Aave founder Stani Kulechov denied a report that the protocol would sell AAVE tokens at a 70% discount to Kraken, calling the framing inaccurate. He confirmed Aave generates $134 million in annual revenue and teased automatic buybacks under Aavenomics 3.0.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov denied claims the protocol would sell AAVE tokens at a 70% discount to Kraken, calling the report inaccurate, as the token rose nearly 5% to about $82.
"there is NO WAY we'd sell AAVE at a 70% discount lol," Kulechov wrote on X on June 25. He said Aave Labs serves only as a service provider to the DAO and takes none of the protocol's revenue.
The report, citing anonymous sources, described a roughly 15% stake at a $385 million valuation. Kulechov confirmed only that outside parties had discussed buying an AAVE allocation held by Aave Labs as part of long-term partnerships, rejecting the framing of a fire sale. Aave is currently directing about $134 million in annual revenue to the DAO, all of which accrues to AAVE token holders, he said.
Any deal would build on an existing tie. In 2025, the Aave DAO voted 99.8% to license its code to Kraken's Ink network, which runs a white-label lending market that shares revenue back to Aave. The talks surface as Aave rebuilds from April's KelpDAO exploit, which left up to $230 million in bad debt after attackers borrowed against unbacked tokens. Although Aave's smart contracts were never breached, deposits fell by more than a third to about $12 billion.
Kulechov also teased Aavenomics 3.0, which would make AAVE buybacks automatic, extending a discretionary program already cleared to buy up to $50 million of AAVE a year. A stake would fit Kraken's acquisition run ahead of its planned public listing; the exchange agreed this year to buy derivatives venue Bitnomial for up to $550 million. Aave plans a quarterly community call within weeks, where details on the buyback mechanism and any Kraken deal could emerge.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
