Aave founder Stani: The valuation of DeFi lending protocols should not be primarily based on TVL

Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov tweeted that the valuation of DeFi lending protocols should not primarily refer to TVL, as it measures net collateral rather than lending activity. Comparing data from the end of 2025, Aave's supply scale is about $52 billion, active loans about $22 billion, loan interest flow over $700 million, and DAO retention about $150 million; SoFi has deposits of about $37.5 billion, a loan book of about $38 billion, loan income of about $1.8 billion, and net profit of about $481 million.

Stani stated that in traditional finance, deposits are liabilities or capital costs, and loans are interest-bearing assets, with lenders typically assessing based on the loan book, interest income, interest spread, and asset growth; however, the DeFi market mainly focuses on TVL and DAO retention fees. He believes that Aave is closer to over $700 million in lending business under a traditional financial accounting framework, rather than a $150 million revenue protocol; TVL is not the revenue basis for lending protocols, but the loan book and interest flow are the core.