Recently, I was pondering an intriguing idea that seems undervalued in the crypto community. If we accurately calculate the capital expenditures needed to transition the global infrastructure to new technologies, the potential market size for DeFi is approximately $100-200 trillion. For comparison, the ten largest banks on the planet manage only $13 trillion in total. The difference is staggering.

What is this all about? It’s about infrastructure — the very foundation that everything depends on. Energy, computing, transportation, communication, water. These are not just assets; they are the backbone of the abundance world we are moving into. Each of these sectors requires enormous amounts of capital, and here’s where it gets especially interesting for DeFi.

Let’s take solar energy. According to forecasts, funding for solar installations alone will need to be $15-30 trillion by 2050. This is a huge market with predictable cash flows. Data centers and GPUs — another $15-35 trillion. McKinsey predicts that by 2030, $6.7 trillion will need to be invested in these areas. Do you see where this is heading? As computers become more powerful, they take on increasingly complex tasks. This trend will not stop.

Robotics — $8-35 trillion. Automation of human labor will be a defining feature of our future. Electrification of transportation — $10-25 trillion. Nuclear energy, water desalination, key mineral extraction, digital networks — each sector demands tens of trillions. And then there’s space. This could be $2-6 trillion in a conservative scenario, but if launch costs decrease according to the historical curve, it could grow to $10-30 trillion, and in extreme cases — up to $50 trillion.

Now, the main question: how can DeFi and Aave leverage this opportunity? There are two main approaches. The first — through yield-bearing stablecoins. This is when off-chain infrastructure project yields are distributed to users on-chain. Ethena demonstrated how this can work — annual yields on sUSDe are around 10-15%. This creates an interesting cycle: if the yield on the infrastructure product exceeds the cost of capital on Aave ( roughly 4-5%,) there’s an opportunity to borrow liquidity against these stablecoins and reinvest in more profitable assets.

The second approach — direct marginization via tokenized infrastructure as collateral. Here, the yield remains off-chain, but through collateral and demand for loans, it flows into Aave, creating returns for depositors. Both paths make sense depending on the user type and asset.

Is the yield sufficient? The average internal rate of return across sectors looks like this: solar energy — 10%, batteries — 12%, data centers — 13%, charging infrastructure — 13%, space — about 18%. The earlier stage on the cost curve and higher technological risk mean higher yields. Strategies could involve borrowing GHO at 8-12% yield on solar farms (, then reinvesting in batteries )12-18%( or GPU centers )10-20%(. This creates a multi-layered opportunity structure.

What’s interesting is that infrastructure products generate stable cash flows, reducing the buyout risk — a concern for DeFi users. Using Aave as a liquidity channel makes these products more accessible, allowing users to provide liquidity in specialized hubs with controlled risk.

The most promising strategy for Aave is to become the foundational financial layer for infrastructure financing. Starting with mature assets with low technical risk )such as solar energy(, then gradually moving to riskier assets through Aave V4’s risk management system. This differs from the current focus on treasury bills and money market funds — assets that already have deep liquidity in traditional markets.

Here’s the point: in a world where transformation is happening faster than ever, financial assets must be oriented toward the future we are building, not the past we are leaving behind. Tokenization of traditional financial assets will grow, but the real opportunity is to become the infrastructure layer for financing the world of abundance.

For fintech companies and banks, this opens new horizons. They can become channels for distributing the yields generated by infrastructure assets via Aave. Integrating Aave into these systems could accelerate the transition to a world of abundance by 10-15 years. This is a unique opportunity to capture and share the $200 trillion market value among all ecosystem participants.