Payward, the parent of Kraken, and its clients have bought an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens on the secondary market, CoinDesk reports. The purchases went through Digital Asset Special Investments I, LP, a Payward-affiliated fund, and its asset management clients. The Block reports the same purchase.
Payward says it may buy more and that the two sides are exploring ways to collaborate, without detail. Gurpreet Oberoi, a vice president at its asset management and institutional arm, cited long-term conviction in onchain credit markets and DeFi.
Aave says it has about $33 billion in net deposits and $11 billion in active loans. Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave Labs, called the tie-up a step towards bringing Aave to the next wave of retail and institutional users.
Payward has been busy elsewhere, with deals for Bitnomial worth up to $550 million and for Reap, valued at up to $600 million and completed in July.
Buying on the market, not from Aave, was described by a person familiar with the matter as a signal of alignment. It is also a different deal from the one CoinDesk reported in June, when talks involved 250,000 AAVE tokens and a 15 percent common equity stake in Aave Group at a $385 million valuation.
Thursday’s announcement makes no mention of equity.
Missing are the number of tokens, the price paid and the identity of the clients. Without them the purchase cannot be sized, and whether the June equity talks are dead, paused or folded into the collaboration has not been said.
