The decentralized finance (DeFi) market has been undergoing a period of maturation over the past year and many of last year's fast risers have faded into obscurity but this does not mean the formerly "famous" protocols have not continued to build.

One blue-chip project that is regaining momentum is Aave (AAVE), a non-custodial liquidity protocol that allows users to lend, borrow or stake their assets to earn yield from their holdings.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of AAVE has rallied 110% from a low of $114 on March 15 to a daily high at $242 on March 29 as its 24-hour trading volume spiked 442% to $1.26 billion.

Three reasons for the price resurgence in AAVE have been the release of AAVE v3, the expansion of the protocol's ecosystem and steadily improving fundamentals.

Traders have long anticipated the release of Aave v3 which was announced on March 16.

1/ Aave V3 is here! The most powerful version of the Aave Protocol to date, V3 brings groundbreaking new features than span from increased capital efficiency to enhanced decentralization. Read what's new in V3 in the thread belowor visit https://t.co/H3jTyKRqNs to dive in! pic.twitter.com/LXzn7660nA

According to Aave, the new features will help provide greater capital efficiency, increased security and cross-chain functionality, while also helping to promote decentralization across the DeFi ecosystem.

Some of the new features include portals, which offer only “permit listed” bridge protocols that have been approved by Aave governance to facilitate cross-chain transactions, a high-efficiency mode (E-Mode) that allows users to extract the most out of their collateral by providing a higher borrowing power within the same asset