Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, announced on Thursday that an affiliated fund and its clients have acquired an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens through secondary-market purchases.
The investment was made via Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP, though no financial terms were disclosed. Payward left the door open for further AAVE purchases, saying the move reflects long-term conviction in onchain credit markets and DeFi.
In a statement, Gurpreet Oberoi, vice president of Payward Asset Management and Institutional, said: "This investment reflects our long-term conviction in onchain credit markets and DeFi, as well as growing demand from our clients for exposure to the infrastructure shaping the future of finance."
The announcement follows Aave founder Stani Kulechov's pushback against a June CoinDesk report that Payward was in talks with Aave to purchase a 15% stake at a $385 million valuation, roughly a 70% discount at the time. Kulechov did acknowledge that investors had discussed potentially buying chunks of Aave Labs' AAVE allocation through partnership deals.
AAVE tokens give holders governance rights over the protocol and its treasury. Under the "Aave Will Win" framework approved in April, revenue from Aave-branded products is routed into its DAO treasury.
Kulechov said: "Working with Payward is a strategic step toward bringing Aave to the next wave of retail and institutional users."
Traders are watching whether the acquisition influences AAVE liquidity, trading volume, and broader institutional interest in DeFi.
