Aave’s founder and CEO, Stani Kulechov, has revealed a “master plan” for 2026 for his decentralized protocol, shortly after announcing that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded its four-year investigation of the platform.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Kulechov noted that while 2025 has been the most “successful year” for the platform to date, he believes Aave is at “day zero compared to what lies ahead.”
Looking to 2026, the CEO laid out a master plan with a strong emphasis on scaling the DeFi platform and hitting specific usage targets, including $1 billion in real-world asset (RWA) deposits.
“As it stands, our strategy going into next year has three main pillars: Aave V4, Horizon, and Aave App,” he stated.
Aave V4 is a significant upgrade expected to deliver major enhancements to the platform’s borrowing and lending pools, user interface, liquidation parameters, and more.
In his post, Kulechov emphasized that V4 will serve as the “backbone of all finance,” highlighting the customized lending markets facilitated by the V4’s Hub and Spoke model.
Under this model, the hub acts as a unified cross-chain liquidity pool that serves as a central hub for all assets on the protocol, while the spokes represent highly customizable markets leveraging hub liquidity.
“This will enable Aave to manage trillions of dollars in assets, positioning it as the preferred choice for any institution, fintech, or company seeking Aave’s robust, dependable liquidity,” he added, stating:
“In 2026, Aave will host new markets, new assets, and new integrations that have never existed in DeFi. We will continue to collaborate with fintechs and work closely with the DAO and our partners on the rollout to progressively increase TVL throughout the year.”
Regarding the next pillar, Horizon, Aave’s decentralized real-world asset market, Kulechov outlined plans to onboard “many top financial institutions” to become a central player in the RWA sector.
“Horizon currently sits at $550M in net deposits. In 2026 we aim to swiftly scale this to $1 billion and beyond by partnering with leading institutions like Circle, Ripple, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, among others to introduce major global asset classes to Aave,” he indicated.
The final pillar is Aave’s mobile app, which launched on the Apple Store in mid-November, with Kulechov describing it as a “trojan horse” to mainstream DeFi.
The CEO noted that the mobile fintech sector is a “$2+ trillion industry” that Aave aims to capitalize on by streamlining its complex infrastructure for ease of use, as well as outpacing competitors with superior savings products.
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“Early next year, we’ll fully roll out Aave App and embark on the journey to our first million users. This will directly support the growth of Aave Protocol through an entirely new and untapped market. Aave cannot scale to trillions of dollars without widespread adoption at the product level.”
SEC ends four-year investigation
On Tuesday, Kulechov confirmed the conclusion of the SEC’s four-year investigation into Aave, sharing a letter dated Aug. 12, 2025.
Kulechov expressed that the platform is “relieved to move past this phase as we enter a new era where developers can genuinely shape the future of finance.”
In conjunction with the announcement regarding the SEC and the master plan, Kulechov concluded on Tuesday by revealing that he had personally acquired $9.8 million worth of AAVE, outside of the proposed buyback program from the Aave DAO.
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