TechFlow news, December 17 — Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Protocol, published "Aave Will Win: 2026 Roadmap" on X, outlining Aave's long-term strategic vision. The article notes that Aave has become the largest DeFi lending protocol, capturing 59% of the lending market share, with over $333 billion in cumulative deposits processed and nearly $1 trillion in loans issued. Protocol fee revenue reached $885 million in 2025, and an AAVE buyback program has been initiated.
Looking ahead to 2026, Aave will advance around three core pillars: Aave V4 (using a Hub & Spoke model to unify liquidity and support trillions in assets), Horizon (an RWA lending market targeting institutions, aiming to grow net deposits from $550 million to over $1 billion), and the Aave App (a mobile gateway for mainstream users to drive millions of new on-chain users). Stani emphasized that Aave Labs and the DAO are strongly aligned in long-term interests, revealing he recently increased his on-chain AAVE holdings by $10 million, stating Aave's goal is to become the global credit layer of the on-chain economy.
