originated from a vulnerability exploit on the KelpDAO rsETH cross-chain bridge in April 2026, resulting in the theft of approximately $292 million in assets. This triggered market concerns over the safety of rsETH collateral. As this asset was widely used as collateral on Aave, panic spread rapidly, leading to concentrated withdrawals by users.During the capital outflow process, liquidity in certain lending markets was quickly depleted, with utilization rates briefly approaching 100%. Aave managed the situation by adjusting risk parameters and activating emergency mechanisms, although localized withdrawal restrictions did occur.Nevertheless, Aave's core smart contracts were not compromised. Protocol founder Stani Kulechov stated that the event validated the system's stability and resilience under extreme stress conditions.However, analysts pointed out that this incident exposed structural risks within DeFi: high coupling of assets across protocols, reliance on external bridged assets for collateral, and the potential for liquidity to rapidly evaporate in extreme scenarios.Industry observers believe that while DeFi's "composability" enhances efficiency, it also accelerates risk transmission, potentially causing a single asset event to trigger systemic cascading effects. Although Aave successfully navigated this stress test, the outcome does not equate to the elimination of risk.Overall, this event is viewed as a genuine extreme stress test for the DeFi lending system: the system can function, but its stability remains highly dependent on the quality of external assets and the market liquidity environment. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News: Standard Chartered initiated coverage on Monday of blockchain oracle project Chainlink, projecting LINK to reach $200 by the end of 2030 — roughly 25 times its current price of around $8. The bank's phased targets are $13 by the end of this year, followed by $41, $82, and $133. Standard Chartered estimates that the on-chain tokenized asset market will reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, with DeFi-deployed assets hitting $2.7 trillion by 2030 — a 37-fold increase from current levels. The bank expects Chainlink fees to grow approximately 25-fold over the same period, assuming token prices track fee growth. Chainlink secures over $110 billion in total value, covering approximately 70% of the value that global DeFi relies on from oracles, with a share exceeding 80% on Ethereum; Aave V3 accounts for 44% of that. Swift, DTCC, Euroclear, JPMorgan, Mastercard, UBS, Fidelity, and S&P Global are all listed as institutions using its services. Chainlink still lags behind LayerZero in cross-chain interoperability. Following the $292 million attack in April, over $7 billion in token value has migrated to Chainlink CCIP, with second-quarter transaction volume reaching $4.9 billion — up 353% year-over-year. Risks include slowing institutional tokenization, pilots not converting to production processes, and technical failures impacting confidence. (Decrypt)
Aave founder Stani Kulechov has responded to reports suggesting Kraken's parent company Payward is interested in acquiring a 15% stake in the Aave protocol, stating that AAVE is "not going to be sold at a 70% discount."Prior reports from CoinDesk indicated that Payward was in talks to acquire a 15% stake in Aave at a valuation of $385 million. If calculated at this valuation, it would represent only approximately 30% of AAVE's fully diluted valuation, significantly below the market valuation.In a post on X, Kulechov stated that the relevant reports were not entirely accurate. He did not completely deny the possibility of Aave Labs selling a portion of its held AAVE tokens, but noted that Aave Labs does have a certain allocation of AAVE, and that multiple market participants have discussed purchasing either directly or indirectly, or engaging in deeper collaboration centered around long-term partnerships.Aave is the largest decentralized lending protocol on the Ethereum ecosystem. Kulechov stated that Aave currently generates an annualized revenue of approximately $134 million, with the relevant revenue flowing to the Aave DAO. He has also previously proposed a governance plan to redirect revenue from Aave Labs, the protocol, and its products to the Aave DAO and token holders.These rumors emerge at a time when Aave is experiencing certain pressures. Following the Kelp DAO incident in April, Aave's TVL saw a significant decline. Although Aave itself was not directly attacked, the KelpDAO cross-chain bridge attacker utilized Aave to convert the stolen rsETH into other assets.
According to CoinDesk, Geoff Kendrick, Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered Bank, released a report initiating coverage of the decentralized lending protocol Aave, with a target price of $3,500 by end-2030—approximately 50 times its current price of around $70—and expects Aave to outperform both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Kendrick stated that Aave has recovered from the April 2026 KelpDAO rsETH bridge vulnerability incident, during which attackers used approximately $290 million worth of stolen tokens as collateral to borrow real assets on Aave, exposing the protocol to up to $230 million in potential losses. Assets have now begun flowing back onto the platform, and Aave’s dominant position in on-chain lending remains solid. Looking ahead, Standard Chartered forecasts that the value of tokenized assets actively used in DeFi applications will grow 37-fold by 2030. Aave—whose revenue model is directly tied to lending activity—is poised to benefit directly. Additionally, Aave’s Horizon initiative (enabling tokenized real-world asset lending in permissioned environments) and the potential relaunch of its token buyback program are viewed as key catalysts.
