Kraken's parent Payward is reportedly negotiating to exchange 35,000 ETH for 250,000 AAVE tokens plus a 15% equity stake in Aave Group, implying a ≈$385M valuation. The deal would be the first investment under Kraken's planned Payward Asset Management initiative, though Aave founder Kulechov disputed the reported terms.
Matters because: It signals growing CEX interest in direct DeFi protocol stakes and a further blur between CeFi and DeFi.