Aave’s founder has responded to rumors that Kraken is taking an equity stake in the protocol, stating that valuation reports are inaccurate, annual revenue stands at $134 million, and the team is designing a new buyback mechanism.

In response to market reports that Kraken is in talks to acquire a 15% stake in Aave, Aave co-founder Stani Kulechov issued a statement Thursday to clarify that the relevant reports are "inaccurate in their framing", and provided a systematic overview of Aave’s revenue attribution, equity structure, and future plans. Kulechov explicitly denied the possibility of selling AAVE tokens at a 30% discount, stressing that all revenue from the Aave protocol and GHO stablecoin belongs to AAVE token holders, applicable to all product lines including Aave App, Aave Pro, and Swaps. Neither protocol nor product revenue flows to Aave Labs, the DAO’s service provider. He explained that Aave Labs holds a certain amount of allocated AAVE tokens, and multiple market participants have discussed direct or indirect purchases to forge deeper long-term partnerships. On the data front, Kulechov disclosed Aave’s current annualized revenue stands at $134 million, all of which belongs to the Aave DAO. He also revealed the team is designing Aavenomics 3.0, which features a new automated, non-discretionary token buyback mechanism, with specific details to be released separately. Strategically, Kulechov emphasized Aave’s target market extends beyond the crypto space to the entire financial asset market, including real-world assets (RWA). He announced a quarterly call will be held in the coming weeks to share the latest updates on Aave’s roadmap.