Aave (LEND) Mounts 1,500% YTD; What’s Pumping This DeFi Token?

• Aave, an Ethereum-based peer-to-peer lending platform, has emerged as one of the top investments in 2020.
• On Friday, the project’s native token, LEND, was trading 1,500 percent higher on a year-to-date (YTD) timeframe.
• Its parabolic rally appeared following a long string of positive fundamentals, including a $3 million inbound investment.

Aave has reached the moon before its top cryptocurrency rival, Bitcoin. The Ethereum-based peer-to-peer lending platform allows users to earn interest on deposits and borrow assets with a stable or variable interest rate. At the core of Aave’s business model is LEND, a cryptocurrency token that powers the platform’s in-house finance.

As a tradable asset, the LEND price reflects Aave’s growth in the emerging decentralized finance space. And the token has not disappointed its holders so far into 2020.

The LEND/USD exchange rate surged by 1,500 percent this year. Just today, the pair established its YTD high at $0.314. LEND similarly rose against Bitcoin, the benchmark cryptocurrency that currently sits atop a 30 percent YTD profit. The LEND/BTC rate jumped 1,168 percent.

LEND leaves Bitcoin behind with a 1,500% price rally. Source: 

Beginning of Aave Rally

Much of the Aave token’s gains this year come from a broader crypto uptrend. After the infamous global market rout in the first quarter, wherein the cryptocurrency tokens jointly lost nearly $200 billion, LEND too plunged by almost 73 percent.

But the Federal Reserve’s open-ended stimulus policy at the end of March helped the markets recover. Bitcoin rose by as much as 170 percent from its March nadir. Meanwhile, it’s rival cryptocurrencies jumped higher on pure speculation.

LEND particularly benefited from the booming DeFi craze. Most of the cryptocurrency tokens involved with the decentralized finance models, be it staking, lending, or custody, surged higher in the second quarter by triple-digit percentages.

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Aave further utilized the DeFi hype entering the third quarter by announcing back-to-back updates. On July 7,  the platform’s CEO Stani Kulechov introduced Credit Delegation, whereby depositors can supply assets like stablecoin USDT to Aave but with an intention to delegate to a borrower.

The service enables borrowers to obtain loans from Aave without showing collateral. The LEND/USD exchange rate surged 27 percent a day ahead of the announcement. It experienced minor pullbacks on its way up.

A $3M Buy Order

Aave’s latest upside action appeared out of a large $3 million buy order. Tech-focused hedge fund Three Arrow Capital and venture capitalist Framework Ventures invested the said sum into Aave in return for LEND tokens.

Aave looks forward to working with 3 Arrows Capital and on our path toward decentralization, including new tokenomics, protocol governance, and insurance fund staking to bolster the protocol's strength in the event of deficits. Read more: — Aave Labs (@aave)

The investment pushed Aave to the third spot of the top DeFi projects, according to data provided by Dune Analytics. LEND’s net worth now stands $33,00 below its all-time high.