Episode 17 of Layer One, hosted by The Block's Kelvin Sparks and Ava Labs President John Wu, was recorded with Aave Labs Founder Stani Kulechov.

Listen below, and subscribe to Layer One on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please send feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblock.co.

EMBED VIDEO

In Episode 17 of Layer One, The Block’s Kelvin Sparks and Ava Labs President John Wu were joined by Aave Labs Founder Stani Kulechov, who explained how the protocol that processed over $3 trillion in deposits is pointing its infrastructure at tokenized real-world assets — starting with Aave V4's first non-Ethereum deployment on Avalanche and the Horizon securities market. He also breaks down GHO, the forthcoming consumer Aave App, and why he thinks RWAs will double to $100 billion by the end of 2026.

OUTLINE 00:00 - Introductions

03:15 - Aave by the Numbers

04:50 - V4 and Horizon

06:26 - The Great Convergence

11:11 - Why Avalanche

18:19 - Killing the Prime Broker

24:39 - Walled Gardens

32:33 - The GHO Engine

37:18 - The Aave App

44:23 - $100B by 2026

GUEST LINKS Stani Kulechov - x.com/StaniKulechov

Aave - x.com/Aave

HOST LINKS

John Wu - ⁠⁠⁠x.com/John1wu

Kelvin Sparks - x.com/imyoungsparks⁠⁠⁠

The Block - x.com/TheBlockCo

Ava Labs - x.com/avalabs

Avalanche - x.com/avax

The Block Newsletters The Block's newsletters bring you the latest news and analysis of the fast-moving crypto and DeFi markets. To subscribe, visit theblock.co/newsletters

Are you hiring in crypto? Use Campus to quickly find your best candidates with our challenging Crypto Assessment Test.

Faster hiring, stronger teams.

Sign up for a trial today: theblock.co/campus

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.