Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov has detailed the decentralized protocol’s 2026 “master plan,” revealed shortly after confirming that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its four-year investigation into the platform.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Kulechov said that although 2025 has been Aave’s most successful year so far, he believes the project is still “at day zero compared to what lies ahead.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Kulechov outlined a strategy centered on scaling the DeFi protocol and hitting key adoption milestones, including a target of $1 billion in real-world asset (RWA) deposits.
“Our strategy going into next year is built around three core pillars: Aave V4, Horizon, and the Aave App,” he said.
Aave V4 is a major upgrade designed to deliver substantial improvements across the protocol, including enhancements to borrowing and lending pools, the user interface, and liquidation parameters.
In his post, Kulechov described V4 as the future “backbone of all finance,” highlighting the tailored lending markets enabled by its Hub-and-Spoke model.
Under this structure, the hub acts as a single, unified crosschain liquidity pool that serves as the central repository for all assets on the protocol. The spokes, meanwhile, are highly customizable markets that draw liquidity from the hub.
According to Kulechov, this approach will allow Aave to support trillions of dollars in assets, positioning it as the preferred platform for institutions, fintech firms, and companies seeking access to deep, reliable liquidity.
“In 2026, Aave will be home to new markets, new assets, and new integrations that have never existed before in DeFi. We’ll continue engaging with fintechs and work closely with the DAO and our partners on the rollout to progressively scale TVL throughout the year.”
Turning to the next pillar, Horizon—Aave’s decentralized real-world asset marketplace—Kulechov said the protocol aims to onboard “many top financial institutions” and establish itself as a leading force in the RWA sector.
“Horizon currently has $550 million in net deposits. In 2026, we plan to rapidly scale this to $1 billion and beyond by expanding our partnerships with major institutional players such as Circle, Ripple, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and others, bringing significant global asset classes onto Aave,” he said.
The third pillar of the strategy is the Aave mobile app, which launched on the Apple App Store in mid-November. Kulechov described the app as a “Trojan horse” designed to introduce decentralized finance to a mainstream audience.
He noted that mobile fintech represents a “$2+ trillion industry,” and said Aave intends to capture a share of that market by simplifying its complex infrastructure for everyday users while outperforming competitors with more attractive savings products.
“Early next year, we’ll begin the full rollout of the Aave App and start the journey toward our first million users. This will directly drive growth for the Aave Protocol by opening an entirely new and untapped market. Aave cannot scale to trillions of dollars without mass adoption at the product level,” Kulechov said.
SEC investigation concludes
On Tuesday, Kulechov also confirmed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its four-year investigation into Aave, sharing a letter dated Aug. 12, 2025.
He said the platform is “glad to put this behind us as we enter a new era where developers can truly build the future of finance.”
Capping off the announcements, Kulechov revealed that he had personally purchased $9.8 million worth of AAVE, separate from the Aave DAO’s proposed buyback program.
