Maple and Aave bring institutional credit to DeFi lending

Aave is onboarding structured-yield tokens backed by real-world assets onto its lending protocol by teaming up with Maple.

As institutional appetite for DeFi grows, major players are making moves. On Tuesday, October 21, on-chain asset manager Maple and decentralized lending protocol Aave partnered to bridge the gap between institutional capital and on-chain liquidity.

Notably, Maple will bring yield-bearing assets to Aave, including its yield-bearing stablecoin syrupUSDT. According to the two companies, these “institutional-grade” assets will boost Aave’s liquidity and bring in institutional capital. In addition, the partnership will also allow Aave to access Maple’s network of borrowers.

“This partnership brings together Maple’s high-quality institutional assets with Aave’s deep liquidity and unmatched scale,” said Stani Kulechov, Founder of Aave. “Institutions gain greater utility and deeper liquidity, enabling them to better manage capital.”

The partnership will kick off with the launch of Maple’s yield-bearing stablecoin syrupUSDT on Aave’s Plasma instance. Shortly thereafter, syrupUSDC will launch on Aave’s core market. The two firms stated that more of Maple’s assets will follow.

Maple and Aave to bridge DeFi and TradFi

syrupUSDC and syrupUSDT are tokenized yield-bearing products backed by institutional loans managed by Maple. According to the firm, these overcollateralized assets open up institutional lending opportunities to a broader range of market participants.

“At its core, this integration is about connecting two critical pieces of infrastructure: deep liquidity and high-quality credit,” said Sid Powell Co-Founder, Sid Powell. “Aligning two of the industry’s most established protocols, this move lays the foundation for the next phase of sustainable growth in decentralized finance, where institutional capital and decentralized protocols work together at scale.”

Powell told crypto.news that the partnership “strengthens the core infrastructure of DeFi.” He also stated that it shows how “mature protocols can work together to drive sustainable growth for the entire ecosystem.”