[Aave Founder Plans to Relaunch ETHLend in 2026] Aave founder and CEO Stani posted on the X platform stating that Bitcoin collateral is genuine Bitcoin, without the need for wrapping, and promised to relaunch ETHLend in 2026. It is understood that ETHLend is an independent lending application and the predecessor of Aave. In 2018, Aave was rebranded from ETHLend into a decentralized peer-to-peer lending marketplace.