Maple Finance, a prominent on-chain asset manager with over $3.1 billion under management, has formed a strategic partnership with Aave, the leading decentralized lending protocol boasting a total value locked (TVL) exceeding $40 billion. This collaboration aims to bridge institutional-grade assets with Aave’s expansive DeFi lending ecosystem.
The integration will begin with Maple’s syrupUSDT on Aave’s Plasma platform, followed by the addition of syrupUSDC on Aave’s core market. Plans are underway to incorporate further Maple assets over time, enhancing the diversity and depth of liquidity available to users. The partnership is designed to enhance capital efficiency, stabilize borrowing demand, and fortify liquidity within Aave’s variable lending framework.
Sid Powell, CEO and co-founder of Maple Finance, commented on the collaboration, highlighting its significance for institutional participation in decentralized markets. Powell stated, “By bringing curated institutional yield products into Aave’s liquidity pools, we enable more efficient and transparent capital flows on-chain.” He noted that this alliance reflects the growing sophistication of the DeFi space as leading protocols collaborate to build infrastructure supportive of real institutional engagement.
The timing of this announcement comes amid sustained growth in the broader DeFi sector, which has seen its total value locked climb approximately 76% year-over-year to reach near $160 billion.
Maple’s recent developments underscore its momentum within the DeFi landscape. Just a day prior, Maple’s syrupUSDC token was listed on Fluid, a decentralized liquidity platform. This addition allows syrupUSDC to serve as collateral across multiple stablecoin pairs including USDC, USDT, and the newly introduced GHO stablecoin, offering borrowers up to 90% loan-to-value (LTV) and providing a 1% USDC reward incentive as announced on Fluid’s social channels.
Further expanding its DeFi footprint, Maple revealed a partnership in June with Lido Finance, the foremost liquid staking protocol managing over $33 billion in TVL. This collaboration facilitates stablecoin credit lines collateralized by staked Ether (stETH), broadening the utility and credit access for users holding staked assets.
Earlier in the year, Maple extended its syrupUSDC token to the Solana blockchain, which itself hosts a substantial DeFi TVL exceeding $13 billion. This move illustrates Maple’s commitment to multi-chain integration and liquidity diversification.
Despite a downward movement in Maple’s native SYRUP token price, currently trading around $0.35 and down roughly 6% on the day in line with overall crypto market trends, the asset manager has experienced remarkable TVL growth. According to DefiLlama data, Maple’s TVL surged from $298 million at the beginning of 2025 to nearly $2.9 billion, underscoring the platform’s rapid expansion within the institutional DeFi segment.
This partnership between Maple Finance and Aave represents a notable step forward in connecting institutional capital with decentralized lending markets, potentially accelerating mainstream adoption and liquidity robustness within DeFi.