Aave

Lore & Background

Aave was founded in 2017 under the name ETHLend by Stani Kulechov, a Finnish lawyer, born in Estonia in 13.01.1991. Originally, the project was based on a peer-to-peer lending model. In January 2020, the protocol was relaunched under the new name Aave (Finnish for 'ghost') with a liquidity pool model. The associated governance token carries the same name (AAVE) and allows holders to vote on protocol changes. In 2025, Kulechov visited Dublin to headline two separate conferences as part of Dublin Tech Week, ETH Dublin and Blockchain Ireland. At the time, the Aave lending protocol recorded €40.3 billion in net deposits. In February 2025, Bloomberg reported that Aave remained the largest decentralized finance lending platform by deposits. At the Reform UK conference in September 2025, Kulechov spoke alongside Zia Yusuf, the party's efficiency chief, as part of its push to embrace the cryptocurrency industry, which includes accepting donations in bitcoin.

In Their Own Story

In the silent hum of the Ethereum mainnet, a transaction bloomed into existence. It was not a simple transfer, but a Flash Loan request for millions in stablecoins. Within the same block, the funds were extracted, utilized to execute an arbitrage trade across three different exchanges, and returned with interest before the next block could even validate the start of the sequence. To our eyes, it looked like magic; to the blockchain, it was just a successful function call that never left memory. This was the moment Aave stopped being just a lending pool and became the invisible engine powering DeFi's most complex strategies.

Reader's Guide

Aave allows crypto lending and borrowing without the use of a central authority. Users can deposit various cryptocurrencies—such as Ether, USDC, or DAI—into pools. These funds are then used as collateral for issuing loans. In return, depositors receive variable interest earnings. Borrowers must provide collateral that exceeds the value of the loan. Aave allows users to choose between variable and stable interest rates. The protocol also supports flash loans—loans that must be taken out and repaid within a single block and are therefore suitable only for experienced developers. In 2023, Aave announced the launch of a decentralized stablecoin called GHO. This stablecoin is backed by collateral deposited within the Aave protocol.

Did You Know?

• Aave is Finnish for 'ghost'.
• Aave was originally launched under the name ETHLend in 2017.
• Aave supports flash loans, which must be taken out and repaid within a single block.
• In 2023, Aave announced the launch of a decentralized stablecoin called GHO.