Vklady tokenizovaných akcií emitovaných společností Coinbase na Aave V4 v síti Base překročily 10 milionů USD, což představuje meziměsíční nárůst o 514,5 %.
Aave’s V4 platform on Base has seen a significant influx of Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks, with deposits exceeding $10 million—a 514.5% rise over the past month. This surge, highlighted by Token Terminal, suggests increasing confidence in the use of tokenized equities as collateral for onchain lending. The growth is primarily driven by the inclusion of popular stocks such as Alphabet, Nvidia, and Meta, which collectively account for the majority of deposits. Market participants appear to interpret this trend as a positive indicator for the broader DeFi ecosystem on Base, potentially influencing sentiment around a Base token launch.
Key Takeaways The substantial increase in deposits into Aave V4 indicates growing confidence in the Base ecosystem. Tokenized stocks are increasingly being utilized as collateral for onchain lending rather than just as holding assets. Market sentiment appears to be shifting towards a supportive view of a potential Base token launch. What to Watch The continued growth of tokenized stock deposits on Aave could further influence market sentiment around a Base token launch. Key figures such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and major crypto influencers may play significant roles in shaping expectations. Developments like strategic partnerships or regulatory approvals could also be pivotal in the coming months, especially as the December 31, 2026, deadline for the Base token launch prediction approaches.
Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31, 2026 4.5% — — View market → January 1 2028 46.5% — — View market → July 1 2027 20% — — View market →
Instituce, která byla více než rok neaktivní, přesunula tokeny AAVE a WLD v hodnotě zhruba 33 mil. USD, přičemž tokeny v hodnotě 18,8 mil. USD už vložila na burzy.
An institution inactive for over a year has moved Aave (AAVE) and Worldcoin (WLD) worth about $33M, with part already deposited on exchanges, per Lookonchain data.
An institution that had been inactive for more than a year has moved large amounts of @Aave and @worldnetwork tokens, with a portion already sent to exchanges, according to onchain analytics firm Lookonchain. The move raises questions about near-term selling pressure for $AAVE and $WLD, and about how soon altcoins can mount a broader recovery.
What the onchain data shows, based on Lookonchain's figures. Together, the transfers are worth roughly $33 million.
Not all of the tokens have reached trading venues yet. , which puts the amount deposited so far at about $18.8 million. Lookonchain described the transfers as a sale, though deposits to exchanges do not always end in a sell-off. As AMBCrypto noted, .
The activity comes as other long-dormant holders have also moved coins. , crypto.news reported, citing separate Lookonchain posts.
Market backdrop for AAVE and WLDAAVE has been under pressure. AMBCrypto reported that , and that . A higher ratio suggests more of the token is sitting on exchanges, where it can be sold more easily.
WLD is also trading far below its peak. , according to MetaMask price data, against .
Large deposits from a long-idle wallet can add to supply on exchanges and weigh on sentiment, particularly in thinner altcoin markets. They are not a guarantee of further price declines, and the buyer's appetite will determine how much of the supply the market absorbs. With sellers appearing in $AAVE, $WLD and $ETH, a broad altcoin rally may take longer to arrive than some traders expect.
Traders will be watching whether the remaining tokens, roughly 94,690 AAVE and 740,000 WLD by Lookonchain's figures, are also sent to exchanges.
Sources:
crypto.news: Ethereum whales sell as 169,770 ETH exits exchangesAMBCrypto: AAVE whale moves $22.8M in tokensMetaMask: Worldcoin (WLD) price and stats
AAVE, the governance token for the Aave decentralized lending protocol, declined approximately 6% to trade near $135 on October 24 as broad market selling pressure outweighed recent positive developments within the platform’s lending ecosystem.
Technical Weakness Marks Difficult StretchAt 11:46 UTC, AAVE registered a 24-hour decline of 5.29% to $140.12, before a further drop to about $135 in subsequent trading. This downturn extended a challenging week, with the token retreating from levels above $154 seen earlier in October.
AAVE’s slide pushed prices below several critical short-term technical indicators. The 20-day moving average, measured at approximately $159.53, underscored the distance between current pricing and its recent range. Notably, the initial slide below $140 also brought the token beneath a lower Bollinger Band level of $140.63 set on October 22.
No confirmed protocol exploit, emergency governance measure, or specific negative announcement has been linked to the day’s slump. Instead, the selloff appears consistent with overall weakness across digital assets and ongoing pressure on highly leveraged positions. However, determining the exact impact of these variables remains difficult.
AAVE has traded below major technical reference points, signaling a loss of momentum and reflecting challenging conditions seen across the broader DeFi sector.
History shows Aave’s on-chain protocol activity and the price of its governance token do not always move in tandem, particularly during periods of market volatility or governance disputes.
Expansion of Lending Markets ContinuesDespite the decline in token price, Aave’s developers have advanced several initiatives aimed at growing its lending infrastructure. On October 22, Aave V4 launched three new independently managed markets for Ripple’s RLUSD, PayPal’s PYUSD and Origin’s OUSD stablecoins.
This institutional lending expansion also saw Sentora take on a role as an external market curator within Aave’s ecosystem.
Separately, Babylon Labs has put forward a proposal that would allow users to borrow stablecoins against Bitcoin held on its native blockchain. The proposal is currently subject to community governance processes and technical evaluation.
These initiatives aim to broaden Aave’s appeal to users and institutional participants, though they do not automatically translate into renewed buying for the governance token.
Aave’s token buyback program, funded by protocol revenue and launched in 2025, was paused following a significant incident related to rsETH this April. That disruption previously triggered sharp selling, highlighting the sensitivity of AAVE’s price to lending risks and operational events.
Mini dictionary: Aave is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that allows users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies using a non-custodial, open-source system governed by holders of its AAVE token.
Key Support and Resistance—What Next for AAVE?Looking ahead, AAVE faces a technical challenge in reclaiming the $140 level. The $149 to $150 range, where several moving averages cluster, represents the next area of potential resistance. A sustained push beyond $150 could bring $155 to $160 into play as upper reference points, although these figures remain conditional technical targets and not firm predictions.
Price LevelSignificance$130Psychological support$140Immediate resistance/support$149–$150Key moving averages converge$155–$160Conditional technical targetShould further selling occur, $130 emerges as an important psychological reference. A steeper decline could test the $120 support in the coming sessions.
Institutional research provides a wider range of potential long-term scenarios for AAVE. Grayscale has projected a target valuation of $175 by 2027, while Standard Chartered has outlined even more optimistic figures based on the ongoing maturation of decentralized finance.
Grayscale’s analysis places AAVE’s 2027 target at $175, reflecting a bullish long-term view tied to the protocol’s capacity for continued innovation despite market headwinds.
Aave Labs uvedla, že navrhovaná bezpečnostní aktualizace V3.8 neomezí likvidace s flash loan; funkce flashLoan() a flashLoanSimple() budou vyňaty z ochrany proti reentrancy.
Aave Labs has clarified that its proposed V3.8 security upgrade would preserve flash-loan liquidations. The October 23 response addresses how a reentrancy guard would interact with existing integrations.
The proposal, posted October 21, adds a guard to Pool operations. Such guards constrain the ability of an external callback to enter protected contract functions again before an earlier call finishes. Aave Labs says flashLoan() and flashLoanSimple() would be excluded, allowing their callbacks to keep invoking Pool actions, including liquidations.
Why The Callback Matters A smart contract receiving a flash loan needs time within the transaction to do something with the borrowed assets. Aave’s developer guide describes a sequence in which the Pool transfers assets, calls the receiver contract and then checks settlement conditions.
For a simple flash loan, the receiver must make the amount borrowed plus the required fee available for repayment. If the transaction cannot meet its conditions, it reverts. The broader flash-loan interface can cover multiple assets and, under permitted conditions, open a collateral-backed debt position.
Those mechanics explain why the scope of a guard matters. A liquidation integration may need to borrow an asset, repay an unhealthy position and complete the rest of its transaction before settlement. Blocking every subsequent Pool interaction indiscriminately would interfere with that sequence.
The important design question is which routes back into the protocol are intentional. A useful security boundary must account for the transaction patterns that integrations depend on, including calls that occur after assets have left the Pool but before repayment is checked.