Odaily Aave, a DeFi lending protocol, successfully maintained operations after experiencing capital outflows totaling approximately $8.45 billion. However, the incident has simultaneously triggered renewed market discussion regarding its risk structure and the fragility of the DeFi system.This stress event originated from a vulnerability exploit on the KelpDAO rsETH cross-chain bridge in April 2026, resulting in the theft of approximately $292 million in assets. This triggered market concerns over the safety of rsETH collateral. As this asset was widely used as collateral on Aave, panic spread rapidly, leading to concentrated withdrawals by users.During the capital outflow process, liquidity in certain lending markets was quickly depleted, with utilization rates briefly approaching 100%. Aave managed the situation by adjusting risk parameters and activating emergency mechanisms, although localized withdrawal restrictions did occur.Nevertheless, Aave's core smart contracts were not compromised. Protocol founder Stani Kulechov stated that the event validated the system's stability and resilience under extreme stress conditions.However, analysts pointed out that this incident exposed structural risks within DeFi: high coupling of assets across protocols, reliance on external bridged assets for collateral, and the potential for liquidity to rapidly evaporate in extreme scenarios.Industry observers believe that while DeFi's "composability" enhances efficiency, it also accelerates risk transmission, potentially causing a single asset event to trigger systemic cascading effects. Although Aave successfully navigated this stress test, the outcome does not equate to the elimination of risk.Overall, this event is viewed as a genuine extreme stress test for the DeFi lending system: the system can function, but its stability remains highly dependent on the quality of external assets and the market liquidity environment. (Cointelegraph)
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin (@EmberCN), the attacker responsible for the March THE liquidation event on the Venus platform sold 1,912 ETH for $3.26 million one hour ago to repay part of their loan on Aave. That loan was originally taken out by collateralizing ETH and was used to manipulate the Venus liquidations. The attacker’s address still has $6.78 million in USDT outstanding on Aave.
in April this year, KelpDAO's LayerZero bridge was exploited in a $292 million vulnerability attack, triggering an $8.45 billion deposit run on Aave within 48 hours, marking the largest capital outflow event in decentralized finance (DeFi) history. Aave founder Stani Kulechov stated that the design of Aave V3 withstood the market test, demonstrating the network's "resilience." However, independent data indicates that Aave's survival primarily relied on $300 million in emergency rescue, including a 25,000 ETH guarantee from the Aave DAO and a personal injection of 5,000 ETH (approximately $8.4 million) by Kulechov.Kulechov attributed the vulnerability to third-party infrastructure rather than core smart contracts. However, analysts pointed out that this incident exposed deficiencies in Aave's risk architecture and insurance mechanisms, leading the platform to incur significant bad debt (approximately $123.7 million in wETH). To prevent future bridge failures from triggering systemic bank runs, Aave V4 will adopt a modular "hub-and-spoke" architecture, enabling local risk auto-adjustment and collateral freezing. (CoinDesk)
Odaily News: ether.fi announced that EtherFi Cash's existing lending infrastructure can no longer meet development demands. It is currently deploying a dedicated Aave V4 instance on the Optimism chain to support its credit card backend. EtherFi Cash currently has $22 million in active borrowings, and its lending capacity is expected to reach $500 million by 2027. Already, 70,000 cardholders are using cryptocurrency for spending without needing to sell their crypto holdings.
