Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, revealed on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) an ambitious "master plan" for 2026, aimed at making the Aave protocol a core part of global financial infrastructure on-chain. This announcement follows the closure of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation that lasted four years into the protocol, opening the door to a new era of development.
#### Key Goals of the Vision
- Supporting trillions of dollars in managed assets.
- Attracting millions of new users, starting with an initial million users through the Aave app.
- Making Aave the primary choice for financial institutions, fintech companies, and businesses seeking reliable on-chain liquidity.
- Building a global credit layer on-chain serving both institutional capital and individual users efficiently.
#### The Three Main Initiatives for 2026
The plan relies on three main pillars:
1. Aave V4:
- A complete redesign of the protocol using "Hub and Spoke" architecture, where capital centers are deployed on each network, and specialized arms for lending markets tailored to different asset types.
- Solving the liquidity fragmentation issue and increasing capacity to handle trillions of dollars.
- Launching a completely new developer experience to lower barriers to building applications and launching new markets.
- Quote from Kulechov: "In 2026, Aave will be home to new markets, new assets, and new integrations that have never existed before in DeFi."
2. Horizon:
- An institutional-focused market centered on tokenized real-world assets (Real-World Assets - RWA).
- It allows qualified institutions to use tokenized assets like U.S. Treasury bonds as collateral for borrowing stablecoins, while adhering to compliance requirements.
- Currently achieved about $550 million in net deposits, expected to expand to a billion dollars or more in 2026.
- Expanding partnerships with asset managers and financial companies like Circle, Ripple, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck.
- Horizon is considered the bridge to the "next trillion-dollar" in assets.
3. Aave App:
- The main product aimed at consumers, and the main growth engine for users.
- Full launch at the beginning of 2026, aiming to reach the first million users.
- Targeting the mobile fintech market estimated at over $2 trillion, through a simple interface similar to traditional banking apps, with better yields.
#### Context and Current Achievements
- This announcement comes after a very successful year in 2025 for Aave, which saw record growth.
- The closure of the SEC investigation is seen as a victory for DeFi, as Kulechov stated that it "required significant effort and resources to protect Aave and the ecosystem."
- Aave currently controls a large share of the lending market in DeFi.
#### Important Note
This vision reflects the ambitions of Aave Labs and the views of Stani Kulechov, relying on successful execution and market and regulatory conditions. The DeFi market is highly volatile, and actual outcomes may vary. Always do your own research and assess risks before any investment or use of decentralized protocols. As of December 21, 2025, Aave continues to grow, but reaching trillions in assets remains a long-term goal.
