Standard Chartered: AAVE Could Surge to $3,500 by the End of 2030, a 50x Increase from Current Price

BlockBeats News, June 24 – Geoff Kendrick, Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered Bank, has initiated coverage on the decentralized lending protocol Aave for the first time, predicting that AAVE could rise to $3,500 by the end of 2030, representing a 50x increase from its current level of approximately $70. Kendrick stated that Aave has recovered from the market disruptions related to the network theft incident in April. As assets begin to flow back to the platform, the protocol appears to have rebounded from the event and is expected to maintain its dominance in the on-chain lending market. In April, the collapse of KelpDAO's rsETH bridge impacted DeFi, with attackers using approximately $290 million in stolen tokens as collateral on Aave to borrow real assets, exposing Aave to potential losses of up to $230 million and triggering depositor withdrawals. Kendrick likened Aave to an automated, blockchain-based bank with no employees and no discretionary decision-making. He noted that during its peak in October 2025, Aave held approximately $75 billion in deposits, which, if ranked within the U.S. banking industry, would place it among the top 30 banks. Looking ahead, Kendrick predicts that by the end of this decade, the value of tokenized assets actively used in DeFi applications will grow 37-fold. Since Aave's revenue model is closely tied to lending activity and deposits, Standard Chartered expects the protocol's growth to directly translate into an increase in the value of the AAVE token. The report also highlights that Aave's token buyback program could potentially restart, serving as an additional catalyst. Aave's Horizon initiative, which aims to support lending using tokenized RWA (real-world assets) as collateral in a permissioned environment, could help attract traditional financial institutions and accelerate adoption. [Original Link]