Aave , formerly ETHLend, is a decentralized non-custodial borrowing and lending protocol that lets users deposit assets into liquidity pools to earn returns and borrow assets at a variable or fixed interest rate. It was launched in 2017 by Stani Kulechov, following a $17.8 million initial coin offering (ICO). Aave also allows users to take out uncollateralized, ultra-short duration loans known as .