DeFi protocol Aave intends to roll out an "Aave Network" chain following the completion of its V4 upgrade.

Stani Kulechov, the founder of the lending protocol, shared this development in a social media post on May 27, stating:

"This is not a drill, Aave Network is planned to come after V4."

While Kulechov didn't offer further details about the plan, he suggested that the chain could be launched "next year for sure or earlier."

According to data from DeFillama, Aave ranks as the largest lending protocol in the DeFi sector, with a total locked asset value of $13.2 billion.

The Aave Network was proposed earlier this month by Aave Labs as part of its strategic 2030 roadmap.

The network is envisioned to serve as the primary hub for Aave and GHO while maintaining a multichain and network-agnostic approach.

The proposal outlined intentions to utilize the GHO stablecoin for gas fees, with the AAVE token serving as the main staking asset for decentralized validators and sequencers.

Aave Labs highlighted its commitment to monitoring the evolution of both Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains before finalizing the network architecture. However, it confirmed that the Aave Network would inherit its security from Ethereum.

The crypto community has responded positively to the news of the Aave Network plans.

Jason Ma, the head of DeFi at Axelar Foundation, remarked:

"All successful apps will launch their own chains over time."

Marc Zeller, the founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, predicted that Aave would become the largest Ethereum Layer with a market size of $20.5 billion, surpassing other Ethereum-based layer-2 networks like Optimism, Arbitrum, and the rapidly growing Coinbase-backed Base network.

He suggested that Aave would rank as the third-largest chain after Ethereum and Tron with that market cap.

Avara, the parent company of Aave, recently announced Lens Network to expand Lens Protocol, built on zkSync technology. Kulechov has been a vocal advocate for the workflow for launching appchains.