$AAVE is an old friend, a veteran DeFi. But the market is really weak, there's not much strength in the rebound, and it's clearly not the time to rush.
Aave's 2026 plan focuses on scaling through the V4 Hub and Spoke architecture, reaching $1 billion in real-world assets, and expanding its brand new mobile application.
Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov announced the 'overall plan' for its decentralized protocol in 2026, shortly after revealing that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded its four-year investigation of the platform.
On Tuesday, Kulechov posted on X, stating that although 2025 is the platform's most 'successful year' to date, he still believes Aave is in the 'day zero' phase compared to the future.
Regarding 2026, the CEO proposed an overall plan focusing on expanding the decentralized finance platform and achieving specific usage metrics, such as real-world asset deposits reaching $1 billion.
He stated, 'Currently, our strategy entering next year has three main pillars: Aave V4, Horizon, and Aave App.'
Aave V4 is a significant upgrade, touted to bring important improvements in areas such as the platform's lending pool, user interface, and liquidation parameters.
In his post, Kulechov stated that V4 will become the 'cornerstone of all finance' as he mentioned that V4's Hub and Spoke model will provide customized lending markets.
Under this model, the center refers to a single cross-chain liquidity pool, serving as the central location for all assets on the protocol, while the spokes are highly customizable markets capable of accessing central liquidity.
'This will allow Aave to manage trillions of dollars in assets, making it the preferred choice for any institution, fintech, or company wanting to access Aave's deep and reliable liquidity,' he said, adding:
'By 2026, Aave will be a home for brand new markets, new assets, and integrations that have never existed in DeFi. We will continue to engage with fintech companies and work closely with our DAO and partners to gradually expand TVL throughout the year.'
Seeing the next pillar Horizon – Aave's decentralized real asset market, the CEO outlined the intent to introduce 'many top financial institutions' as central players in the RWA space.
'Horizon currently has net deposits of $550 million. By 2026, we will seek to rapidly scale this to $1 billion and beyond, collaborating with leading institutions such as Circle, Ripple, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck to bring major global asset classes to Aave,' he said.
The last main pillar is Aave's mobile app, which was launched in mid-November on the Apple Store, with Kulechov describing it as the 'Trojan horse' bringing decentralized finance to the mainstream.
The CEO stated that the mobile fintech sector is a '$20 trillion industry' and Aave aims to seize this opportunity by making its complex infrastructure as easy to use as possible and by offering superior savings products to outcompete others.
'At the beginning of next year, we will begin a full launch of the Aave App, kicking off the journey towards our first million users. This will directly drive the growth of the Aave protocol through a brand new, yet-to-be-developed market. Without widespread adoption at the product level, Aave cannot scale to tens of trillions.'
SEC ends four-year investigation
On Tuesday, Kulechov confirmed the conclusion of the SEC's four-year investigation into Aave and shared a letter dated August 12, 2025.
Kulechov stated that the platform is 'happy to put this matter behind us as we enter a new era where developers can truly build the financial future.'
In addition to announcements regarding the SEC and the overall plan, Kulechov also stated on Tuesday that he personally purchased $9.8 million worth of AAVE outside of the proposed buyback plan by the Aave decentralized autonomous organization.
