TLDR
- Aave founder Stani Kulechov announced plans to enter the $4.6 trillion global securities lending market
- The protocol will use its upcoming Aave V4 to enable onchain lending with tokenized stocks
- Tokenized equities could be used as collateral for stablecoin loans and repo-style transactions
- Aave executive Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo said the market generates around $35 billion in annual revenue
- The move builds on an existing revenue-led strategy and institutional partnerships with VanEck, Circle, and Securitize
Aave is moving into one of Wall Street’s largest markets. The decentralized finance protocol plans to use tokenized stocks to enter the global securities lending market, which currently has around $4.6 trillion in securities on loan.
Aave Targets $4.6 Trillion Securities Lending Market With Tokenized Stocks
Aave founder Stani Kulechov said the protocol is expanding its total addressable market from crypto assets to all asset classes through securities-backed loans and securities lending. Aave executive Luigi… pic.twitter.com/xt9A8CTuam
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 26, 2026
Founder Stani Kulechov announced the plan on June 26. He said Aave would expand beyond crypto assets to cover all asset classes through its next major protocol upgrade, Aave V4.
The securities lending market produces roughly $35 billion in annual revenue. That figure comes from Aave executive Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo, who helped lay out the details of the plan.
DeMeo said that investors today only receive a portion of the revenue their securities generate through lending. Brokers and trading platforms typically keep most of the borrowing fees that come from customer-held assets.
Aave’s plan would change that model by bringing securities lending onchain. Users would supply tokenized stocks directly to the protocol and earn the full borrowing rate through transparent pricing.
How Tokenized Stock Lending Would Work
Under the proposed structure, tokenized equities would serve as collateral for stablecoin borrowing. Repo-style transactions, which are short-term secured borrowing agreements common in traditional finance, would settle directly onchain.
DeMeo said the model would operate without intermediaries and without rehypothecation. Rehypothecation is when a broker reuses collateral posted by a client, a common practice in traditional markets that adds counterparty risk.
Kulechov had also outlined other areas Aave V4 would target earlier this month. Those include collateralized loans backed by securities, repurchase agreements, and direct securities lending.
Aave’s Broader Growth Strategy
This announcement fits into a wider plan Kulechov outlined in May. At that time, he said Aave would follow a 12-month revenue-led strategy.
The protocol currently generates around $123 million in annualized revenue. It also holds approximately $12.4 billion in total value locked.
Aave already has institutional connections in place. Its Horizon platform, built with VanEck, Circle, and Securitize, focuses on real-world asset lending and tokenized finance infrastructure.
Kulechov described securities financing as one of the largest markets on Wall Street. The move into this space marks a clear shift from Aave’s crypto-native roots toward traditional financial markets.
DeMeo said the goal is to give participants transparent pricing and direct access to lending revenue that currently flows to intermediaries.
Whether Aave V4 delivers on these targets will depend on regulatory developments and adoption of tokenized stocks, a market that is still early in its growth.