Decentralized finance platform Ether.fi announced that its self-custody app has added trading for tokenized stocks, metals, and crypto assets, along with the ability to borrow against multiple holdings as collateral. Users can lend assets or borrow against a portfolio through the integrated Aave market on Optimism, allowing them to transfer or spend borrowed funds without selling their positions. Ether.fi stated that its fiat accounts support global deposits and withdrawals across more than 30 currencies and payment methods. However, tokenized stock and metal trading is not available to users in the United States and certain other markets. Fiat accounts are only open to users who have completed payment card identity verification, and deposit and withdrawal speeds may vary. Ether.fi will also introduce automatic ETHFI buybacks and offer 3% cashback on card spending. Ether.fi founder and CEO Mike Silagadze said that initial support will cover Ethereum, Bitcoin, Hyperliquid, ETHFI, and select tokenized stocks and gold, with additional collateral assets to be added later. (Decrypt)
Odaily News: Andre Cronje, founder of DeFi platform Flying Tulip and creator of Fantom Network, stated that most DeFi protocols are no longer truly decentralized, with only a few niche areas still qualifying as DeFi. He believes DeFi has evolved into "on-chain finance" or "open finance." He pointed out that true DeFi should possess characteristics such as decentralization, immutability, and the absence of intermediaries, whereas the intermediaries in most current protocols have become corporations, taking on traditional financial institution roles such as decision-makers and risk committees. Cronje noted that this does not mean true DeFi has completely disappeared, as some protocols are still innovating. Data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has dropped from $167 billion in early October 2025 to $75 billion at the time of the original report over the past 10 months, a decline of more than half. In a working paper published in March, the European Central Bank (ECB) analyzed Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap, finding that based on holding snapshots from November 2022 and May 2023, the top 100 addresses holding governance tokens in these protocols each controlled over 80% of the token supply. The ECB consequently questioned the level of decentralization of these DAOs and whether they should continue to be regarded as "fully decentralized" services exempt from the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News: Pendle announced on X that Aave V4 has added support for PT Looping on Pendle. Users can participate in the PT-USDG loop lending strategy from the Global Dollar Network. Aave V4's interest rates are priced based on aggregate utilization across the entire hub, so looping operations will not drive up its own rates.
Odaily News: Standard Chartered initiated coverage on Monday of blockchain oracle project Chainlink, projecting LINK to reach $200 by the end of 2030 — roughly 25 times its current price of around $8. The bank's phased targets are $13 by the end of this year, followed by $41, $82, and $133. Standard Chartered estimates that the on-chain tokenized asset market will reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, with DeFi-deployed assets hitting $2.7 trillion by 2030 — a 37-fold increase from current levels. The bank expects Chainlink fees to grow approximately 25-fold over the same period, assuming token prices track fee growth. Chainlink secures over $110 billion in total value, covering approximately 70% of the value that global DeFi relies on from oracles, with a share exceeding 80% on Ethereum; Aave V3 accounts for 44% of that. Swift, DTCC, Euroclear, JPMorgan, Mastercard, UBS, Fidelity, and S&P Global are all listed as institutions using its services. Chainlink still lags behind LayerZero in cross-chain interoperability. Following the $292 million attack in April, over $7 billion in token value has migrated to Chainlink CCIP, with second-quarter transaction volume reaching $4.9 billion — up 353% year-over-year. Risks include slowing institutional tokenization, pilots not converting to production processes, and technical failures impacting confidence. (Decrypt)
Odaily News: Ethereum developers have proposed a "Tapered Issuance Burn" mechanism, which plans to gradually burn a portion of validators' idealized duty rewards as the ETH staking ratio rises; when the staked amount approaches 50% of the total supply, ETH net issuance will drop to 0%. The proposal's author stated that the ETH staking ratio has already exceeded one-third of the total supply as of April; without adjustments, Jerome de Tychey noted that by January 2028, the staked amount could exceed 70 million ETH, representing over 55% of the supply. Supporters argue that excessive staking could first render small independent validators economically unviable, leading to staking concentration among custodians and large service providers; the proposal is planned to be implemented over an 18-month period, with an additional preparation window of approximately 6 months reserved before any potential network upgrade. Stani Kulechov, founder of lending protocol Aave, stated that once the staking ratio exceeds 50% and rewards drop to 0%, yield uncertainty could weaken institutional staking and DeFi demand. He noted that ETH lending strategies may be affected, and the proposal remains in its early stages. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: ether.fi announced that EtherFi Cash's existing lending infrastructure can no longer meet development demands. It is currently deploying a dedicated Aave V4 instance on the Optimism chain to support its credit card backend. EtherFi Cash currently has $22 million in active borrowings, and its lending capacity is expected to reach $500 million by 2027. Already, 70,000 cardholders are using cryptocurrency for spending without needing to sell their crypto holdings.
