Overview
- Standard Chartered’s digital assets head Geoff Kendrick opened coverage with a model that targets AAVE at $3,500 by the end of 2030, a projection that implies roughly a 50-fold increase from the token’s recent mid‑$70s trading level.
- The note states Aave has largely moved past the April rsETH bridge exploit tied to KelpDAO as assets begin returning to the protocol after attackers used about $290 million in stolen tokens as collateral on Aave.
- Standard Chartered projects the value of tokenized assets actively used in DeFi will expand about 37‑fold by 2030, which the bank says would drive more deposits and lending volume for platforms like Aave; tokenized assets are on‑chain representations of real‑world or crypto native products used as collateral.
- The firm highlights two potential growth catalysts for Aave: a restart of the protocol’s AAVE token buyback program and its Horizon permissioned lending initiative that aims to let institutions lend against tokenized real‑world assets.
- The report flags clear downsides including the April incident’s roughly $230 million potential exposure to Aave, ongoing security and contagion risks across DeFi, volatile crypto prices, and regulatory uncertainty that could slow any recovery toward Aave’s October 2025 peak of about $75 billion in deposits.