TL;DR:
- Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, denied that the protocol would sell tokens at a 70% discount.
- Reports indicated that Kraken was seeking a 15% stake in the protocol at a valuation close to $385 million. There is no official confirmation.
- Kulechov announced that the team is working on Aavenomics 3.0, an automatic token buyback mechanism already in design.
Specialized media reported that the exchange Kraken was in talks to acquire approximately 15% of the Aave protocol at a valuation of $385 million. The figure that sparked the most controversy was the implied price of the transaction: a 70% discount on the token’s market value, which trades near $87 following a nearly 12% rally in recent hours
Stani Kulechov, founder of the protocol, responded quickly through his account on X and described the article’s framing as inaccurate. He clarified that the Labs division holds a AAVE token allocation over which multiple market participants have discussed purchases, either directly or through long-term partnerships. However, he made clear that under no scenario would tokens be sold at such a discount.
Lots of discussions around Aave so I want to clarify a few things:
• First off, there is NO WAY we’d sell AAVE at a 70% discount lol.
• 100% of Aave Protocol and GHO revenue goes to the $AAVE token. This was established in the Aave Will Win proposal.
• AWW also applies to…
— Stani (@StaniKulechov) June 25, 2026
Kulechov also stressed that Labs acts solely as a service provider for the DAO and receives no portion of the protocol’s revenue. Under the Aave Will Win framework, approved in 2025, 100% of protocol and GHO revenue is directed to native token holders. That same framework applies to revenue from products such as App, Pro and Swaps.
Aavenomics 3.0: Automatic Buybacks on the Horizon
The founder also previewed the development of Aavenomics 3.0, an upgrade that would introduce a non-discretionary, automatic token buyback mechanism. This would expand the existing program, which already has authorization to repurchase up to $50 million in tokens per year on a discretionary basis. The protocol currently generates $134 million in annualized revenue, all channeled to the DAO.
The relationship between the protocol and Kraken already has considerable history. In 2025, the DAO voted with 99.8% support to license its code to Kraken’s Ink network, which operates a white-label lending market and shares revenue with Aave. A potential equity stake would fit with the acquisition strategy Kraken has been executing ahead of its public listing, which includes the purchase of derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million.
Kulechov announced that the team will hold a quarterly community call in the coming weeks, where greater clarity is expected on the state of negotiations and the details of the token buyback mechanism.
