Aave founder Stani Kulechov spends $33 million to buy a five-story luxury home in London

Aave Founder Stani Kulechov Spends Approximately $30 Million to Buy a Five-Story Luxury Home in Notting Hill, London Amidst a Sluggish UK High-End Real Estate Market and DeFi Development, Becoming a Benchmark Case of Crypto Entrepreneurs “Cashing Out.”
(Previous context: The 2025 Whale Suffering Report: Luxury Home Kidnappings, Supply Chain Poisoning, and Billions of Dollars Liquidated)
(Additional background: Thai homeowner sells riverside mansion for 3.88 Bitcoin, now buying at a 31% discount?)

According to Bloomberg, DeFi lending protocol Aave founder Stani Kulechov purchased a five-story Victorian-style mansion in Notting Hill, London, in November 2024 for £22 million (about $30 million). This transaction is described as one of the highest-priced deals in London’s high-end residential market in nearly a year. The property overlooks the entire Notting Hill scenery, and the sale price was about £2 million lower than the previous asking price from the broker.

Since the actual address of the mansion has not been publicly disclosed, below is an “AI sample video” of a Notting Hill mansion, which may be similar to this type of property, allowing everyone to imagine:

DeFi Wealth “Materializes”

The market views this transaction as a luxury real estate deal on the surface, but behind it is the cash-out story of a DeFi startup. As one of the leading DeFi lending protocols in market capitalization and total value locked, Aave has long been regarded as a “building block” project in the crypto space.

The founder was able to personally allocate about $30 million into real estate, effectively converting part of the wealth stored on-chain—token valuations and equity—into physical assets in central London.

The report notes that this transaction occurred after the UK Labour government increased stamp duty and eliminated tax benefits for ultra-high-net-worth foreign residents. Policy tightening has increased holding costs for high-value homes. Coupled with the global interest rate environment, London’s luxury housing market has faced overall pressure. Data shows that by December 2025, the transaction volume for homes over £5 million decreased by about 40% year-over-year.

Against this backdrop, the £22 million Notting Hill mansion sale is seen by the market as one of the few bright spots in a dull high-end property market.

Looking at this luxury purchase within a broader timeline, it resembles a microcosm of a phase in the crypto industry: over the past few years, protocol tokens, platform equity, and ecosystem rewards have enabled a group of founders to accumulate significant paper and cash wealth. As regulation tightens and crypto market volatility increases, some funds are beginning to shift toward traditional safe-haven assets, including blue-chip stocks, gold, and real estate in major international cities.

Market Perception

However, such large personal asset allocations are inevitably scrutinized under a magnifying glass. The report mentions that Stani Kulechov has not publicly commented on this luxury home transaction. For most DeFi protocols, the founder’s image and governance culture are highly intertwined. Any personal investment decision involving tens of millions of dollars is often interpreted by the community as a statement on the protocol’s future, token value, and personal risk tolerance.