Aave Founder on Building a DeFi Super App to Surpass MakerDAO

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In the ever-evolving world of decentralized finance (DeFi), few names carry as much weight as Aave. Over the past seven years, Aave Labs has solidified its reputation by delivering a clean, efficient lending protocol that weathered the 2022 crypto winter with resilience. Now, under the vision of its Finnish co-founder Stani Kulechov, Aave is evolving from a standalone lending platform into a full-fledged DeFi ecosystem—one designed to rival and ultimately surpass long-standing competitors like MakerDAO.

This ambitious transformation centers around Avara, a newly established London-based parent company that unifies Aave’s expanding suite of products. These include GHO, Aave’s native dollar-pegged stablecoin; Aave Family, a next-generation crypto wallet; and Lens Protocol, a decentralized social networking layer currently seeking $50 million in funding.

👉 Discover how the future of decentralized finance is being reshaped by integrated ecosystems.

From Lending Leader to DeFi Powerhouse

Aave’s journey from a niche lending protocol to a multi-product DeFi conglomerate reflects a strategic shift in response to market demands. As DeFi matures, users—both new and experienced—are seeking more than isolated financial tools. They want seamless, all-in-one platforms where borrowing, saving, socializing, and transacting converge.

Kulechov envisions Avara as exactly that: a one-stop hub for global financial inclusion. “Every person on Earth, regardless of language, country, or location, holds social capital,” he said. “If we can solve digital ownership, we unlock unprecedented value.”

That vision is already showing results. According to TokenLogic, Aave generated nearly $100 million in revenue** over the past 30 days through lending fees, deposit yields, and liquidation charges. Meanwhile, **DefiLlama** reports that Aave’s total value locked (TVL) has more than doubled over the past year, reaching **$11 billion across over a dozen blockchains.

This growth has propelled Aave past MakerDAO in overall DeFi ranking, securing its position as the third most valuable DeFi protocol—a testament to its expanding utility and user trust.

The Competitive Landscape: Aave vs. MakerDAO

For years, Aave and MakerDAO have been the twin pillars of DeFi. Both emerged during the 2017 ICO boom, survived multiple market crashes, and continuously innovated in parallel. Their rivalry has intensified in recent years, especially in the stablecoin arena.

MakerDAO pioneered decentralized stablecoins with DAI, backed by over-collateralized crypto assets. In July 2023, Aave responded by launching GHO, its own over-collateralized, USD-pegged stablecoin. While both stablecoins serve similar functions, their underlying philosophies and governance models differ significantly.

Lito Coen, Growth Lead at cross-chain protocol Socket Protocol, notes: “Stablecoins represent the largest market opportunity in crypto. After mastering lending, entering the stablecoin space was the natural next step for Aave.”

But competition isn’t one-sided. MakerDAO launched Spark Protocol, a lending platform directly competing with Aave’s core product. This move blurred the lines between builder and competitor, turning what was once a complementary relationship into a head-to-head battle.

Risk Management in Turbulent Times

The rivalry took a dramatic turn in April 2025 when MakerDAO proposed backing DAI with USDe, a new synthetic asset issued by Ethena. Unlike traditional over-collateralization, USDe relies on staked ETH and short volatility positions to maintain its peg—a novel but unproven mechanism.

This innovation introduced significant risk. If ETH prices plummeted during a market crash, the hedging mechanism could fail, potentially causing USDe—and by extension, DAI—to de-peg.

For Aave, this was unacceptable. With over $130 million worth of DAI in its reserves, any instability threatened the entire protocol’s solvency.

In response, Marc Zeller, founder of the “Aave Chan Initiative,” proposed setting DAI’s loan-to-value (LTV) ratio to 0% across all Aave markets and removing sDAI incentives from its Merit program. Kulechov backed the move.

“This wasn’t about competition,” Kulechov clarified on the Aave forum. “It was about risk management. When risk perception increases, the most conservative approach is often the best.”

👉 See how leading DeFi protocols are adapting to new financial risks in real time.

Expanding Beyond Finance: The Lens Protocol Vision

While stablecoins and lending dominate headlines, Kulechov’s boldest bet may be Lens Protocol—a decentralized social graph that turns user profiles into NFTs and enables developers to build social apps with built-in tokenomics.

Think of it as an open alternative to Twitter or Instagram—but fully owned by users. Developers can create clones of popular platforms, while DAOs can launch community polls and governance votes directly on Lens.

But it’s not without competition. Farcaster, another decentralized social protocol, currently leads with nearly 600,000 users, compared to Lens’s 430,000. Farcaster recently raised $150 million at a $1 billion valuation from top-tier investors like Paradigm and a16z.

Still, Kulechov remains confident. “We’re not trying to replace Twitter,” he said. “We’re building an open network where anyone can innovate—and people are already using it.”

Lito Coen acknowledges the uncertainty: “Lens is one of the most speculative plays in crypto right now. There’s no clear blueprint for success in decentralized social.”

Yet Drew Osumi, co-founder of venture studio Number Group, sees potential: “Avara could become a walled garden—but in a good way. If it integrates social, wallet, lending, and stablecoin features seamlessly, it becomes the easiest on-ramp for crypto newcomers.”

He adds: “This feels like building a permissionless, decentralized Meta—where users capture real market value from their digital presence.”

FAQ: Your Questions About Aave’s Evolution

Q: What is Avara?
A: Avara is the new parent company overseeing Aave’s expanding ecosystem, including its lending protocol, GHO stablecoin, Family wallet, and Lens Protocol.

Q: How does GHO differ from DAI?
A: Both are over-collateralized USD-pegged stablecoins. However, GHO is natively integrated within the Aave ecosystem, allowing tighter control and faster risk adjustments.

Q: Why is Aave investing in social media via Lens Protocol?
A: Social activity generates immense data and value—currently captured by centralized platforms. Lens aims to return ownership to users while enabling new DeFi integrations like social lending or reputation-based credit scoring.

Q: Is Aave safer than MakerDAO?
A: Safety depends on context. Aave demonstrated stronger risk discipline by proactively limiting exposure to DAI when concerns arose about USDe backing. However, both protocols have strong track records.

Q: Can decentralized social networks like Lens succeed?
A: Success isn’t guaranteed, but Lens offers unique advantages: user-owned identities, composable apps, and integration with DeFi. Its fate may depend on developer adoption and UX improvements.

Q: What are Aave’s core competitive advantages?
A: Speed of governance, modular architecture across chains, and a growing ecosystem that combines finance with identity and social layers.

The Road Ahead: Funding and Future Plans

In June 2025, Lens Protocol began raising funds at a targeted $500 million valuation—an aggressive but not unthinkable goal given investor appetite for Web3 infrastructure.

Kulechov continues to emphasize infrastructure-first thinking: “We start by building foundational tools—then we ask what products and interfaces can emerge from them.”

This philosophy aligns with broader trends in tech: platforms that control both user identity and financial rails are better positioned to dominate digital economies.

As DeFi evolves beyond isolated protocols into interconnected ecosystems, Aave’s strategy of vertical integration—finance + identity + social—could prove decisive.

👉 Explore how integrated Web3 platforms are redefining digital ownership and finance.

Final Thoughts

Aave is no longer just a lending protocol. It’s becoming a DeFi super app, challenging MakerDAO not just in stablecoins or lending—but in vision, scope, and long-term sustainability.

With GHO, Lens, Family Wallet, and Avara’s unified structure, Kulechov is betting that the future belongs to ecosystems that blend finance with identity and community.

The race is on—and this time, it’s not just about who builds better code, but who builds a better world.

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