Aave, a decentralized finance (DeFi) technology, has reached a big milestone: it has lent out more than $1 trillion in total. This is the first time any DeFi platform has reached this level, underscoring how quickly on-chain lending is growing.
The $1 trillion figure, announced by Aave Labs CEO Stani Kulechov on February 25, 2026, is the total amount of loans issued since the protocol launched. Kulechov stressed the importance: “DeFi and Aave didn’t exist ten years ago.” They were only thoughts. Aave is the backbone of on-chain lending today, enabling a new, open, worldwide financial system that cannot be stopped.
Aave, which started as ETHLend in 2017 and changed its name in 2018, lets people deposit cryptocurrencies to earn interest and borrow money against collateral without going via a middleman. With a total value locked (TVL) of more than $27.2 billion, the protocol is ahead of competitors like Morpho, JustLend, SparkLend, Maple, Kamin Lend, and Compound Finance in the DeFi lending space.
Strong Performance Measures
Aave generated $83.3 million in fees over the last 30 days, more than four times its closest competitor. This revenue shows significant activity, with the protocol leading in active loans and overall DeFi liquidity.
The milestone builds on Aave’s growth in 2025, when it took 61.5% of the active loan market and 29% of the total DeFi TVL. By the end of the year, total deposits had gone over $3 trillion, and loans were close to $1 trillion before the last surge in early 2026.
Institutional Adoption Gives Things a Push
Aave’s growth has been driven primarily by institutional interest. Aave Labs launched Aave Horizon in August 2025. This is a separate Ethereum-based market for traditional finance companies and institutions. It lets people borrow stablecoins against tokenised real-world assets (RWAs), attracting participants such as VanEck, WisdomTree, and Securitise.
This step connects DeFi with traditional finance, letting institutions use regulated assets as collateral and access on-chain liquidity. The development fits together with larger trends in tokenisation, such as stablecoins and RWAs, which have made people want to borrow more.
Kulechov has made Aave the foundation for future growth in tokenised assets such as robotics and energy storage. By 2050, this could release trillions of dollars in value.
What This Means for Users
For people who use it for retail, Aave is still a good way to earn interest on deposits or borrow crypto quickly. Its flash lending feature and risk-management capabilities still make it possible to use complex techniques. The $1 trillion milestone shows that DeFi is moving from small-scale experiments to large-scale infrastructure.
As institutional actors work together, liquidity increases, costs decrease, and adoption accelerates across the world of finance. Aave’s success shows how strong and innovative the protocol is, making it clear that it is a leader in decentralized lending. The platform is intended to help the DeFi landscape expand further through ongoing expansion and community governance.