Standard Chartered has initiated coverage on Aave (AAVE) with a price target of $3,500 by the end of 2030. The call implies a nearly 50x gain and would see AAVE outperform both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

The forecast rests on one large assumption. Standard Chartered expects tokenized finance to move on-chain at scale. It sees assets active in decentralized finance (DeFi) rising 37 times this decade, toward roughly $2.7 trillion.

Why Standard Chartered Backs Aave for a 50x Run

Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, describes Aave as an on-chain bank that runs without staff or downtime.

His $3,500 target sits more than five times above AAVE’s record high of about $662, reached in May 2021.

The token still carries scars from April. Attackers tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group drained about $292 million from KelpDAO in a cross-chain bridge exploit.

Because the stolen rsETH-backed positions across DeFi, the fallout reached lenders like Aave and cut its market share.

Aave deposits have since fallen to about $12 billion, down from more than $30 billion at their 2025 peak. Kendrick argues the worst has passed.

“We forecast significant upside for digital asset token prices into year-end, and we think Aave has moved beyond the April incident. Longer-term, we expect the value of tokenized assets active in DeFi to increase 37x between now and end-2030, driving more deposits to the platform,” Kendrick said.

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The bank maps a climb to $180 in 2026 on the way to $3,500, with AAVE near $76 today. That logic supports a similar Uniswap forecast and sits beside its Ethereum 2030 target of $40,000.

The Massive Bet Is Tokenized Finance

Aave’s growth case now centers on real-world assets. Through its permissioned RWA market, the protocol lets approved institutions post tokenized assets as collateral and borrow stablecoins against them.

Early backers include asset managers VanEck and WisdomTree.

The newest addition is mGLOBAL, a Midas token tracking a Fasanara Capital private credit strategy. The London manager runs more than $6 billion. Midas said $17.1 million was supplied against the token on day one.

“mGLOBAL is another step to expand Aave to tap into receivables finance market. RWAs are the biggest opportunity for Aave.”

Stani Kulechov, who founded Aave, said as much, framing tokenized real-world assets as the protocol’s largest opening.

Specific markets are drawing deposits even as overall balances stay below their peak. Tether (USDT) deposits on Aave’s Ethereum core market are nearing $3 billion, and Kulechov says balances are flowing back.

“USDT deposits are flowing back to Aave,” Kulechov noted.

Aave’s V4, designed to pool liquidity, passed $200 million in deposits within three months, according to Grayscale.

Supporters point to the size of the prize. The US repo market alone runs about $12.6 trillion in daily exposures, according to federal research.

That is part of the securities-finance plumbing V4 aims to move on-chain.

However, risks remain. Kendrick ties much of the upside to two factors.

• One is a restart of Aave’s token buyback program.
• The other is deeper ties with traditional finance.

Neither is certain, and tighter regulation could slow institutional adoption.

For now, the longer-term AAVE outlook depends on whether tokenized assets arrive at the scale Standard Chartered expects.

Source: BeInCrypto