Aave Poised to Capture Tokenized Asset Growth in DeFi

Standard Chartered, a global bank, has identified Aave as a potential beneficiary of tokenized assets in decentralized finance (DeFi). According to the bank's research note, Aave is well-positioned to capture growth in DeFi.

The bank's global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, said that active tokenized assets in DeFi could drive more deposits into Aave. Kendrick noted that despite recent setbacks, including a $292 million cybertheft incident involving KelpDAO, the outlook for Aave is bullish.

Aave's October 2025 deposit base of about $75 billion would have ranked alongside the 30th-largest US bank by deposits, according to Standard Chartered. The bank expects Aave to recover part of that scale as tokenized assets become more widely used as collateral and sources of liquidity within DeFi.

Standard Chartered's research note also mentioned Uniswap as a possible trading hub for tokenized markets due to its scale, brand, and history of operating through multiple crypto market cycles.