Aave
Summary
Aave is a decentralized, non-custodial liquidity protocol built on Ethereum and multiple other blockchains, enabling users to supply assets to earn interest or borrow against overcollateralized positions. Founded in 2017 as ETHLend by Finnish lawyer Stani Kulechov, it rebranded to Aave in 2020 and grew into the largest DeFi lending platform by total value locked, holding roughly 60% market share in DeFi lending. A multi-year SEC investigation into the AAVE token closed without enforcement in December 2025. In April 2026 Aave was a downstream victim of the $292 million Kelp DAO rsETH bridge exploit (attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group): the attacker used now-unbacked rsETH as collateral to borrow roughly $190 million, leaving Aave with bad debt and triggering an $8.45 billion, 48-hour deposit run that cut TVL from ~$45.8B to ~$28.6B. Aave's own smart contracts were not exploited — the loss stemmed from accepting compromised external collateral. The protocol led the industry-wide 'DeFi United' restitution coalition (raising over $300 million in ETH), pursued recovery of roughly $71 million in frozen attacker funds in U.S. court, and restored rsETH operations by late May 2026. Residual concerns are the bad-debt overhang from the April incident and ongoing governance tensions between token holders and Aave Labs, but the protocol remains a fundamentally legitimate blue-chip lending platform.
Connected Entities
22 entities · 6 linked investigations- + 26 more
Connected Through
2 shared actors · 6 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- ◇HYe4vS…8WHdwallet
- ◇GJvewf…T4YAwalletalso inZcash·50
Live On-Chain Activity
1 address watched · via HeliusTimeline(18 events)
2017-11-25
ETHLend conducts ICO, raising $16.2 million by selling one billion LEND tokens at $0.0162 each.
Wikipedia / CoinMarketCap2020-01-08
Aave V1 launches on Ethereum, rebranding from ETHLend. Flash loans introduced as a novel DeFi primitive.
Aave Wikipedia / Messari2022-03-16
Aave V3 launches on Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Harmony.
Aave Wikipedia2022-04
Beanstalk Farms exploited for $182 million using a flash loan sourced partly from Aave; Aave itself not directly harmed.
Koinly / Bank Underground2022-11
Avraham Eisenberg accumulates 92 million CRV short position on Aave; community short squeeze liquidates him, leaving Aave with approximately $1.6 million in CRV bad debt.
CoinDesk / Blockworks2023-01-26
Aave purchases 2.7 million CRV tokens to offset residual bad debt from the Eisenberg incident.
CoinDesk2023-03
Euler Finance exploited for $197 million using a flash loan partially sourced from Aave; Aave itself not directly harmed.
Chainalysis2023-07-14
Aave DAO passes AIP-268 to launch GHO stablecoin. GHO begins trading below its $1.00 peg.
DL News / Aave Wikipedia2023-11-04
Critical vulnerability reported via Aave bug bounty affecting V2 Ethereum and V3 on Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche. Markets paused as precaution.
Aave Governance / CryptoSlate2025-12-16
SEC closes its approximately four-year investigation into Aave with no enforcement action.
Unchained / BeInCrypto / Yahoo Finance2025-12-23
Aave Labs submits brand asset transfer proposal to DAO vote during Christmas holiday period without consulting original proposer; 55.29% of token holders vote against.
CoinDesk / CoinTelegraph2026-03-30
Aave V4 launches on Ethereum with hub-and-spoke architecture after audits found zero critical vulnerabilities.
Aave Governance / Blockworks2026-04-13
DAO approves 'Aave Will Win' framework: 100% of revenue from Aave-branded products directed to DAO treasury; $25 million grant approved for Aave Labs.
CoinDesk2026-04-18
Kelp DAO rsETH exploit occurs; attacker attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group mints unbacked rsETH and borrows approximately $190 million from Aave, leaving Aave with bad debt and triggering an $8.45 billion deposit run. Aave's own contracts were not exploited.
CoinDesk / Halborn / Aave Governance2026-04-23
Aave leads the industry 'DeFi United' coalition, raising over $300 million in ETH to contain fallout from the KelpDAO exploit across the DeFi sector.
CoinDesk / Yahoo Finance2026-05-05
Aave LLC files motion in New York federal court to lift restraining notice blocking access to approximately $71 million in recovered ETH frozen on behalf of North Korea terror victims.
CoinDesk2026-05-26
Aave and Kelp DAO restore rsETH operations as recovery and bad-debt remediation from the April exploit progress.
The Block / Crypto TimesDecision Log
- hash: 5jtEBbUbjw1J1ASQm6WJH7tF3XZtDsUrSpnxBz3h4De7
- hash: 66YJsXrYd8ZEMAucz11DothRhyJ4MgGRw69N5kMDVkkf
- hash: DjtBWFgVt3y1yrRY3Vcsh5H6K7Jp4Dbkq9RuvXigEKXY
- hash: 9aHF4zip4qvM3PzhCSDip53ek8cvwh2Q2Q4taz5KPSCs
- hash: HNZUJNmmUXwRTRg8j4S8R6ttdAAhRJaZ2D8RYgoJvJFx
- hash: ym5xeSRNoHEi4nbZBAttBSMXCktvUFtvRdhxacyhGvM
- hash: 8uc2KURPUH9uhAnhQpskPjMEQKjeKTV2Fo4omToJVusS
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-code-investigator
generated: 5/7/2026, 5:10:48 PM
last updated: 6/8/2026, 8:26:55 PM
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