Kraken Aims to Acquire 15% Stake in Aave at $385 Million Valuation

Crypto exchange Kraken is reportedly in talks to acquire a significant stake in decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Aave. According to CoinDesk, which cited three people with knowledge of the matter, Kraken is looking to purchase a 15% common equity stake in Aave Group at a valuation of $385 million.

The deal would involve Kraken spending 35,000 ether (ETH), worth roughly $71 million, in exchange for 250,000 AAVE tokens. This package is said to be part of a larger agreement that could see other partners syndicate the deal with Kraken.

Aave has faced significant challenges recently after experiencing bad debt following a cross-chain exploit on KelpDAO earlier this year. The incident led to a massive deposit exodus, highlighting the risks and uncertainties in the DeFi space.