Aave founder Stani Kulechov rejects reported Payward bid, says protocol won’t sell tokens at 70% discount

On Friday (June 26), Stani Kulechov, the founder of the decentralized lending protocol Aave, expressed disbelief at a report suggesting Aave may be sold at a fraction of its current market valuation. His response suggests that larger DeFi protocols are rebuffing acquisition interest at discounted terms, despite traditional finance companies seeking ways into the onchain ecosystem through acquisition.

The report stems from claims that Payward, the parent company of Kraken, had been negotiating to acquire a 15% equity stake in Aave for $385 million. That would value Aave at roughly 30% of AAVE’s fully diluted token valuation of about $1.32 billion, according to DefiLlama data.

“First off, there is NO WAY we’d sell AAVE at a 70% discount lol,” Kulechov said on X.

Kulechov rejects the discounted-sale narrative

Kulechov has not categorically denied that Aave Labs, the for-profit development company behind the Aave protocol, could sell a portion of its AAVE token allocation.

He confirmed that several market participants have talked about buying the AAVE token, either directly or indirectly, as part of a much larger long-term partnership with Aave. However, he said the way the issue was framed was “inaccurate.”

This distinction is important because Aave Labs has a separate allocation of AAVE tokens. If Aave Labs were to sell AAVE tokens from its allocation, it would be an internal treasury transaction rather than a protocol-level transaction.

Therefore, if a party buys AAVE tokens from Aave Labs, it would not automatically gain control over the Aave DAO, nor would protocol revenue be redirected to that buyer.

Aave’s revenue model anchors the valuation debate

According to Kulechov, Aave’s financial position is sufficient reason to reject a large discount. He said Aave generates about $134 million in annualized revenue and is working on Aavenomics 3.0, which includes a new automated and non-discretionary buyback mechanism.

Aave’s revenue structure was formalized through the Aave Will Win framework, which proposed directing revenue from Aave-branded products to the DAO treasury and setting a one-year development budget. The DAO later approved a $25 million stablecoin grant and 75,000 AAVE token allocation for Aave Labs under that framework.

According to DefiLlama, Aave had a fully diluted valuation of about $1.32 billion at the time of the debate, with AAVE trading near $82.49. The same dashboard also tracks the protocol’s TVL, fees, revenue, active loans, and treasury metrics.

Kulechov’s preview of Aavenomics 3.0 is meant to reinforce the idea that token-holder value will come through protocol economics rather than a discounted sale to an outside buyer. The full details of the new buyback mechanism have not yet been released.

Kraken’s reported interest exposes Aave’s governance fault lines

The reported Payward plan fits into a broader push by centralized exchanges and fintech firms to gain exposure to DeFi infrastructure. Kraken and Aave already have a relationship: Kraken-incubated Layer 2 network Ink launched Tydro, a white-label version of Aave, as its core lending layer.

Aave has also described Tydro as an example of how Ink leverages Aave’s infrastructure to launch native lending on Kraken’s Layer 2 network.

However, the timing is complicated. Aave has faced governance unrest and pressure following the April Kelp DAO rsETH exploit. Although Aave was not the original exploit target, the incident affected Aave markets because the attacker used unbacked rsETH as collateral and triggered downstream risk across DeFi lending venues.

At least three high-profile DAO service providers have also departed or announced plans to leave. Aave Chan Initiative said it would wind down its work for the protocol after governance disputes, while BGD Labs said it would stop working with the DAO when its contract ended. Chaos Labs also announced its exit as Aave’s risk manager.

DL News reported that ACI founder Marc Zeller cast 166,200 AAVE against the Aave Will Win proposal, calling it a departure from the accountability standards the DAO had built. BGD Labs cited what it described as insufficient consideration of existing contributors’ expertise when it announced its exit in February.

Kulechov’s refusal to entertain a discounted acquisition, paired with the buyback mechanism preview, reads as an attempt to reassure token holders that the protocol’s value will accrue to them rather than to outside acquirers or insiders.