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Deposits on Aave’s Monad market crossed $100 million on Saturday, roughly two days after the lending protocol deployed V3 on the network.The Monad Foundation committed $15 million in first-year incentives and agreed to acquire and hold 10 million GHO to seed the deployment, according to Aave governance documents.Aave’s V4 deployment also crossed $250 million in deposits on Saturday, a new all-time high for that version of the protocol.

Perp DEXs are the fastest-growing sector in Web3, now >10% of all crypto perpetuals volume, up from under 2% in early 2023Grvt is treating it’s perp dex exchange as the foundation for an onchain wealth platformTokenized institutional product on Ethereum has grown from ~$5B to >$24B in 18 months, with BlackRock, Apollo, Franklin Templeton, and Janus Henderson now onchain, while hundreds of billions in stablecoins sit idle earning nothing.Grvt’s 2026 roadmap spans four layers, Earn, Trade, Invest, and Pay, all on Unified Margin to develop an onchain wealth layerThis piece is unlocked by GrvtEarn on Equity lets a trading balance earn yield while still serving as margin, so deposited capital continues to generate a return rather than sitting idle. Grvt describes it as the first program to combine these functions. The mechanism is still being iterated: it currently pays up to 11% on an activity-tiered basis but is moving toward a model in which a base yield accrues automatically on every idle balance from the moment of deposit, with no tasks or tiers to unlock. Within the broader yield stack, it functions as the base layer, providing a default return on idle capital.L1 Liquidity Expansion extends the productive reach of deposited capital beyond Grvt itself by connecting to external DeFi protocols via ZKsync's Atlas infrastructure. The integration with Aave, launched in February 2026, allows Grvt deposits to earn yield through Ethereum's largest lending protocol without leaving the trading account or interrupting their availability as margin.Prime Brokerage Lending, announced as part of Grvt's 2026 roadmap, is a native under-collateralized lending marketplace built on smart contracts. Grvt provides 80% of each loan while the trader posts 20% equity as a first-loss tranche, absorbing losses before depositor capital is exposed. Positions are automatically liquidated if the maintenance margin falls below the required threshold, and depositor yield is tied directly to real trading demand inside the same system.Grvt Invest is the platform's managed investment layer, which directs deposited capital into real-world strategies chosen by Grvt and adjusted as market conditions shift. Its starting point was the GLP vault, a delta-neutral market-making strategy that is community-owned and operated alongside Ampersan, a group of ex-Optiver traders; it carries no management or performance fees, and depositors receive all of the yield. The offering has since grown to include curated RWA bundles, the first of which launched with Plume. These come in two forms: a Balanced bundle aiming for around 4.5% from senior AAA-rated credit, including exposure to BlackRock's CLOs, and an Opportunistic bundle aiming for around 11% from higher-risk private credit. The GLP and community strategies remain available next to them. Entry points are notably low. Strategies that typically demand accreditation and six-figure commitments elsewhere can be accessed from $1, with Grvt putting up the minimum from its own balance sheet and passing on fractional exposure to users.

Framework Ventures launched a $400 million fund to invest in crypto, artificial intelligence, robotics, and energy startups.About half of the new capital has already been deployed, with support from sovereign wealth funds, endowments, funds of funds, and nonprofit investors.Framework joined firms such as Haun Ventures and Paradigm in expanding beyond crypto as venture investment increasingly targets artificial intelligence.

Kraken is in talks to acquire a 15% stake in Aave through a deal that values the DeFi protocol at $385 million.The proposed investment would include 35,000 ETH, 250,000 AAVE tokens, and a 15% equity stake in Aave Group, CoinDesk reported.The discussions extend Payward’s expansion beyond crypto trading after recent moves into regulated derivatives and tokenized financial products.

Kraken is in talks to acquire a 15% stake in Aave through a deal that values the DeFi protocol at $385 million.The proposed investment would include 35,000 ETH, 250,000 AAVE tokens, and a 15% equity stake in Aave Group, CoinDesk reported.The discussions extend Payward’s expansion beyond crypto trading after recent moves into regulated derivatives and tokenized financial products.

CoinDesk reported Kraken parent firm Payward is in talks to buy a 15% stake in the protocol at a $385 million valuation, which would severely undervalue AAVE’s FDV.Kulechov earlier this year submitted a radical governance proposal that redirected all Aave Labs, protocol, and product revenue to the Aave DAO and token holders.

Bitcoin to $500K, Ethereum to $40K, and Aave to $3,500 by the end of 2030? Standard Chartered just laid out some bullish price targets.

CFTC may turn its Phantom no-action stance into rules for non-custodial crypto software developers soon.The Phantom letter said some self-custody wallet providers may avoid broker registration under stated conditions.Selig also said CFTC will keep suing states over prediction market rules it says breach federal authority.

Fun powers deposits, withdrawals, and settlement flows for some of crypto’s leading apps, including Polymarket, Lighter, and Aave.Multicoin Capital and SignalFire co-led its $72 million Series A funding round, which will support expansion plans, including a new Singapore office and potential acquisitions.

Mantle Network says its rsETH relief credit facility proposal for Aave has moved into the governance voting stage on Snapshot, with MNT holders required to delegate before they can vote.The proposal would let Mantle’s treasury lend up to 30,000 ETH to Aave’s DeFi United recovery effort, giving users more orderly ways to exit or restructure positions impacted by the April 18 rsETH exploit.DeFi United, the multi‑DAO rescue initiative led by Aave, has now raised 1,137,714.633 ETH—about $314.57 million at current prices—from commitments across at least six DAOs and multiple major protocols.

Circle Ventures’ purchase of Aave’s $AAVE token is being framed as “direct support for DeFi infrastructure.”The move lands days after Aave absorbed fallout from a $293M KelpDAO exploit and over $170M in bad debt.The deal comes as Circle positions itself around a looming U.S. stablecoin bill that could reshape its core USDC business.

Mantle proposed a 30,000 ETH loan to help Aave cover bad debt from Kelp’s exploit.The loan would use Mantle Treasury funds and carry yield based on Lido staking APR.Aave would secure the facility with revenue and at least $11M worth of AAVE tokens.

Over $606 million was stolen from crypto protocols across 12 incidents in the first 18 days of April 2026, according to DefiLlama data.Two attacks, the $285 million Drift Protocol exploit and the $292 million KelpDAO breach, account for approximately 95% of April’s losses.April’s total is already 3.7 times larger than the entire first quarter’s combined losses of $165.5 million, with the month not yet over.

Vercel has confirmed it was compromised after a member of a hacking forum put the company’s information up for sale for $2 million.

The Aave token fell nearly 20% to $89.5 in just over 24 hours as users withdrew billions of dollars from the lending protocol.

After attackers drained $291 million in crypto from Kelp DAO-linked infrastructure, DeFi users struggled on Aave to withdraw funds.