Kraken parent Payward and its clients have bought an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens on the secondary market, the companies said on 5th November, 2026. The announcement leaves out the 15% Aave Group equity stake discussed in June.

Key Facts

  • Payward said it may buy more AAVE, and both companies are exploring a collaboration they have not described.
  • Aave’s protocol holds about $33 billion in net deposits and $11 billion in active loans, according to the announcement.
  • Gurpreet Oberoi, Payward’s vice president of asset management and institutional, tied the purchase to client demand for DeFi exposure.

Payward buys AAVE without the June equity piece

Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP, a Payward-affiliated investment fund, made the purchases alongside its asset management clients. Payward, which is based in Wyoming, bought from existing holders on the open market rather than directly from Aave.

That structure looks very different from the one on the table over the summer. As first reported by CoinDesk, the June proposal had Payward investing 35,000 ether for 250,000 AAVE tokens plus common equity in Aave Group. The package valued Aave Group at $385 million.

Today @Payward, the unified financial infrastructure platform that powers @krakenfx, announced that Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP, a Payward-affiliated investment fund, and its clients acquired AAVE tokens. The AAVE tokens were acquired through secondary market purchases, and Payward may make additional acquisitions in the future. Payward and Aave are also exploring opportunities to collaborate on future initiatives. As traditional and onchain markets converge, Payward believes DeFi is an integral part of the global financial system, with Aave playing a leading role in this evolution.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov disputed that report the same day, saying Aave would not sell AAVE at a 70% discount. A secondary-market purchase sidesteps his objection. Payward pays whatever sellers accept, and Aave hands over nothing from its own holdings.

A person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk the open-market route signals alignment between the two companies and could set up future work together. The announcement does not say whether the equity talks ended or simply stalled.

The buy feeds Payward’s asset management build-out

Payward has organized its expansion around four pillars: trading, banking, asset management and Payward Services. The services unit supplies financial infrastructure to banks, fintechs and other platforms. The asset management arm covers digital assets, structured yield and tokenized investments.

Oberoi said the investment reflects Payward’s “long-term conviction in onchain credit markets and DeFi.” He also pointed to growing client demand for exposure to that infrastructure. Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, called the tie-up a strategic step toward reaching the next wave of retail and institutional users.

Aave’s lending protocol lets users deposit crypto to earn interest and borrow against their holdings through smart contracts. That makes it a different kind of purchase for a company that has spent 2026 buying regulated businesses outright.

Payward closed its Bitnomial derivatives acquisition, a deal worth up to $550 million, to gain a U.S. derivatives exchange. It then completed its purchase of Reap, a stablecoin payments firm, on 1st July, 2026, in a deal valued at up to $600 million.

Those deals gave Payward control of licensed rails. With Aave, it gets something narrower: a stake in a token whose holders, not a board, steer protocol and treasury votes. The company also took in outside capital this year, including Deutsche Borse’s $200 million investment in April.

The Open Questions

The announcement leaves several questions open:

  • How many AAVE tokens did the fund and its clients buy, and at what average price?
  • Did the Aave Group equity discussions end, or are they on hold?
  • What does the planned collaboration cover, and is there a start date?
  • How much of the position belongs to Payward itself versus its clients?

For current AAVE holders, the place to watch is Aave governance, where any new institutional holder gains a say on proposals. Payward has put one commitment on the record: it may buy more. Until it discloses a size, the position and the votes behind it stay a figure only Payward and its clients can see.