A Transaction-Length Lock The proposed implementation uses transient storage introduced through Ethereum’s EIP-1153. That storage remains available during a transaction and is discarded when the transaction ends. It can therefore carry temporary lock state to track whether a protected operation is already running.
The specification identifies reentrancy locks as a use case and explains why transient storage can cost less than writing temporary state to permanent storage. For a heavily used DeFi protocol, the design question includes the cost imposed on ordinary transactions as well as the protection added by the guard.
Aave’s proposed path includes feedback, a Snapshot vote, security review and an on-chain improvement proposal. Certora and additional reviewers are expected to assess the changes before that final step.
For integrators on Ethereum and other affected networks, the clarification provides a concrete compatibility point to check against the eventual code. The reviewed implementation must preserve the intended transaction sequence while enforcing the new boundary. A statement of design intent is useful during that work; deployed behavior will depend on the implementation governance ultimately accepts.
Written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Aave na Ethereum V3 Core snížilo práh využití USDT z 94 % na 92 %, aby se úrokové sazby zvyšovaly rychleji. Při 94% využití by teoretická výpůjční sazba vzrostla ze 4,5 % na 7 % ročně.
Aave has just changed the borrowing conditions of USDT on its Ethereum V3 Core crypto market. Since October 21, rates increase faster as soon as 92% of liquidity is borrowed, compared to 94% previously. At a utilization level of 94%, the theoretical rate thus goes from 4.5% to 7%. The decentralized finance protocol aims to preserve more funds available for withdrawals.
In Brief
Aave lowers the optimal USDT utilization threshold from 94% to 92%.
At 94% utilization, the theoretical borrowing rate rises from 4.5% to 7%.
The change creates an additional theoretical buffer of 57.8 million USDT.
Aave Makes Crypto Borrowing in USDT More Expensive
The change took effect on October 21, at Ethereum block 26,241,799. Aave regularly adjusts the parameters of its markets to control risks. In July, the protocol had already considered removing several crypto reserves that had become unprofitable.
This time, the changes directly affect users who borrow USDT. The mechanism remains quite simple. On Aave, the borrowing rate depends on the proportion of deposits already used by borrowers. When liquidity starts to run low, interest rises to discourage new loans and encourage repayments.
The threshold from which this increase becomes particularly rapid falls from 94% to 92%. The other curve parameters remain unchanged. The base rate remains zero, the first slope at 4.5%, and the second at 10%.
At 94% utilization, the old configuration yielded an annual rate of 4.5%. With the new parameters, it reaches 7%. For a steady loan of one million USDT, this 2.5-point gap would represent an additional 25,000 USDT in interest over a full year if rates remained unchanged. Borrowings are not blocked beyond 92%, they simply become more expensive.
57.8 Million USDT of Potential Liquidity
LlamaRisk, responsible for monitoring several risks on Aave, recommended this change after examining the protocol’s crypto reserves. Its analysis covered about 2.89 billion USDT deposited versus 2.48 billion borrowed. The utilization rate was then 85.6%.
With the old 94% threshold, Aave planned to keep about 173.5 million USDT unborrowed when the market reached its optimal level. Switching to 92% raises this theoretical margin to 231.4 million.
That is an additional 57.8 million USDT. However, beware: Aave did not inject this amount into its reserves. It is a margin calculated based on the new parameters. For it to materialize, some borrowers must repay their positions or new depositors must bring funds.
The distinction matters particularly in crypto finance, where withdrawals depend directly on available liquidity.
Aave already knows the consequences of strong withdrawal demand. After the crisis caused by the KelpDAO hack, the protocol recorded 8.45 billion dollars worth of withdrawals in less than 48 hours. The episode fueled discussions about risk management and the resilience of major DeFi protocols.
Crypto Users Are Not Paying 7% Yet
The new curve does not mean that all USDT borrowers now pay 7% interest. This rate corresponds to a hypothetical situation where 94% of liquidity would be used. On October 23, Aave showed about 2.89 billion USDT deposited, 2.50 billion variable debt, and 391.4 million USDT actually available in its Ethereum V3 Core reserve.
The utilization rate was around 86.45%. At this level, the variable borrowing rate reached 4.23%, while liquidity providers earned about 3.29%. Crypto users thus retain conditions relatively close to those seen before the change, as long as utilization remains below the new threshold.
The protocol continues its development in parallel. Its DAO had notably considered a crypto app combining stablecoins, savings, and lending. This expansion requires sufficiently liquid reserves to absorb withdrawal requests, including during periods of high activity. Aave now prefers to raise rates earlier rather than wait until almost all available USDT are borrowed. For lenders and borrowers alike, the 92% threshold thus becomes a new benchmark to monitor.
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Enseignante et ingénieure IT, Lydie découvre le Bitcoin en 2022 et plonge dans l’univers des cryptomonnaies. Elle vulgarise des sujets complexes, décrypte les enjeux du Web3 et défend une vision d’un futur numérique ouvert, inclusif et décentralisé.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
Grayscale uvádí, že růst nabídky tokenů převážil nad odkupy a odměnami: výnos pro držitele AAVE činí −1,0 % a pro držitele JUP −2,6 %, a to navzdory kladným výnosům z poplatků.
24 October 2026 | 12:11 Grayscale’s latest valuation data shows Aave and Jupiter with positive earnings yields, yet holders of both tokens face negative yields once buybacks, rewards and supply growth are netted.
Key Takeaways ✓AAVE: 3.7% earnings yield, -1.0% holder yield ✓JUP: 3.5% earnings yield, -2.6% holder yield ✓Aave bought 205,000 AAVE in ten months ✓Litterbox Trust has burned about 134 million JUP Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl set out both measures in an October 21 note on crypto valuations.
Earnings are positive, holder yields are not Grayscale’s adjusted earnings yield divides a protocol’s earnings by its circulating market value, then subtracts the rate at which circulating supply grew. Its tokenholder yield counts only what reaches holders: staking rewards plus buybacks, minus new issuance, divided by circulating market value. Earnings here means fees left after paying lenders, liquidity providers and other suppliers.
Both measures subtract supply growth, so the gap between them approximates earnings that stayed with the protocol instead of reaching holders, as long as Grayscale’s issuance figure tracks circulating-supply growth. A negative tokenholder yield also means, by Grayscale’s formula, that new issuance outweighed buybacks and staking rewards combined.
AAVE
Adjusted earnings yield3.7%
Tokenholder yield−1.0%
Gap≈ 4.7 points
JUP
Adjusted earnings yield3.5%
Tokenholder yield−2.6%
Gap≈ 6.1 points
Source: Grayscale, chart accompanying its October 21 note.
Aave’s buybacks refill a reserve that pays out AAVE Aave began buying AAVE on the open market in April 2025. Its official documentation lists a $50 million annual budget, with weekly purchases of $250,000 to $1.75 million executed by the Aave Finance Committee. The DAO’s funding report says the program acquired more than 205,000 AAVE, about 1.28% of total supply, in its first 10 months.
Aave does not burn the tokens it buys. They go to the Aave DAO Ecosystem Reserve, which pays staking rewards, grants and service providers, so AAVE taken off the market can return to circulation. That may help explain how a sustained buyback program sits beside a negative tokenholder yield.
Operating costs draw on the same revenue. A March governance proposal sought to cut the buyback budget to $30 million. It cited borrow-fee revenue about 25% below its peak, January 2026 revenue of $7.95 million against $13.5 million a year earlier, and an optimistic 2026 operating budget of $190 million against 2025 revenue of $142 million. The proposal also made the case against bigger buybacks: spending on GHO stablecoin liquidity and growth could return more to holders than repurchases.
Jupiter spends half its onchain revenue on JUP Jupiter’s transparency page says 50% of onchain revenue has gone to the Litterbox Trust since February 2025, which buys JUP through automated onchain purchases. The trust operates as a long-term reserve and has burned about 134 million JUP. The other half of onchain revenue and all offchain revenue fund the team’s operations, with any excess going to treasury reserves.
In Grayscale’s figures, those purchases and burns have not kept pace with new JUP entering circulation. The note names token unlocks alongside issuance as sources of dilution, which makes Jupiter’s unlock schedule the other half of the JUP picture.
