Aave Token could rise 50-fold by the end of 2030, says Standard Chartered – here’s why

Analysts at Standard Chartered are betting big on this ghostone of the largest lending platforms in the field of decentralized finance (Decentralized finance), predicting that its native token could rise nearly 50 times from current levels by the end of the decade — a forecast that arrives just months after the protocol was rocked by a major ecosystem exploit.

In a research note issued Wednesday, Jeff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital asset research, initiated coverage of the Aave token (AAVE) with a price target of $3,500 by the end of 2030 — up from roughly $70 when the report was released Wednesday morning.

The bank expects the token to rise in stages, reaching $180 by the end of this year before accelerating to $600, $1,200 and $2,200 over the next three years before reaching the above projections.

AAVE reached an all-time high above $661 in 2021, but has not approached that mark since, although it rose to nearly $400 in late 2024 following the re-election of President Donald Trump.

This optimism comes after a difficult period for Aave, which works to automate lending and borrowing without human intermediaries. $291 million stolen in April from smaller DeFi platform, KelpDAO, It extended to AaveWhich impacts liquidity while scaring many DeFi users into withdrawing their assets completely.

Deposits on the platform have almost halved since then, falling from $44 billion to $23 billion, while active loans similarly fell from $18 million to $9.5 billion in the same period. Standard Chartered said Aave’s share of the broader lending market fell to 38% of deposits, down from an average of 59% in the year before the accident.

Standard Chartered argues that the damage has largely reached its peak, pointing to the new risk framework proposed by Aave founder Stani Kulichov and the recent rise in deposits from the June low. The bank’s biggest bet is on the broader path of decentralized finance: it expects the value of token assets deployed in DeFi to grow 37-fold, to $2.7 trillion, by 2030, fueled by the expansion of stablecoins, tokenized real assets from TradFi giants, and rising cryptocurrency prices.

Since Aave collects fees primarily through the spread between what it pays depositors and what it pays borrowers, the bank says its revenues — and thus its token rate — should track that growth closely.

However, the forecast carries a great deal of uncertainty. Standard Chartered itself warns that scaling up Aave’s institutional lending arm, known as Aave Horizon, is “achievable but not yet proven”, and hinges on partnerships with traditional finance companies that have yet to materialize at scale.

Digital asset prices also remain significantly volatile, with… Bitcoin Falling for Lowest level in 21 months On Wednesday most other major assets fell in tandem. AAVE price rose above $77 earlier in the day, after the report came out, but then gave up most of the gains as the market faltered — but has since surpassed $79, up nearly 9% on the day as Bitcoin began to recover.

Along with its forecast for AAVE to reach $3,500 by the end of 2030, the Standard Chartered report stated a price target of $40,000. Ethereum (up from $1,614 as of this writing) and $500,000 in Bitcoin (currently $60,831).