Aave Targets $1B Deposits, V4 Upgrades After SEC Ends Probe

Aave CEO Stani Kulechov mentioned the platform goals to virtually double real-world asset deposits to $1 billion, roll out V4 upgrades, and broaden its cell app to simplify DeFi, after the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) ended its four-year probe.

In a Dec. 16 X publish outlining a brand new masterplan, Kulechov mentioned that 2025 was Aave’s “most profitable” 12 months thus far, whereas including that he feels the platform remains to be on “day zero in comparison with what lies forward.” 

“In 2026, Aave shall be house to new markets, new property, and new integrations which have by no means existed earlier than in DeFi,” the CEO mentioned. “We’ll proceed participating with fintechs and work intently with the DAO and our companions on the rollout to progressively scale TVL all year long.”

The AAVE worth spiked to a 24-hour excessive of $189.89 following the information, however has since retraced to commerce down 1% at $183.83 as of 1:31 a.m. EST.

Aave worth (Supply: CoinMarketCap)

Aave Masterplan Has Three Pillars

The plan contains three essential pillars: Aave V4, Horizon, and Aave App. 

Aave 4 is a serious improve that can deliver enhancements to the DeFi platform’s borrowing and lending swimming pools, its consumer interface (UI), and its liquidation parameters. 

Kulechov mentioned that the V4 improve will change into the “spine of all finance,” and pointed to the lending markets that the brand new model’s Hub and Spoke mannequin will present. 

Below that mannequin, the hub refers to a single unified crosschain liquidity pool that can perform because the central location for all the property on the protocol. In the meantime, the spokes seek advice from markets which can be extremely customizable and that faucet into the hub’s liquidity. 

In the meantime, Horizon, which is Aave’s decentralized RWA market, will onboard “many prime monetary establishments” as a part of a broader effort to change into a essential participant within the RWA area, Kulechov mentioned. 

“Horizon at present sits at $550M web deposits,” he mentioned. “In 2026 we’ll look to shortly scale this to $1 billion and past by increasing our work with main institutional companions like Circle, Ripple, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and others to deliver main world asset lessons to Aave.”  

Kulechov added that Aave’s cell app, which is the ultimate pillar of his 2026 plan, will function a “malicious program” to deliver DeFi to the mainstream.

He highlighted that the cell fintech sector is a “$2+ trillion greenback business” and that he needs to capitalize on the chance by making complicated infrastructure simple to make use of. This addresses a standard situation with Web3 adoption. 

SEC Drops 4-Yr Investigation Into Aave

Kulechov’s masterplan comes after the SEC dropped an investigation into the platform.

Kulechov posted on X on Dec 16 an Aug. 12 letter from the regulator that mentioned it did “not intend to suggest an enforcement motion” in opposition to Aave. 

After 4 years, we’re lastly able to share that the SEC has concluded its investigation into the Aave Protocol.

This course of demanded important effort and assets from our staff, and from me personally because the founder, to guard Aave, its ecosystem, and DeFi extra… pic.twitter.com/aZeLrZz5ZQ

— Stani.eth (@StaniKulechov) December 16, 2025

The textual content within the letter instructed that the protocol had confronted a possible enforcement motion by the SEC in a probe that began 4 years in the past. 

“We’re glad to place this behind us as we enter a brand new period the place builders can actually construct the way forward for finance,” the Aave CEO mentioned. 

There are not any publicly accessible information on the SEC’s web site that present the company issued a Wells discover to Aave, which might have signaled an intent to provoke potential enforcement motion. 

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