Aave releases 2026 outlook: advancing on three fronts with V4, RWA, and Aave App

According to TechFlow, on December 17, Aave protocol founder and CEO Stani Kulechov published "Aave Will Win: 2026 Master Plan" on the X platform, systematically outlining Aave's long-term development strategy. The article points out that Aave has now become the largest lending protocol in DeFi, occupying 59% of the lending market share, with cumulative deposits processed exceeding $3.33 trillions and loans issued nearing $1 trillions. In 2025, protocol fee revenue reached $885 millions, and an AAVE buyback program has already been launched.

Looking ahead to 2026, Aave will focus on three core initiatives: Aave V4 (unifying liquidity with the Hub & Spoke model to support trillion-dollar-level assets), Horizon (an institutional-focused RWA lending market aiming to expand net deposits from $550 millions to over $1 billions), and Aave App (a mobile gateway for the general public to drive millions of new users on-chain). Stani emphasized that Aave Labs and the DAO are highly aligned in terms of long-term interests, and revealed that he recently increased his on-chain holdings by $10 millions worth of AAVE, stating that Aave's goal is to become the global credit layer of the on-chain economy.