Ordinary holders sit below the published figure. JUP holders receive no direct share of protocol fees, and Active Staking Rewards go quarterly to stakers based on time-weighted stake. Under Jupiter’s tokenomics rules, locked team tokens cannot earn them. Because Grayscale’s tokenholder yield includes staking rewards, anyone holding JUP or AAVE without staking earns less than it shows.
Burns remove tokens for good, minus new minting A burn is the one destination that cannot pay tokens back out, though minting can still eat into it. PancakeSwap’s September burn report puts numbers on that offset.
Minting offset about 22% of the burn. The report excludes mints tied directly to burning and spreads weekly burns across reporting months. According to PancakeSwap’s tokenomics documentation, minted CAKE funds farms, the lottery and ecosystem growth.
Hyperliquid burns without a matching mint on this side. Its fee documentation says the Assistance Fund converts allocated trading fees into HYPE and burns them. Hyperliquid has since added reserve-income funding to its buyback model, which raises the money available for purchases without itself showing how much was bought.
Three disclosures that will test these numbers What to watch Where it appears Timing Aave’s buyback budget and executed purchases Aave governance forum, TokenLogic dashboard As budget proposals are voted on JUP unlocks against Litterbox buys and burns Jupiter transparency page, Litterbox Trust wallet Alongside each quarterly staking reward round CAKE net supply change PancakeSwap monthly burn report The October report If Grayscale updates its chart, a narrower gap between the two yields would show more of AAVE’s and JUP’s earnings reaching holders, while a wider one would point to supply growth or retained spending absorbing more of them.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Research yield estimates are not guaranteed payouts or forecasts of token-price performance.
Author
Alexander Zdravkov is a market analyst and crypto journalist with interests in economics, broader financial markets and digital assets. His journey into crypto began more than four years ago, driven by a fascination with the rapid evolution of blockchain technology and the transformative potential of decentralized finance. He began analyzing market cycles and identifying emerging trends before they reach the mainstream. He holds a degree in International Relations - a background that helped shape his broader perspective on global economics, geopolitics, and the interconnected nature of modern financial markets. Whether covering the latest developments in the crypto sector or exploring broader macroeconomic themes, Alexander focuses on giving readers context rather than simply repeating headlines. During his career, he has authored more than 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, traditional finance, and global market developments. His work spans everything from Bitcoin and altcoins to macroeconomic trends influencing risk assets worldwide.
Aave founder Stani stated in a Q3 live stream that Aaveonomics 3.0 will include AAVE repurchases, staking, and burns. AAVE repurchases have been suspended since April 19, the day after the rsETH exploit incident. Since then, the DAO has committed 25,000 ETH to DeFi United to cover losses, and arranged a credit line of up to 30,000 ETH from Mantle. Ahead of the repurchase suspension, a forum proposal had suggested cutting the annual repurchase budget from roughly $50 million to $30 million.
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Aave V4 ve spolupráci se Sentora spustilo první externě spravované úvěrové trhy na síti Ethereum, které umožňují půjčky v RLUSD, PYUSD a OUSD proti vybranému kolaterálu.
Aave has launched its first externally curated lending markets on V4 through a partnership with institutional DeFi platform Sentora, allowing users to borrow three stablecoins against selected crypto assets on Ethereum.
Summary
Aave V4 has launched its first externally curated lending markets, with Sentora managing three new markets on Ethereum.
Users can borrow RLUSD and OUSD against USDe, PRIME, mWIN and PST, while the Bluechip market supports RLUSD, PYUSD and OUSD borrowing against kBTC.
Sentora manages collateral requirements, interest rates and liquidation parameters, while Aave DAO retains ownership of the underlying contracts.
Risk increasing changes are subject to a 48 hour timelock, and new collateral assets must undergo Aave governance review before listing.
According to Aave’s official announcement, Sentora is managing three markets that support borrowing Ripple’s RLUSD, PayPal’s PYUSD and Origin’s OUSD, with each market operating under its own collateral requirements and risk controls.
The launch introduces external market curation to Aave V4, allowing independent risk managers to operate dedicated lending markets using the protocol’s infrastructure while remaining subject to safeguards established by Aave governance.
Sentora is responsible for managing the markets and setting their risk parameters, including which assets borrowers can use as collateral. Aave DAO retains ownership of the underlying contracts and oversight of changes that could expose lenders to additional risks.
Users can access the three markets through Aave Pro, the platform’s interface for its curated lending products.
Sentora brings three lending markets to Aave V4
All three markets operate through a dedicated Sentora Liquidity Hub on Ethereum, which holds the assets available for borrowing and supplies liquidity to the individual lending markets.
The RLUSD Yield market allows users to borrow RLUSD against four collateral assets comprising USDe, PRIME, mWIN and PST. Sentora’s OUSD Yield market accepts the same collateral but allows users to borrow OUSD instead.
A third market, called Bluechip, supports borrowing RLUSD, PYUSD and OUSD against kBTC, a Bitcoin-backed asset.
Each market has separate borrowing conditions despite drawing liquidity from the same Hub. Sentora manages the collateral settings, interest rate curves, price oracles and liquidation parameters that determine how loans operate.
In its October 22 research article on Aave V4, Sentora described the launch as the first governance-approved Hub and Spoke deployment operated by an external curator on Ethereum.
The company’s published architecture diagram identifies another market, PYUSD Yield, as planned, although its collateral assets have not been confirmed. Only the three announced markets are currently listed as active.
Sentora has previously worked on stablecoin lending through other DeFi protocols. In August, crypto.news reported that the company had approved FXRP as collateral in its RLUSD lending vault on Morpho, allowing XRP holders to borrow the stablecoin using a bridged representation of their tokens.
How Aave V4 separates liquidity and lending risks
Aave V4 uses a Hub and Spoke architecture that separates where lending liquidity is held from the individual markets where users deposit collateral and borrow assets.
Liquidity Hubs hold available funds and maintain the accounting for supplied assets. Individual Spokes connect to those Hubs and determine which assets borrowers can use, how much they can borrow and when their positions become eligible for liquidation.
According to Sentora’s technical explanation, each Spoke receives borrowing and supplying limits from its connected Hub. Those limits control how much liquidity a market can draw or contribute, while emergency controls can restrict activity when necessary.
Individual borrowing positions are accounted for separately within each Spoke. A user can therefore maintain positions in different markets without having their collateral and debt combined into one position.
The architecture has already supported other specialized lending products. In September, Aave introduced an equities market on Base that accepts seven Coinbase tokenized stocks as collateral for USDC loans, with an initial borrowing cap of $21 million.
Aave Labs subsequently reported that V4 deposits had surpassed $1 billion during September, alongside $310 million in active loans.
Borrowing costs under V4 depend partly on how much of an asset’s available liquidity has been used. Higher utilization generally raises borrowing rates and the interest available to suppliers.
Aave V4 supports an additional risk premium based on collateral quality, meaning borrowers using riskier assets may face higher interest charges.
Aave DAO retains control over market safeguards
Although Sentora manages its lending markets independently, the arrangement does not give the company unrestricted control over the underlying Aave contracts.
Aave governance retains ownership of the contracts and establishes safeguards that apply to externally curated Hubs.
Any change that raises market risk must pass through a 48-hour timelock before taking effect. New assets require governance review before they can be added to the markets.
Sentora said its institutional DeFi platform has allocated more than $2 billion across onchain strategies and incorporates more than 1,000 risk models into each strategy.
Its Sentora Risk Radar system provides block-level economic risk analytics across more than 40 DeFi protocols on over 12 blockchain networks. Coverage now includes Aave V4, beginning with the Sentora-managed Hub and its lending markets.
Aave has meanwhile received a proposal from Babylon Labs to support stablecoin borrowing against native Bitcoin held in vaults on the Bitcoin blockchain. The October 14 proposal remains subject to governance approval, finalized risk settings and security checks before deployment.
Aave Labs navrhuje aktualizaci V3.8 s ochranou proti reentrantním útokům pro 16 sítí Aave V3. Změna zatím nebyla nasazena a čeká na připomínky komunity, audit a hlasování o AIP.
Aave Labs wants to change the locks before anyone tries the door. On October 21, 2026, the team published a proposal for Aave V3.8, an upgrade centered on adding a reentrancy guard to Pool accounting.
