Standard Chartered issued a long-term outlook that AAVE, the native token of decentralised finance lending protocol Aave, could rise to $3,500 by the end of 2030. That would be about 50 times its price of around $70 at the time of writing, the report said. The bank cited rapid growth in the DeFi market and projected tokenised-asset inflows. It also flagged recent setbacks tied to a hacking incident at KelpDAO and said recovery signs were emerging.

Ethereum fell below $2,000 for the first time since early 2025, and its market-cap dominance slipped to 9.43% as bitcoin’s rose to 57.7%. Derivatives markets saw heavier liquidations and rising open interest. DeFi activity weakened, with fees at record lows and assets locked in Ethereum-based DeFi protocols down to $41.78 billion from above $91.0 billion in August 2025. ETF outflows also returned.