Odaily Planet Daily report: Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, stated that partnering with Payward is a strategic step to bring Aave to a broader base of retail and institutional users. Payward said it has purchased an undisclosed amount of AAVE on the secondary market through its asset management client, Digital Asset Special Investments I, and may continue to increase its holdings; both parties are exploring future collaboration opportunities. According to sources, this arrangement evolved from earlier negotiations that had initially involved both tokens and equity, but this announcement only discloses the token purchase. The Aave protocol currently has net deposits of approximately $33 billion and active loans of approximately $11 billion.