Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov said on August 22, 2026, that total deposits on the lending protocol had crossed $30 billion, a 30% increase in the third quarter, and wrote on X: "Aave deposits reached $30B. Liquidity is back." The figure counts all assets supplied to Aave, including capital that has been borrowed against and redeployed, so it differs from DeFiLlama’s Total Value Locked reading of about $17.6 billion in mid-August and from roughly $10 billion in active loans. Aave V4 deposits grew from about $50 million at its early-May launch to more than $400 million by mid-August, while lifetime deposits have reached $3.46 trillion. The current total remains below net deposits of more than $50 billion in mid-2025 and TVL above $40 billion in early 2026, making the milestone a recovery from a drawdown rather than an all-time high. Aave began as ETHLend in 2017, rebranded in 2018 and adopted a liquidity-pool model; governance is conducted through the AAVE token. The milestone also arrived as ETH rose 28% in a week to about $2,406, XRP gained 47% to $1.48 and BTC traded near $76,897 after a 1.1% daily decline, while the Fear and Greed index stood at 75, or "Greed." Rising collateral prices can lift deposit values and encourage stablecoin borrowing, but liquidation risk remains. Key indicators are whether deposits hold above $30 billion as prices cool and whether borrowing increases enough to absorb the additional supply.