Daniel Walker
Aave Labs, the organization behind the largest decentralized crypto lending protocol, has acquired San Francisco-based Stable Finance in an acqui-hire, signaling continued consolidation within the stablecoin and consumer DeFi sector.
The acquisition brings Stable Financeโs engineering team under the Aave umbrella, while founder Mario Baxter Cabrera joins as director of product, helping to steer new consumer-focused initiatives.
Stable Finance built a high-yield iOS application offering users access to peer-to-peer lending markets without the complexity often associated with decentralized finance. The platform has reportedly handled $38 billion in deposits, delivering low-volatility returns through interest accrual, similar to high-yield savings or bond accounts. Yields for Stable users have reportedly reached 16.52% by lending to decentralized markets.
Under Aave, the Stable platform will be phased out, while the team will focus on developing new consumer apps and DeFi products for mainstream users, aligning with Aaveโs goal of making on-chain finance part of everyday financial activity.
Strategic Vision: Bringing On-Chain Finance to Mainstream Users
Aave founder Stani Kulechov emphasized the strategic rationale: โWe believe the future of finance is on-chain, and this acquisition reinforces our commitment to turning on-chain finance into everyday finance โ earning interest, borrowing, and saving. Mario and the Stable team have built unique technology supporting a seamless user experience that will help accelerate our consumer roadmap and extend the Aave protocol to new users.โ
Broader Context and DeFi Market Trends
The acquisition follows a period of growth and innovation for Aave, including the launch of its institutional lending platform Horizon, which recently surpassed $300 million in deposits, and the integration of new collateral from Maple Finance.
Stable Financeโs integration reflects a broader M&A trend in the stablecoin and fintech sectors, including Modern Treasuryโs acquisition of Beam and an alleged multi-billion-dollar bidding war for BVNK between Coinbase and Mastercard.
Aaveโs Growth Metrics
Aave v3 has experienced significant growth in recent months, reaching a new all-time high TVL of $26.09 billion. The protocol continues to generate between $2 million and $4 million in daily fees since mid-July, according to PRIME.
Terms of the Stable Finance acquisition were not disclosed, though the integration positions Aave to expand its consumer DeFi offerings and accelerate adoption among mainstream users.
