Aave, Solana lead crypto price gains as bitcoin (BTC) steadies near $60,000

Bitcoin BTC$60,156.64 found some footing around $60,000 on Friday after this week’s selloff, but the biggest gains came from decentralized finance (DeFi) and the Solana ecosystem.

Leading the advance was the native token of Aave AAVE$94.88, the largest DeFi lending protocol, which jumped 19% over the past 24 hours. CoinDesk reported Thursday that crypto exchange Kraken is exploring a strategic investment tied to the lending protocol, acquiring a 15% stake at a $385 million valuation.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov pushed back in an X post against the suggestion that Aave assets could be sold at a steep discount. He reiterated that all protocol revenue — currently running at an annualized $134 million, he said. — flows to the Aave DAO and ultimately benefits AAVE token holders under the protocol’s recently adopted “Aave Will Win” framework.

Kulechov also teased “Aavenomics 3.0,” an upcoming overhaul for the token’s design that will introduce an automated buyback mechanism.

Solana activity boosted by tokenized stocks

Solana (SOL), the layer-1 blockchain known for its fast speed, and its ecosystem also outperformed, with SOL climbing nearly 10% on Friday.