Grayscale Launches Aave Trust

Grayscale, an asset manager with over $20 billion in assets under management (AUM), has rolled out a new Aave fund for its clients. More than $150,000 has been deposited into the fund as of yesterday.

AAVE spiked 2.5% today to $142, and the token has more than doubled this year.

“Grayscale Aave Trust gives investors exposure to a protocol with the potential to revolutionize traditional finance,” said Grayscale’s Head of Product & Research, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, in a press release. “By leveraging blockchain technology and smart contracts, Aave's decentralized platform aims to optimize lending and borrowing while removing intermediaries and reducing reliance on human judgment.”

The move will give traditional investors exposure to DeFi’s largest lending protocol. According to DefiLlama, Aave has more than $11 billion in total value locked (TVL), which places it firmly in first place, followed by Tron-based JustLend with $5.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Grayscale has been bleeding assets since the beginning of the year. On Jan. 11, the firm held $28 billion in AUM, which has since plummeted more than 50%. Most of that is due to clients exiting their GBTC shares after spot ETFs went live. Clients have been doing something similar with their ETHE shares.

Nevertheless, Grayscale remains of the largest holders of Bitcoin, with more than 220,000 BTC or $13 billion.