The proposal would cover 16 active Aave V3 instances, including deployments on Ethereum, Avalanche, BNB and Polygon. Nothing has shipped yet, and no exploit prompted it. Aave is patching a risk, not cleaning up after one.
What the V3.8 proposal actually does The core change is a reentrancy guard applied to Pool operations during external callbacks. That sounds dense, so start with an analogy.
Picture an ATM that hands over cash before it updates your balance. A clever customer could ask for more money in that tiny gap, while the machine still believes the account is full. Reentrancy works the same way in smart contracts.
A contract hands control to outside code, which calls back into the original contract before its records are settled. If the books are mid-update, the second call can see stale numbers. The result can range from accounting errors to drained funds.
Aave’s proposal targets exactly that gap. According to the research findings, the guard is meant to keep accounting consistent when a single transaction touches the Pool more than once.
The mechanism relies on EIP-1153, an Ethereum standard for transient storage. Transient storage is a scratchpad that lasts only for the length of a transaction, then wipes itself clean.
That matters for cost. A reentrancy guard needs to remember, briefly, that the Pool is already busy. Writing that note to permanent storage would be pricey, and transient storage lets Aave keep the protection while holding gas costs low.
Aave Labs describes V3.8 as a minor, non-invasive release. The stated goal is long-term robustness, not new features or a redesign of how lending and borrowing work.
Where the proposal stands in governance This is a proposal, not a finished upgrade. Aave Labs posted it to the Aave governance forum as an ARFC, short for Aave Request for Final Comment.
From here, the plan still has three hurdles to clear. It needs community feedback, security audits and an AIP vote, meaning a formal Aave Improvement Proposal decided onchain by token holders.
The scope is also notable. Rolling the same change across 16 networks means coordinating deployments on chains with different environments and validator sets. A uniform guard across all of them would give Aave a consistent security baseline, rather than a patchwork of versions.
A pattern of preemptive fixes V3.8 is not Aave’s first pass at this problem. The research findings note that the proposal follows earlier Aave V3 security work, including previous reentrancy fixes and updates to the protocol’s broader risk management framework.
The absence of a disclosed exploit is the key detail here. Aave Labs has not pointed to any vulnerability being used against the protocol. The guard is framed as defense in depth, an extra layer added because the cost of being wrong is high.
What this means for Aave users and DeFi For people supplying or borrowing on Aave, the near-term impact should be minimal if the upgrade passes. A non-invasive release that leans on transient storage is designed to avoid changing user flows or adding noticeable gas overhead.
What to watch next is straightforward. Track the forum discussion for objections or requested changes, then look for audit results and the timing of the AIP vote. If the proposal clears all three, the rollout across 16 networks will show whether Aave can ship a coordinated security release as cleanly as it planned one.
One more thing to keep an eye on: how the guard interacts with integrations that rely on callbacks into the Pool. Any protocol building on top of Aave will want to confirm that the new protection does not block legitimate multi-step transactions. That kind of edge case is exactly what the audit and feedback stages exist to catch.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave V4 na síti Base vede trh DeFi s tokenizovanými akciemi od Coinbase: vklady dosáhly 10,1 milionu USD, což představuje 53 % z celkových 18,9 milionu USD.
Aave V4 has taken the lead among decentralized finance platforms for Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks on the Base network, with deposits reaching $10.1 million. Token Terminal data shows that Aave controls approximately 53% of the total value locked (TVL) for this market segment, which currently stands at $18.9 million across DeFi venues.
Tokenized equities drive surge in DeFi collateralThe Equities Hub in Aave V4, operating on Base, enables eligible users to leverage tokenized versions of major U.S. company stocks as collateral to borrow USDC. Currently, the platform supports tokenized shares of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, all issued by Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States.
By integrating Chainlink price feeds, Aave ensures accurate valuation of these collateral assets. At this stage, the tokenized equities can only be used as collateral and are not available to be borrowed directly from the platform. This arrangement provides stablecoin liquidity to users while maintaining exposure to their tokenized stock holdings. Token Terminal places Aave’s share at $10.1 million out of the total $18.9 million deposited across DeFi protocols for Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks on Base, giving it the largest share among its competitors.
Mini dictionary: Token Terminal is a data analytics platform that tracks financial and usage metrics for decentralized protocols. It serves as a reference for investors and market participants assessing DeFi activity and trends.
These totals highlight Aave’s strong position in the new market for tokenized-equity collateral. However, the share only reflects deposits for tokenized stocks, and does not represent Aave’s overall market share in decentralized lending.
Aave expands access to USDC liquidityThe increase in tokenized equity deposits underscores the connection that is forming between traditional financial markets and decentralized lending platforms. By allowing users to deposit tokenized stock as collateral, Aave expands avenues for participants to access USDC liquidity on-chain, without selling their holdings outright.
This functionality is designed to attract investors who want to interact with blockchain-based versions of established equities within DeFi ecosystems. At the same time, the addition of these assets broadens the scope of collateral supported on Aave and may encourage greater engagement among users looking for diversified lending opportunities.
A growing number of deposits and borrowing activity on Aave could hint at rising demand for these financial instruments. Still, TVL alone does not provide a full picture of the revenue or adoption rate for the Equities Hub. The potential for continued adoption will depend on the appeal of tokenized stocks and the growth of the ecosystem on Base.
AAVE price analysis: Support and resistance zones in focusAlongside the growth of tokenized stock deposits, AAVE’s token price is currently testing a key support band. Market analyst Crypto With Gopal identified a potential double-bottom pattern for AAVE at the $147-$148 range. This formation typically signals attempts by buyers to defend a price level following a period of decline.
The resistance level between $165 and $166 has emerged as the neckline for this technical pattern. For a trend reversal to be confirmed, AAVE’s price would have to break above this resistance. Should such a move occur, Gopal projects potential upside targets in the $185-$190 region. However, these targets only become relevant if the price action confirms a decisive breakout.
LevelTypeValue ($)SupportDouble Bottom Zone147-148ResistanceNeckline165-166TargetPost-Breakout185-190A drop below the $147-$148 support would weaken the likelihood of a successful reversal, while rejection at the $165-$166 resistance would leave the double-bottom scenario unconfirmed. Whether buyers can maintain momentum above support and break through resistance will likely determine AAVE’s short-term price direction.
Crypto With Gopal points to a double-bottom pattern forming at the $147-$148 level. If AAVE breaks through the resistance band at $165-$166, targets move to the $185-$190 area. Confirmation depends on sustained buying above support and a clear move above resistance.
Beyond technical signals, factors such as ongoing demand for tokenized equities and broader DeFi market trends will also influence price action. Increased adoption of Aave’s Equities Hub could serve as evidence of its strengthening role in the Base network.
Aave may soon let users borrow against a piece of Elon Musk’s rocket company. Aave Labs has put forward a governance proposal to accept tokenized SpaceX Class A common stock, trading as SPCXc, as collateral on the protocol’s Aave V4 Equities Hub.
Risk advisory firm LlamaRisk has recommended a set of guardrails for the listing.
What the proposal actually does The proposal was introduced on October 15, 2026. It targets the Equities Hub, a section of Aave V4 that went live on September 25, 2026.
That hub already supports tokenized shares of the so-called Magnificent Seven, the mega-cap US tech stocks. Those tokens are issued through Coinbase’s B20 standard, which brings traditional equities onchain in a form DeFi protocols can use.
SPCXc would join that lineup with a narrow job description. It would be listed as collateral-only, and the only asset users could borrow against it is USDC.
Pricing would come from Chainlink, which the hub uses for continuous price feeds to track the value of listed assets.
LlamaRisk’s numbers, translated First, the firm suggests a 55% collateral factor. A collateral factor caps how much you can borrow relative to what you deposit. Here, every $100 of SPCXc would support at most $55 of USDC debt.
Second, it recommends a maximum liquidation bonus of 6.5%. When a loan goes underwater, liquidators repay the debt and seize collateral at a discount. That discount is the bonus, and it exists to make sure someone actually shows up to clean up bad positions.
Third, LlamaRisk proposes a collateral risk premium of 1,000 basis points, or 10 percentage points.
Fourth, is the supply cap of 37,000 SPCXc. At prevailing market prices, that works out to approximately $5.8 million.
