Multicoin Capital deposited all 286,057 AAVE tokens ($26.68M) into Coinbase Prime on May 16. The fund bought 338,005 AAVE at an average of $218 per token in late 2025, now down nearly 60% to $88. Coinbase Prime deposits by institutional funds historically tend to precede large structured OTC exits.
While bitcoin has reclaimed levels above $100,000 in 2026, many DeFi tokens have failed to keep pace. AAVE, which powers one of the largest decentralized lending protocols with billions in total value locked (TVL), has not benefited proportionally from the bitcoin-led cycle. Furthermore, Multicoin's position illustrates the structural
This 'Black Paper' is a cultural exploration, not a trend report. The ethnographic research reveals how a community turns language into currency, ritualizes economic solidarity, and uses political engagement in daily survival.
When a Bitcoin owner wants to generate yield from their holdings, they typically go to a third party. That middleman is usually a stablecoin issuer or exchange like Tether or Coinbase that allows the holder to swap their Bitcoin for collateral-in the form of stablecoin or wrapped BTC-to be used in lending protocols like Aave. Now a Stanford professor named David Tse is promoting a new alternative to those systems.