DeFi lender Aave reaches $40B in value locked onchain

Aave, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has reached a new record of funds onchain, according to data from DefiLlama.

In an X post, Aave said it topped $40.3 billion in total value locked (TVL) on May 12. Onchain data reveals that Aave v3, the latest version of the protocol, has approximately $40 billion in TVL.

Aave is a DeFi lending protocol that lets users borrow cryptocurrency by depositing other types of cryptocurrency as collateral. Meanwhile, lenders earn yield from borrowers. 

“With these milestones, Aave is proving its dominance in the Lending Space,” DeFi analyst Jonaso said in a May 12 X post. TVL represents the total value of cryptocurrency deposited into a protocol’s smart contracts. 

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In December, Aave achieved an all-time high TVL largely because the price of Ether (ETH) rose roughly 60% from the prior month. Ether and its staking derivatives make up nearly half of Aave’s TVL, according to data from DefiLlama. 

This time around, Aave’s all-time high TVL is also driven by inflows of deposits by users. 

In Ether-denominated terms, Aave’s TVL rose from around 6 million ETH at the start of 2025 to nearly 10 million ETH on May 12. Measuring TVL in ETH accounts for the impact of fluctuating cryptocurrency prices.

Before US President Donald Trump prevailed in the November election, Ether traded at less than $2,500. It peaked at almost $4,000 the following month, according to data from Google Finance. 

In the past month, Ether has also clocked substantial gains, rising from around $1,500 per Ether 30 days ago to roughly $2,500 as of May 12, according to data from Google Finance. 

The price of Aave’s native AAVE (AAVE) token has risen approximately 25% in the past seven days, reflecting a buoyant crypto market and ongoing TVL inflows, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

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