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

Aave CEO Stani Kulechov said the platform aims to almost double real-world asset deposits to $1 billion, roll out V4 upgrades, and expand its mobile app to simplify DeFi, after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended its four-year probe.

In a Dec. 16 X post outlining a new masterplan, Kulechov said that 2025 was Aave’s “most successful” year to date, while adding that he feels the platform is still on “day zero compared to what lies ahead.” 

“In 2026, Aave will be home to new markets, new assets, and new integrations that have never existed before in DeFi,” the CEO said. “We’ll continue engaging with fintechs and work closely with the DAO and our partners on the rollout to progressively scale TVL throughout the year.”

The AAVE price spiked to a 24-hour high of $189.89 following the news, but has since retraced to trade down 1% at $183.83 as of 1:31 a.m. EST.

Aave price (Source: CoinMarketCap)

Aave Masterplan Has Three Pillars

The plan comprises three main pillars: Aave V4, Horizon, and Aave App. 

Aave 4 is a major upgrade that will bring enhancements to the DeFi platform’s borrowing and lending pools, its user interface (UI), and its liquidation parameters. 

Kulechov said that the V4 upgrade will become the “backbone of all finance,” and pointed to the lending markets that the new version’s Hub and Spoke model will provide. 

Under that model, the hub refers to a single unified crosschain liquidity pool that will function as the central location for all of the assets on the protocol. Meanwhile, the spokes refer to markets that are highly customizable and that tap into the hub’s liquidity. 

Meanwhile, Horizon, which is Aave’s decentralized RWA market, will onboard “many top financial institutions” as part of a broader effort to become a main player in the RWA space, Kulechov said. 

“Horizon currently sits at $550M net deposits,” he said. “In 2026 we’ll look to quickly scale this to $1 billion and beyond by expanding our work with leading institutional partners like Circle, Ripple, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and others to bring major global asset classes to Aave.”  

Kulechov added that Aave’s mobile app, which is the final pillar of his 2026 plan, will serve as a “trojan horse” to bring DeFi to the mainstream.

He highlighted that the mobile fintech sector is a “$2+ trillion dollar industry” and that he wants to capitalize on the opportunity by making complex infrastructure easy to use. This addresses a common issue with Web3 adoption. 

SEC Drops Four-Year 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 said it did “not intend to recommend an enforcement action” against Aave. 

After four years, we are finally ready to share that the SEC has concluded its investigation into the Aave Protocol.

This process demanded significant effort and resources from our team, and from me personally as the founder, to protect Aave, its ecosystem, and DeFi more… pic.twitter.com/aZeLrZz5ZQ

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

The text in the letter suggested that the protocol had faced a potential enforcement action by the SEC in a probe that started four years ago. 

“We’re glad to put this behind us as we enter a new era where developers can truly build the future of finance,” the Aave CEO said. 

There are no publicly available records on the SEC’s website that show the agency issued a Wells notice to Aave, which would have signaled an intent to initiate potential enforcement action. 

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