AAVE has hit another all-time high, breaking $500 after famous investor Mark Cuban revealed the token is part of his portfolio.
The Cuban Effect
The strong rally sees the Aave (AAVE) token’s market capitalization soar to $6.2 billion. This places it within spitting distance of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, behind Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Moreover, the top Decentralized Finance (DeFi) project now boasts nearly $4.5 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), a measure of the value of cryptocurrencies staked in DeFi projects. This cements its position as the number two DeFi project by TVL, behind Maker. However, with only $900 million separating the two, Aave may soon take the top spot.
Cuban, famous for his role as the main shark in the reality television series Shark Tank, announced during an AMA that AAVE is part of his cryptocurrency portfolio. The investor specifically mentioned DeFi in one of his responses, adding that he owns AAVE, SUSHI, ETH, BTC, and LTC.
AAVE Leads the DeFi Pack
AAVE’s rally leads a wider market appreciation for the DeFi space. On Thur 4 Feb., TVL soared past $30 billion, an all-time high. This is in part due to AAVE, as its TVL grew 25% since the start of the year. The combined TVL currently sits at $32.5 billion.
Other DeFi tokens are also seeing daily all-time highs. SushiSwap’s native token SUSHI rose above $16 for the first time since its launch, setting an all-time high and moving into price discovery. It also climbed the DeFi TVL league table, reaching sixth place after its rally, with a TVL of $2.9 billion. This puts it just behind the fifth place holder, Curve Finance ($3.4 billion).
Alpha Finance Lab (ALPHA) also made waves this week, following the release of its much anticipated leveraged-staking product Alpha Homora v2. Since January 22, ALPHA’s TVL climbed just under 100%, securing it a place in the top ten DeFi projects by TVL.
Endorsements Are in This Alt-Season
Celebrity endorsements characterize this year’s alt-season. Earlier today, Feb 4., after a brief absence, Dogecoin’s (DOGE) honorary CEO, Elon Musk, returned to Twitter with a spate of DOGE-related Tweets.
As is now the custom, this caused the price to almost double in the space of a few hours. The frequency of Musk’s endorsements prompted a study by the Blockchain Research Lab, which specifically looked at his impact on DOGE and Bitcoin (BTC).
It seems Cuban has taken some inspiration from the world’s richest man. And if Cuban continues at this pace, he might be the focus of his own study. At press time, AAVE was trading hands around $497.00 a coin.