Aave founder Stani Kulechov has outlined a long-term strategic pivot for the decentralized finance protocol, targeting the financing of solar energy and other real-world infrastructure through tokenization. In a detailed post, Kulechov argued that DeFi must move beyond lending against speculative digital assets and instead focus on "abundance assets"—productive, real-world assets like solar farms that can generate stable cash flows.
Kulechov posits that tokenizing such assets could unlock a market worth up to $50 trillion by 2050, with solar energy alone accounting for $15 to $30 trillion of that total. He highlighted the current inefficiency in traditional infrastructure finance, where capital is often locked in 20+ year contracts, creating illiquidity. Tokenization, he claims, would transform these projects into liquid, tradable digital assets.
"Capital is hungry for new collateral, and the world is ready for a transformation that onchain lending can capture and accelerate," Kulechov stated. He explained that a tokenized $100 million solar project could be used as collateral to borrow $70 million on Aave, enabling developers to quickly redeploy capital into new projects instead of waiting months for traditional loans.
This model, according to Kulechov, could lower the required return for investors from 10% in private markets to as low as 6%, making clean energy projects more attractive. It would also create a "green yield" for on-chain depositors and potentially boost demand for non-USD stablecoins, as solar debt could be issued in various local currencies like euros and pounds.
The shift is framed as a necessary evolution for Aave's growth, as lending against major cryptocurrencies has become a crowded, low-margin business. Kulechov described the strategy as "opinionated," aligning with values that fund "creation over extraction." Despite the ambitious vision, Aave's native token, AAVE, has faced market headwinds, falling 15.2% in 2026 to around $126 at the time of reporting.