LlamaRisk also flagged a structural limit on liquidations. Larger liquidations, according to the firm’s assessment, would depend on redemptions or derivatives hedges, meaning onchain liquidity alone may not be deep enough to absorb a big forced sale without help from offchain mechanics.
The unlock looming over everything Timing is the reason these dials are turned so tight. SpaceX is heading into a significant share unlock, with an estimated 1.3 billion shares worth around $194 billion set to become available for sale starting October 22, 2026.
Only around 21% of SpaceX shares were previously eligible to trade, and roughly 84% are expected to unlock by early December 2026.
For Aave, the risk is straightforward. If SPCXc drops sharply while loans are outstanding, liquidators need to sell collateral fast. If there are not enough buyers onchain, the protocol could be left holding debt that its collateral no longer covers.
Why tokenized equities keep showing up in DeFi Aave building a dedicated Equities Hub inside V4 shows the largest lending protocols are treating tokenized equities seriously. Starting with the Magnificent Seven gave the hub liquid, widely held names. Adding SpaceX pushes it toward assets with a very different trading history and a much thinner record of public price discovery.
Coinbase’s B20 standard is the plumbing that makes this possible. It gives protocols like Aave a consistent token format for equities, which matters when you are wiring them into automated lending markets.
What this means for Aave and its users For borrowers, the proposal offers a new kind of utility. Holders of tokenized SpaceX exposure could unlock USDC liquidity without selling. The trade-off is a lower borrowing limit and a meaningful cost layer from the risk premium.
The liquidation caveat deserves the most attention. If larger liquidations genuinely rely on redemptions or derivatives hedges, then the safety of these markets depends partly on systems outside the blockchain. That is a different risk profile from crypto collateral, where liquidators can typically dump assets onchain without asking anyone’s permission.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave has found a new way to recruit borrowers: let them post big-name tech stocks as collateral.
Three out of every four borrowers using tokenized Magnificent 7 shares on Aave’s Base deployment are new to Aave on that network.
How the Equities Hub works Aave launched its Equities Hub on September 25, 2026, as part of its V4 rollout on Base. Base is the Ethereum layer-2 network incubated by Coinbase.
Eligible users outside the US can deposit tokenized shares of the Magnificent 7 companies and borrow USDC against them.
The design is deliberately narrow. The tokenized equities can only be used as collateral, so nobody can borrow them. Cross-collateral borrowing between the stocks is switched off, meaning you cannot post one tokenized share to borrow another.
The hub operates as an isolated pool, and at launch USDC was the only asset available to borrow.
The numbers so far As of October 18, 2026, users had deposited $9.57 million worth of tokenized Mag7 supply into the hub.
That figure represents 35.6% of the total tokenized supply of those shares, which stands at $26.9 million in total.
Against that collateral, borrowers have taken out $4.08 million in USDC.
The number of borrowing wallets grew from 8 to 144 by mid-October.
The loan-to-collateral ratio rose from 22.2% at launch to 42.9% by October 18.
Collateral factors range from 65% to 79% depending on the token. The aggregate collateral cap for the hub was set at approximately $29 million at launch.
Background: why tokenized stocks matter for DeFi Tokenized equities let assets that originate in traditional markets plug into onchain credit. The tokenized shares are backed by actual stocks custodied at Alpaca Securities. Aave uses Chainlink for pricing data, synchronizing on-chain operations with traditional market hours by pausing trading over weekends and U.S. holidays.
The decision to restrict access to non-US users reflects the regulatory reality around tokenized securities.
What this means The most important number here is not the dollar figure. It is the three-in-four share of new borrowers.
The rising loan-to-collateral ratio deserves attention. Moving from 22.2% to 42.9% shows confidence, but it also means borrowers have less cushion if share prices fall. Collateral factors topping out at 79% give some buffer before liquidation becomes likely.
With 35.6% of tokenized Mag7 supply already deposited, Aave’s growth in this hub is increasingly tied to how quickly the underlying tokenized shares themselves expand.
Potential expansion within this framework, including the introduction of additional equities or alternative assets like GHO, rests upon Aave governance.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Citi Research očekává, že se Aave s rozvojem tokenizovaných aktiv a stablecoinů posune od kryptopůjček k decentralizovanému protokolu pro likviditu zajištěnou kolaterálem.
Citi Research has released a report stating that it is no longer sufficient to view Aave solely as a crypto-native lending protocol. As tokenized assets, stablecoins, and institutional participation gradually integrate into mainstream finance, Aave is poised to be positioned as a decentralized collateral liquidity protocol. Projects including Aave V4, Horizon, and GHO all point to the intersection of collateral, liquidity, and financing. The report notes that if tokenization determines which assets enter on-chain ecosystems, and stablecoins become the default settlement base, Aave could help shape how these assets are financed, leveraged, used as collateral, and integrated into capital markets. Citi argues that as tokenization expands beyond stablecoins to money market funds, private credit, Treasuries, and even future equities, collateral circulation may eventually emerge as one of the most important use cases of tokenization. Aave provides a practical case study showing how tokenized assets can be used for collateralized borrowing, financing, and re-collateralization within the digital financial system, while also offering insights into the future of tokenized capital markets, securities financing, and even prime brokerage.
Aave V4 has passed $450 million in active loans less than seven months after its March 2026 launch on Ethereum. Here is what is driving growth in the Aave lending protocol and what the data shows.
Aave V4 has reached $450 million in active loans, a milestone the protocol marked in a post from @aave. The latest version of the DeFi lending platform, led by Aave Labs CEO @StaniKulechov, went live on March 30, 2026, which puts the figure at less than seven months after launch.
How Aave V4 reached $450M Aave V4 rolled out on the Ethereum mainnet after more than two years in development. The initial deployment included three hubs (Core, Plus, Prime) and eleven spokes, which route liquidity across different collateral categories. The launch was deliberately cautious. All three hubs started with conservative supply and borrow caps, which Aave Labs described as an intentional, security-first approach.
Growth then picked up. V4 deposits sat below $340 million at the start of August and were around $1.16 billion by late September, with active loans between $300 million and $310 million. Aave V4 also launched on Avalanche on July 15, its first multi-chain deployment. More recently, deposits on Circle's Arc blockchain crossed about $300 million by October 12, with total V4 deposits near $1.2 billion and active loans above $400 million across Ethereum, Avalanche and Arc.
Tokenized equities are part of the picture. Aave V4's Base deployment supports borrowing against seven Coinbase-tokenized U.S. stocks, and eligible users outside the United States can deposit them and borrow USDC. U.S. users are excluded.
What it means for $AAVE holdersThe V4 numbers come after a weak stretch for the wider protocol. According to Token Terminal data cited by Cryptonews, Aave's deposits and active loans in September were both more than 55% below their September 2025 levels , and protocol revenue remained 66.6% below the previous year . The same report said Aave remained the largest onchain lending protocol, with 47% of outstanding loans across the projects Token Terminal tracks.
In other words, V4's $450 million in active loans is still small next to the roughly $12.5 billion in total active loans across Aave, based on Aavescan data. V4 is, however, the fastest-growing part of the protocol.
Whether that translates into value for the $AAVE token will depend on whether borrowing demand keeps rising and converts into protocol revenue. Kulechov has said V4 is focused on the borrow side. He told The Block the aim is
Sources
Aave Labs: Aave V4 is Live on EthereumThe Block: Aave V4 launches on Ethereum mainnetCryptonews: Aave's lending recovery faces a new test as V4 expands
Babylon Labs navrhuje integraci, která by držitelům BTC umožnila půjčovat si stablecoiny prostřednictvím Aave V4, aniž by museli používat zabalené tokeny nebo přesouvat BTC z bitcoinové sítě.
Babylon Labs has introduced a governance proposal that would allow Bitcoin holders to borrow stablecoins through Aave without moving their BTC off the Bitcoin blockchain. If advanced, this initiative could expand Aave, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform, by offering direct Bitcoin-backed lending without the need for wrapped tokens.
Taproot Vaults to Enable Native Bitcoin CollateralThe proposal, published on October 14, details an integration using Babylon’s Trustless Bitcoin Vaults (TBVs) to link native Bitcoin with Aave V4’s Ethereum-based system. Instead of relying on wrapped Bitcoin, users would lock their BTC in Taproot-enabled outputs directly on the Bitcoin network.
