Payward, Kraken’s parent, and clients of its asset-management business bought AAVE on the secondary market through its affiliated Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP fund. The purchase amount was not disclosed, and Payward said it may buy more.

Payward, Kraken’s parent, and clients of its asset-management business bought AAVE on the secondary market through its affiliated Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP fund. The purchase amount was not disclosed, and Payward said it may buy more.

The reported transaction differs from June discussions of 250,000 AAVE plus a 15% stake in Aave Group at a $385 million valuation. The new announcement mentions no equity stake; a source told CoinDesk that the deal had “evolved.” The purchases were made on the market, not from Aave.

Payward described the investment as part of its asset-management push, including digital assets, structured yield and tokenized investments. Its VP Gurpreet Oberoi cited long-term conviction in onchain lending markets. Aave founder Stani Kulechov called the work a strategic step toward more retail and institutional users; the parties are exploring collaboration, without details. Aave was described as having about $33 billion in net deposits and about $11 billion in active loans.

AAVE was quoted at $132.60 on Binance spot, up 1.160% over 24 hours, at 2026-11-05 14:16 UTC. The reported details do not identify the amount bought or disclose further collaboration terms.