The prominent decentralized finance [DeFi] money market, Aave, is preparing for the launch of its “pro” version dubbed “Aave Pro,” a permissioned platform for institutional investors sometime in July. Stani Kulechov, the founder of the platform had first teased about the professional version two months back.
According to the announcement, Aave Pro would enable the entry of institutions, fintech, and the corporate world to access decentralized finance grade yields on the platform after certain criteria are met.
Besides, right after the development, the protocol’s native token AAVE noted a fresh uptick despite a market-wide dull price action. It jumped by 30% weekly, which drove its price above $266 at the time of writing. It was the fourth-largest DeFi token with a market cap of $3.38 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $481 million.
What does Aave Pro entail?
A DeFi trader also shared a screenshot of the email sent out by Aave which revealed that the Pro platform leverages tested and audited V2 smart contracts. Only participants with proper Know-Your-Customer [KYC] verification will be allowed to access its pool. Initially, the launch will introduce support for just four assets – Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, and Aave, due to institutional demand. Additionally, the liquidity pools of Pro will be kept separate from that of the regular liquidity pools of the decentralized lending protocol.
Eventually, the platform also intends to decentralize the governance of Aave Pro.
It also stated that the Pro edition will be launched in collaboration with digital asset and settlement Fireblocks. The custodian service provider had previously partnered with DeFi platform Compound to enable high-profile market players such as institutions like market makers, hedge funds, and exchanges to access DeFi features via the lending platform.
Meanwhile, this news comes at the heels of an ongoing lawsuit against the security platform by StakeHound. The latter had sued Fireblocks over the alleged deletion of private keys to a wallet that had 38,178 ETH, equating to more than $72 million at the time.