Standard Chartered: Aave $3,500 target by 2030 after KelpDAO shock
Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick initiated coverage of Aave (AAVE) and set a $3,500 price target by end-2030, implying roughly a 50x upside from about $70. Kendrick said Aave has largely worked through the April KelpDAO rsETH cross-chain bridge incident, with onchain lending activity starting to recover.
In April, the KelpDAO exploit reportedly involved about $290 million in stolen tokens used as collateral on Aave to borrow real-world assets. The protocol faced potential losses of up to about $230 million, driving deposit outflows and raising contagion concerns across DeFi.
Looking ahead, Kendrick highlighted a key tailwind: “actively used” tokenized assets in DeFi are expected to expand 37-fold by 2030. Because Aave’s revenue is closely linked to lending and deposits, the report argues that this growth could translate into AAVE token upside. Additional catalysts mentioned include a potential restart of Aave buybacks and support from the Horizon initiative for permissioned lending against tokenized real-world assets.
At the time of reporting, Aave was up around 5.6% over 24 hours and trading near $76, as the broader crypto backdrop was described as improving with capital returning to DeFi.
Bullish
The later article keeps the bullish framing but adds clearer market context: Aave’s ability to recover after the KelpDAO rsETH bridge disruption reduces near-term tail risk versus the immediate aftermath. The $3,500/2030 target reinforces the institutional narrative that Aave can capture upside as tokenized assets scale. For trading, this likely supports dip-buying and improves sentiment toward AAVE if onchain lending volumes and deposit flows continue to normalize. However, the event history still matters for volatility, and any delays in buyback restarts or Horizon rollout could temper follow-through—so the edge is constructive but not risk-free.