Decentralized finance platform Ether.fi announced that its self-custody app has added trading for tokenized stocks, metals, and crypto assets, along with the ability to borrow against multiple holdings as collateral. Users can lend assets or borrow against a portfolio through the integrated Aave market on Optimism, allowing them to transfer or spend borrowed funds without selling their positions. Ether.fi stated that its fiat accounts support global deposits and withdrawals across more than 30 currencies and payment methods. However, tokenized stock and metal trading is not available to users in the United States and certain other markets. Fiat accounts are only open to users who have completed payment card identity verification, and deposit and withdrawal speeds may vary. Ether.fi will also introduce automatic ETHFI buybacks and offer 3% cashback on card spending. Ether.fi founder and CEO Mike Silagadze said that initial support will cover Ethereum, Bitcoin, Hyperliquid, ETHFI, and select tokenized stocks and gold, with additional collateral assets to be added later. (Decrypt)
Odaily News: Andre Cronje, founder of DeFi platform Flying Tulip and creator of Fantom Network, stated that most DeFi protocols are no longer truly decentralized, with only a few niche areas still qualifying as DeFi. He believes DeFi has evolved into "on-chain finance" or "open finance." He pointed out that true DeFi should possess characteristics such as decentralization, immutability, and the absence of intermediaries, whereas the intermediaries in most current protocols have become corporations, taking on traditional financial institution roles such as decision-makers and risk committees. Cronje noted that this does not mean true DeFi has completely disappeared, as some protocols are still innovating. Data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has dropped from $167 billion in early October 2025 to $75 billion at the time of the original report over the past 10 months, a decline of more than half. In a working paper published in March, the European Central Bank (ECB) analyzed Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap, finding that based on holding snapshots from November 2022 and May 2023, the top 100 addresses holding governance tokens in these protocols each controlled over 80% of the token supply. The ECB consequently questioned the level of decentralization of these DAOs and whether they should continue to be regarded as "fully decentralized" services exempt from the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News: Pendle announced on X that Aave V4 has added support for PT Looping on Pendle. Users can participate in the PT-USDG loop lending strategy from the Global Dollar Network. Aave V4's interest rates are priced based on aggregate utilization across the entire hub, so looping operations will not drive up its own rates.
Odaily News: Standard Chartered initiated coverage on Monday of blockchain oracle project Chainlink, projecting LINK to reach $200 by the end of 2030 — roughly 25 times its current price of around $8. The bank's phased targets are $13 by the end of this year, followed by $41, $82, and $133. Standard Chartered estimates that the on-chain tokenized asset market will reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, with DeFi-deployed assets hitting $2.7 trillion by 2030 — a 37-fold increase from current levels. The bank expects Chainlink fees to grow approximately 25-fold over the same period, assuming token prices track fee growth. Chainlink secures over $110 billion in total value, covering approximately 70% of the value that global DeFi relies on from oracles, with a share exceeding 80% on Ethereum; Aave V3 accounts for 44% of that. Swift, DTCC, Euroclear, JPMorgan, Mastercard, UBS, Fidelity, and S&P Global are all listed as institutions using its services. Chainlink still lags behind LayerZero in cross-chain interoperability. Following the $292 million attack in April, over $7 billion in token value has migrated to Chainlink CCIP, with second-quarter transaction volume reaching $4.9 billion — up 353% year-over-year. Risks include slowing institutional tokenization, pilots not converting to production processes, and technical failures impacting confidence. (Decrypt)
Odaily News: Ethereum developers have proposed a "Tapered Issuance Burn" mechanism, which plans to gradually burn a portion of validators' idealized duty rewards as the ETH staking ratio rises; when the staked amount approaches 50% of the total supply, ETH net issuance will drop to 0%. The proposal's author stated that the ETH staking ratio has already exceeded one-third of the total supply as of April; without adjustments, Jerome de Tychey noted that by January 2028, the staked amount could exceed 70 million ETH, representing over 55% of the supply. Supporters argue that excessive staking could first render small independent validators economically unviable, leading to staking concentration among custodians and large service providers; the proposal is planned to be implemented over an 18-month period, with an additional preparation window of approximately 6 months reserved before any potential network upgrade. Stani Kulechov, founder of lending protocol Aave, stated that once the staking ratio exceeds 50% and rewards drop to 0%, yield uncertainty could weaken institutional staking and DeFi demand. He noted that ETH lending strategies may be affected, and the proposal remains in its early stages. (Bitcoin.com News)