Once locked, a corresponding record would be reflected within Aave V4, permitting users to access stablecoin liquidity without bridging assets to Ethereum. The system employs two core elements: the Babylon Spoke, which manages borrowing against BTC, and the BTC Vault Swap Spoke, responsible for liquidations and settlements.
Because Aave’s lending pools require ERC-20 tokens as collateral, the integration generates a restricted accounting token to represent users’ Bitcoin vaults in Aave. However, this token cannot be traded or freely transferred like standard wrapped BTC assets.
Mini dictionary: Babylon Labs is a blockchain research and development company focused on expanding the utility of Bitcoin through innovations such as trustless staking vaults and decentralized finance integrations.
Babylon has promoted on-chain BTC utility before, notably with its staking infrastructure—since August 2024, it reports over 100,000 Bitcoin cumulatively staked in its vaults, signaling demand for advanced Bitcoin-based financial products.
Babylon Foundation, in its governance documents, indicated that its TBV system allows users to gain liquidity from Aave without forfeiting custody or relying on wrapped assets, offering a way to participate in DeFi while retaining native BTC ownership.
Governance and Security MechanismsAs the proposal moves past an initial community review, governance concerns have emerged over how emergency mechanisms will affect user access. On October 16, an Aave governance member questioned whether Babylon’s emergency settings could delay or prevent collateral withdrawals, despite the Bitcoin itself remaining secure in its Taproot vault.
Babylon engineer Aleksa Opacic clarified that these emergency stops would not move or release any BTC from vaults, but could temporarily suspend withdrawals, repayments, and liquidations to maintain platform stability during critical situations.
The system would rely on a four-of-seven multisignature governance group plus a separate three-of-five emergency guardian team. Contract upgrades would be subject to a five-day grace period, while emergency pauses could take effect immediately.
A Babylon engineer emphasized that while the native BTC collateral remains secure, emergency protocols might temporarily restrict access to borrowers during periods of volatility or risk assessment.
Security measures of this kind have drawn scrutiny within the DeFi space, as real-world incidents involving liquidations and collateral control underscore the importance of robust on-chain governance and transparency.
Revenue Sharing and Competitive LandscapeThe proposal also lays out a revenue-sharing model between Aave DAO and the Babylon Foundation. Under the plan, Aave would receive the first $500,000 in qualifying annual revenue from the Bitcoin-backed lending feature. Earnings above that threshold would be divided among Aave, Babylon, and token-purchase pools based on a sliding scale.
Annual RevenueAave ShareBabylon ShareToken Purchase AllocationUp to $500,000100%0%0%$500,000–$1,000,00060%30%10%Above $1,000,00050%25%25%As revenue grows, portions of these funds would be used to purchase AAVE and BABY tokens from the market. Still, the framework does not guarantee minimum demand for the product or required token acquisitions.
This development aligns with Aave’s ongoing expansion of version 4 of its lending protocol, as well as increased institutional and platform interest in direct Bitcoin-backed lending.
Competitor platforms like Strike also offer Bitcoin-secured loans, highlighting how different providers are balancing the need for liquidity with the risks tied to collateral liquidation. The outcome of Aave’s governance process will determine whether this integration proceeds to implementation.
Aave V4 now lets users on Circle’s Arc network borrow dollars against euros without selling the euros first.
The feature lives in a dedicated Forex spoke, where EURC can be posted as collateral to borrow USDC.
How the Forex spoke works Aave V4 went live on Arc around September 16, 2026. It launched with a lineup of assets that includes USDC, EURC, cirBTC, and WETH.
The protocol uses a hub-and-spoke design. On Arc, the hub is called the Core Liquidity Hub. The Forex spoke draws liquidity from that hub, so euro holders can tap the same pool of dollars everyone else uses.
The key detail is risk separation. In the Main spoke, EURC has a 0% collateral factor. Euro deposits there carry no borrowing power at all.
The Forex spoke is where EURC becomes useful collateral. A user who holds euro stablecoins can borrow USDC against them and keep their euro exposure intact.
Isolating this activity in its own spoke means any trouble with EURC collateral stays contained. The Main spoke does not inherit the currency risk.
The numbers so far Data from Aave Tracker and Aavescan as of October 15, 2026, paints a picture of a deep hub and a quiet new route.
The Arc Core hub held approximately $294 million in supplied liquidity. Around $143 million of that was USDC. Borrowing in the Core hub stood at roughly $110 million.
The Forex spoke had about $68,000 supplied and about $32,000 borrowed.
The base borrow rate for the euro stablecoin is around 0.44%.
EURC is capped at 10M in the Forex spoke, a conservative limit set because secondary liquidity for the asset is limited. If liquidations ever need to happen, thin secondary markets can make unwinding positions harder, so a smaller ceiling limits the potential damage.
Why Arc, and why now Arc is Circle’s own network, and Circle issues both USDC and EURC.
The network also comes with an unusual roster of validators. BlackRock, Visa, and Mastercard are among the institutional validators securing Arc.
Aave V4 itself targets stablecoin-native and institutional use cases.
What this means For Aave, the Forex spoke is as much a test of the V4 design as it is a product launch. The hub-and-spoke model is built to let the protocol add specialized markets without exposing the whole system to each new risk.
With roughly $294 million sitting in the Core hub and only about $68,000 supplied in the Forex spoke, there is plenty of room to grow.
The 10M EURC cap is the number to watch. If supply in the Forex spoke starts approaching it, governance will face a decision about whether secondary liquidity has deepened enough to raise the limit.
A base rate around 0.44% for EURC reflects light demand, and any meaningful jump would suggest real usage is picking up.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Babylon Labs plánuje na Aave V4 půjčky zajištěné BTC, přičemž BTC zůstane ve vlastních Taproot UTXO v síti Bitcoin. Spuštění na hlavní síti stále vyžaduje nastavení rizikových parametrů a další hlasování Aave DAO.
Babylon Labs is pushing forward a plan to let people borrow on Aave V4 using Bitcoin that never leaves the Bitcoin network.
The pitch is simple. Your BTC stays put, you borrow against it, and nobody has to hold your coins for you.
The catch, as with most things in DeFi governance, is that the paperwork isn’t finished. Risk parameters still need to be set, and more Aave DAO votes are required before anything goes live on mainnet.
How the setup actually works
The proposal is built on Babylon’s Trustless Bitcoin Vaults protocol, or TBV. Instead of wrapping BTC into a token on another chain, TBV locks the coins in self-custodial Taproot UTXOs on Bitcoin itself.
Think of it as a safe deposit box with programmable rules. The box sits on Bitcoin, and the rules decide when the contents can move.
Those rules are enforced through Taproot scripts and zero-knowledge proofs. Put plainly, cryptography plays the role a custodian normally would, and no third party ever holds the keys.
On the Aave side, deposits show up through an internal accounting unit called vaultBTC. It acts as a verifiable record of the BTC sitting in vaults, which Aave can then treat as collateral.
The integration leans on Aave V4’s modular design, which organizes markets into components called spokes. Babylon’s plan adds two of them.
The first is the Babylon Core Lending Spoke. This is where borrowers would post vault-backed BTC and take out assets such as USDC, USDT and WBTC.
The second is the BTC Vault Swap Spoke. Its job is to handle the messy part of lending: liquidations.
The WBTC twist in liquidations
Every lending market lives or dies by its liquidations. When a loan’s collateral falls below a safe threshold, outside parties called liquidators step in, repay the debt and collect the collateral at a discount.
That works smoothly when the collateral is a token sitting on the same chain. It gets awkward when the collateral is locked BTC on an entirely different network.
Babylon’s answer is to keep the collateral on Bitcoin while settling liquidations in WBTC. Through the BTC Vault Swap Spoke, liquidators would receive WBTC immediately rather than waiting on native BTC to move.
So liquidators get a familiar asset they can use right away on Ethereum. Borrowers, meanwhile, never had to wrap anything going in.
The design keeps liquidations permissionless, meaning anyone can act as a liquidator. Babylon has published documentation on the liquidation model in its developer docs.
Importantly, control over risk settings stays with the Aave DAO. Babylon builds the plumbing, but tokenholders decide how much can be borrowed and when positions get closed out.
