AAVE token experienced a significant price rally on August 23, advancing 18.7% to reach $355.29 over a 24-hour period. The surge positioned Aave’s governance token as the leading gainer among the top 40 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The sharp ascent was driven by two primary factors: the deployment of Aave V3 on the Aptos network and dovish commentary from the Federal Reserve Chair at the Jackson Hole symposium, both of which injected new momentum into decentralized finance markets.
The Aptos expansion marked Aave’s first non-EVM launch, featuring a complete rewrite of protocol code in the Move language. The mainnet deployment was supported by a series of security audits, a public capture-the-flag competition and a $500,000 bug bounty. Initial markets were launched with supply and borrow caps to control risk, and key assets such as APT, sUSDe, USDT and USDC were enabled for on-chain liquidity provisioning. The move signaled a strategic shift toward multi-chain interoperability after five years of EVM exclusivity, with Chainlink providing price feeds and third-party auditors certifying the codebase integrity.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks at Jackson Hole reinforced investor expectations of an imminent interest rate cut in September. CME FedWatch data showed that odds for a quarter-point reduction rose to 83% following the speech, fueling risk asset demand across equity and digital asset markets. Aave benefited from the dovish pivot, as traders rotated into assets perceived to be more sensitive to policy easing and yield expansion within DeFi protocols.
Another element cited by analysts was Aave’s exposure to World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which proposed its own Aave V3 instance on Ethereum mainnet. Under the agreement, AaveDAO received 20% of WLFI’s protocol fees and 7% of its governance tokens. With WLFI’s token trading set to begin on September 1 at an implied valuation of $27.3 billion, Aave’s allocation could represent nearly $1.9 billion of protocol value—more than a third of Aave’s fully diluted market capitalization. Delphi Digital analysts argued that this fee-stream exposure may be undervalued by the market and contributed to the rally.
Technical indicators highlighted sustained buying pressure at key price levels. CoinDesk Research data showed that AAVE climbed from $297.75 to $353.22 between August 22 at 12:00 UTC and August 23 at 11:00 UTC, with trading volumes consistently exceeding 3,000 units at price bands around $352.55, $353.98 and $355.52. The most pronounced movement occurred at 14:00 UTC on August 22, when volume reached 340,907 units—more than three times the daily average—indicating methodical institutional positioning.
Looking ahead, market participants will monitor whether the combined impact of cross-chain expansion and potential WLFI token unlocks maintains bullish sentiment. A sustained close above $355 could open the path toward $400, where historical supply clusters may induce consolidation. Conversely, failure to hold recent gains may trigger a retreat to the $330–$340 support band, representing a key risk management zone for leveraged positions. Overall, AAVE’s performance underscores the growing appetite for DeFi innovation beyond ETH mainnet, with multi-chain deployments and strategic fee agreements driving token flows into governance assets.
Comments (0)