Aave has officially surpassed $1 trillion in cumulative lending volume, becoming the first decentralized finance protocol in history to reach the milestone. The announcement, made on February 25 via the project's official channels, marks a defining moment for onchain credit markets and the broader DeFi ecosystem.

From ETHLend to Trillion-Dollar Protocol

Aave's journey to this milestone began in 2017, when it launched under the name ETHLend — a peer-to-peer lending experiment on Ethereum. After rebranding in 2018, the protocol evolved into a pooled liquidity model where users deposit digital assets to earn yield while borrowers access capital by posting crypto as collateral. That deceptively simple architecture has since scaled into one of the largest liquidity hubs in all of crypto.

The $1 trillion figure represents cumulative loan originations — the total value of every loan processed since inception — rather than current outstanding debt, which sits at roughly $17 billion. The number naturally reflects repeat borrowing cycles, refinancing, leverage loops, and sustained stablecoin demand, but it nonetheless signals extraordinary recurring usage and deep market trust in the protocol's smart contract infrastructure.

The Numbers Behind the Milestone

Aave's dominance in DeFi lending is clear across every key metric. The protocol currently secures over $27.2 billion in total value locked (TVL), placing it well ahead of competitors like Morpho, JustLend, SparkLend, Maple, and Compound Finance. Over the past 30 days alone, Aave has generated approximately $83.3 million in fees — nearly four times higher than its closest rival.

The growth trajectory accelerated sharply in recent quarters. By the end of 2025, Aave had captured an estimated 61.5% of the active DeFi loan market and roughly 29% of total DeFi TVL. Total deposits had already exceeded $3 trillion, with cumulative lending approaching the trillion-dollar threshold before the final push in early 2026.