A timeline measured in governance phases
Babylon and Aave first announced their partnership on December 3, 2025. The idea moved into Aave’s formal process with a DAO temperature check that began on May 25, 2026.
A temperature check is Aave’s version of a show of hands. It gauges interest before a proposal moves into the heavier ARFC and AIP stages, which are the detailed request-for-comment and final on-chain vote phases.
Public testnet deployment for native BTC-backed borrowing was active by October 2026. Around the same time, HashKey Cloud’s integration of TBV for institutional clients was confirmed on October 7, 2026.
That institutional piece matters. Custody-wary funds have often been the loudest critics of wrapped Bitcoin, so a trust-minimized route may appeal to exactly that crowd.
Still, testnet is testnet. Real money hasn’t touched this design yet, and the remaining ARFC and AIP phases are where proposals tend to get picked apart line by line.
Why this matters for Bitcoin in DeFi
Bitcoin has always had an awkward relationship with DeFi. It’s the largest crypto asset, yet using it in lending markets has usually meant wrapping it and trusting someone to hold the real coins.
That tradeoff has kept plenty of long-term holders on the sidelines. For a group whose motto is roughly “not your keys, not your coins,” handing BTC to a custodian is a tough sell.
Babylon’s model tries to remove that objection entirely. If it works as described, holders could tap lending markets without ever giving up custody.
There’s also an interesting second-order effect on Aave itself. The protocol holds one of its largest token supplies in WBTC, but borrow demand for that WBTC has historically lagged.
In other words, a lot of WBTC sits in Aave’s pools doing very little. Since liquidators in Babylon’s design get paid in WBTC and borrowers can take out WBTC, the integration could potentially put more of that idle supply to work.
What to watch
The first thing to track is the risk parameters. Loan-to-value ratios, liquidation thresholds and supply caps will determine whether this is a niche experiment or a serious Bitcoin borrowing venue.
Conservative settings would limit early risk but also limit appeal. Aggressive ones would attract borrowers while putting more weight on the untested liquidation path.
The second is how the WBTC settlement holds up under stress. A design that pays liquidators instantly needs enough liquidity behind it during a sharp BTC drawdown, which is precisely when everyone wants out at once.
The third is competition. Wrapped Bitcoin products have long dominated BTC collateral in DeFi, and a credible native alternative on the largest lending protocol would put pressure on custodial models to justify their trust assumptions.
For BTC holders, the appeal is clear: borrowing power without surrendering custody. For Aave, it’s a shot at drawing in a huge pool of capital that has mostly stayed on the sidelines. Whether both sides get what they want now depends on a few more rounds of DAO voting.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave announced at 15:47 UTC on October 13, 2026 that its DAO had approved incentives for the Coinbase Tokenized Stocks market on Base. The published program terms say rewards began that day, are paid in $USDC through Merkl, and continue until the budget runs out. They do not state a campaign-specific budget.
The campaign covers supply positions in AAPLc, AMZNc, GOOGLc, METAc, MSFTc, NVDAc, and TSLAc. The rate is variable and not guaranteed. Aave can modify, pause, or end the program early, while rewards accrued before a change remain claimable for eligible users.
Access follows the issuer’s jurisdictional restrictions. The terms exclude US persons and anyone located in the United States. They also exclude people in jurisdictions where Coinbase does not offer the tokens, comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions, listed persons and addresses, and anyone whose participation would violate local law.
Claiming rewards amounts to a representation that the claimant is eligible, acquired the tokens under the issuer’s terms, and complies with applicable law. The terms say rewards accrued by an ineligible person are not validly earned and may be withheld. This makes eligibility part of the claim process rather than a promise that every address supplying collateral will receive rewards.
The DAO approved the incentive budget through a broader funding update. TokenLogic said rewards are drawn only against live campaigns and that it will report incentive spending through its governance updates. The incentive post does not identify how much of the broader allowance is assigned to this campaign, so its end date cannot be calculated from the published terms.
What the incentives pay for
The incentives sit on top of an isolated lending market rather than turning the stocks into borrowable assets. Aave’s Base market specification places the seven stocks in a dedicated Equities Hub. Users can post any combination as collateral and borrow $USDC. The equities themselves cannot be borrowed.
That separation matters to $USDC suppliers. Joining the hub explicitly opts them into lending against tokenized equity collateral, and the exposure does not extend to Aave’s other Base markets. The hub also includes a supply-only tokenized $USDC spoke for vaults and aggregators.
Pooling lets one borrower use a combination of supported stocks in one position. Each asset keeps its own collateral factor, so the composition of the account determines borrowing capacity. A diversified basket does not receive a separate borrowing multiplier. The market’s separation also means a problem with this collateral set does not automatically spread its exposure to lenders in other Aave markets.
Borrowing power varies by stock. The approved collateral factors are 78% for AAPLc, 73% for AMZNc, 76% for GOOGLc, 65% for METAc, 79% for MSFTc, 70% for NVDAc, and 65% for TSLAc. The market uses a 5.5% maximum liquidation bonus and a 10% liquidation fee. Its $USDC reserve has a 32 million add cap and a 21 million draw cap.
The token structure adds risks that do not exist for ordinary crypto collateral. LlamaRisk’s technical assessment says each token is a certificate over shares held in segregated custody under a bare trust governed by Abu Dhabi Global Market law. Secondary-market buyers initially have economic exposure but no redemption right until they complete the issuer’s vesting process. The program terms also say Coinbase, not Aave DAO, TokenLogic, or Aave Labs, issues the tokens.
The price feed includes an issuer multiplier as well as the underlying share price. The multiplier begins at 1.0 and changes for corporate actions. A reinvested dividend raises it after fees and withholding tax, while a stock split changes it by the split ratio. During a corporate action, the issuer pauses its registry flag, minting and redemption stop, and the feed holds its last value until the adjusted price is confirmed. Token transfers can continue during that window.
The price feed stops when stocks stop trading
The market operates continuously, but its equity prices do not. Chainlink’s tokenized equity feeds publish from Sunday evening through Friday evening in US Eastern time and hold their last value during weekends and market holidays. The feeds use a 0.5% deviation threshold and a 24-hour heartbeat while sessions are open.
A frozen feed means a position’s reported collateral value does not move during a closure. Its health factor can still fall as interest accrues. When the feed resumes, news accumulated during the closure can appear in one price update and push a position below its liquidation threshold. LlamaRisk modeled the collateral factors around that gap, including a historical closure lasting 92 hours and 35 minutes and a 24% stressed debt rate.
Liquidators may also face a delay after taking collateral. The assessment says issuer redemption is available only to vested holders and settles during regular market hours. Base secondary liquidity can be thin, while an off-hours liquidator may need to hedge until the underlying market opens. The maximum liquidation bonus is designed around redemption, secondary-market sale, and perpetual-hedge routes.
For stock holders, the immediate change is a variable $USDC subsidy on collateral they could already use to borrow $USDC. The reward is not a contractual entitlement, and its rate can fall as participation grows. A supplier also remains exposed to the issuer, custody arrangement, price feed, smart contracts, and liquidation process.
For $USDC suppliers, the campaign may bring more collateral into the isolated hub, but it does not remove weekend repricing or liquidation-path risk. They have opted into that risk by supplying to this hub rather than another Aave market.
The next milestone is not dated. The campaign ends when its budget is exhausted unless Aave modifies, pauses, or stops it earlier. The figure to watch is whether borrowing demand remains after the variable subsidy changes or disappears.
Aave V4 za 17 dní přilákal vklady ve výši 4,9 milionu USD v tokenizovaných akciích emitovaných společností Coinbase, čímž rozšířil možnosti kolaterálu pro půjčky v DeFi.
Aave V4 is experiencing rising attention as tokenized stocks stimulate growth opportunities within the decentralized lending sector. The surge in activity points to a shift in decentralized finance (DeFi), with traditional financial instruments entering onchain ecosystems and diversifying collateral options for users.
Tokenized stocks drive new DeFi momentumData from Token Terminal shows that Aave V4 has accumulated $4.9 million in Coinbase-issued tokenized stock deposits over a 17-day period. This development signals increasing interest in bridging conventional equity with blockchain-based lending platforms, potentially broadening the scope of collateral choices for DeFi participants.
Tokenized stocks provide exposure to traditional equities through blockchain tokens, enabling users to interact with assets previously unavailable in the DeFi space. Their integration with Aave V4 expands the asset base for collateralized lending and opens the door to new user segments seeking exposure to tokenized financial products.
The value of these deposits, while notable, does not represent the full extent of market activity, as borrowing demand and resulting protocol revenue depend on ongoing adoption, asset liquidity, and the lending conditions specific to tokenized stocks. The future influence of these assets will largely be shaped by their collateral eligibility and the risk management protocols established by Aave.
The introduction of tokenized stocks could significantly scale Aave’s addressable market by connecting traditional finance with decentralized lending frameworks. This link may create new collateral avenues for qualified users and broaden participation in onchain lending.
Market monitoring and the rise of meme tokensAs Aave introduces new assets and users monitor critical resistance and support levels, close tracking of investor behavior and asset timing has become increasingly important throughout the crypto market. In the meme token sector, for instance, internet-driven trends can quickly generate millions in interest. Data provided by Fomo App highlights a trade in the “Niu Lai” token, where an initial investment of $99 grew to about $370,000—demonstrating the fast-moving and volatile nature of this niche market. Platforms like Fomo App now integrate token discovery, social feeds, investor rankings, and trading notifications, serving as a resource for those following meme token activity and broader market sentiment.
Liquidity, effective risk assessment, and responsible collateral management remain fundamental for the tokenized stocks on Aave V4. Future developments in deposits and borrowing activity will help determine whether the initial momentum translates into sustained growth for both Aave and the DeFi market as a whole.
Technical outlook for AAVE priceCrypto analyst Crypto With Gopal has identified a symmetrical triangle pattern emerging on the one-hour chart, with AAVE currently trading close to $168. This technical formation reflects a period of price consolidation as traders weigh the potential for a decisive breakout or breakdown.
The $172–$176 interval stands as the nearest resistance zone for AAVE. Should the price confidently breach this range on strong trading volume, bullish momentum could target the $185 level. Sustained buying pressure above resistance would support higher price targets.
On the downside, $165 acts as a critical support zone. If AAVE falls below this threshold, the price may head toward $155, dampening the current bullish trend. Gopal emphasizes that price direction will be confirmed only by substantial volume and movement beyond these key support or resistance ranges.
At present, trends in tokenized stock deposits and technical indicators function as fundamental signals, but there is no clear evidence linking these deposits directly to AAVE price fluctuations. Traders continue to monitor both technical and onchain developments as market sentiment evolves.
A breakout above the $172–$176 resistance level could shift sentiment for AAVE toward a more bullish outlook, with upside potential beyond $185. However, a breakdown below $165 may prompt a shift toward lower price targets and heightened caution among traders.
Long-term growth for Aave depends on expanding tokenized asset adoption and rigorous management of collateral risks. As AAVE price action remains within defined ranges, analysts and market participants closely observe both fundamentals and technicals to inform their outlook.
Aave’s active loans rose 8.1% to $12.6 billion. V4 deposits nearly doubled in September. Crypto payments and tokenized equities are driving expansion. Protocol revenue remains 66.6% below last year. Aave is attempting to build new sources of borrowing demand through cryptocurrency-backed payments, tokenized equities and institutional credit, even as its established lending business remains substantially smaller than a year ago.
The decentralized lending protocol recorded its third consecutive month of growth in September, with total value locked (TVL) averaging $31.4 billion and outstanding loans reaching $12.6 billion, according to Token Terminal’s September 2026 report, shared in X.
Yet the recovery remains uneven. Deposits increased 13.9% from August, while active loans grew 8.1%, leaving both measures more than 55% below their September 2025 levels.
At the same time, Aave V4 is expanding into markets that connect blockchain lending with consumer spending and traditional financial assets.
The strategy could broaden Aave’s borrower base beyond cryptocurrency traders, but its success will depend on whether those integrations generate sustained credit demand and interest income.
Aave’s Recovery Reveals a More Concentrated Lending Market Aave maintained its position as the largest onchain lending protocol in September, accounting for 47% of outstanding loans across projects tracked by Token Terminal. Its $12.6 billion loan book was more than twice the size of its nearest competitor, although its market share remained 17.4 percentage points below the previous year’s level.
The protocol’s average total value locked (TVL) reached $31.4 billion, increasing 13.9% from August and marking a third consecutive monthly gain. The recovery followed a prolonged contraction that reduced TVL from nearly $70 billion in September 2025 to approximately $23 billion in June 2026.
ave’s TVL increased for a third consecutive month in September, but remained 55.2% below its year-earlier level. Source: Token Terminal. The latest increase brings deposits back above $30 billion for the first time since April. Nevertheless, the protocol has recovered only part of the capital lost during the first half of the year, leaving its lending markets substantially smaller than in 2025.
Ethereum continued to anchor Aave’s liquidity, accounting for 83.1% of September TVL, equivalent to approximately $26.1 billion. Its dominance has persisted despite the protocol’s expansion across other networks, including Base, Arbitrum and OP Mainnet.
Ethereum remains the backbone of Aave’s liquidity despite the growing presence of newer networks such as Base, Arbitrum and OP Mainnet. The concentration is also evident in borrowing activity. Wrapped Ether (WETH) represented 39.8% of outstanding loans, followed by Tether (USDT) at 22.8% and USD Coin (USDC) at 22.6%.
While newer blockchain deployments are creating additional opportunities for specialized lending, Aave’s overall performance remains heavily influenced by activity on Ethereum.
A separate view from DefiLlama illustrates the recovery at a daily frequency. Its data shows a sharp TVL decline in late April and early May, followed by stabilization during June and July. A more pronounced rebound began in August and continued into September.
Aave’s TVL has recovered significantly since its April low, approaching $18 billion in October. The daily fee series offers an additional perspective. Although TVL has improved since the summer, fees have not shown a similarly pronounced recovery, indicating that the return of liquidity has yet to produce a comparable increase in fee-generating activity.
DefiLlama reports lower absolute TVL figures than Token Terminal, so the two datasets should not be treated as directly interchangeable. Both, however, illustrate the same broad trajectory: a steep contraction followed by a partial recovery.
That distinction sets up Aave’s next challenge. The protocol is rebuilding its liquidity base, but stronger borrowing demand will be needed to translate that capital into sustained lending revenue, particularly as Aave V4 expands into consumer payments and tokenized financial assets.
Consumer Credit Becomes a Growth Engine for Aave V4 The strongest expansion occurred in Aave V4, the protocol’s newer lending architecture.
Average deposits reached $1 billion in September, increasing 92% from August, while outstanding loans rose 84.4% to $301.2 million.
By month-end, deposits had climbed to a record $1.3 billion and active loans reached $402.7 million.
Much of the expansion came from Ether.fi Cash, a payment card that allows users to borrow stablecoins against cryptocurrency holdings rather than selling their assets to fund purchases.
Its Borrow Mode operates through a dedicated Aave V4 instance on OP Mainnet.
For customers, the arrangement provides spending liquidity while retaining exposure to eligible collateral. For Aave, each qualifying borrowing transaction creates activity within its lending infrastructure.
The Ether.fi Cash instance averaged $279.1 million in deposits during September, nearly tripling in its first full month.
Its influence extended to user activity.
Monthly active addresses across Aave increased 58% to 143,400, the highest level since February. OP Mainnet accounted for 43.7% of that activity, largely because of transactions associated with Ether.fi Cash.
The integration demonstrates how lending protocols can reach customers through financial applications without requiring them to interact directly with decentralized finance interfaces.
However, the reported user metric counts active blockchain addresses rather than verified individuals. Automated activity and multiple addresses controlled by the same user can affect the total.
The longer-term opportunity lies in converting payment activity into recurring borrowing balances, rather than relying exclusively on trading-related leverage.
Aave V4’s hub-and-spoke architecture supports this approach by connecting shared liquidity pools to specialized borrowing markets with separate risk parameters.
That structure allows partners to develop dedicated lending products while drawing on Aave’s broader liquidity infrastructure.
Tokenized Equities Bring Traditional Assets Into Lending Aave’s expansion is not limited to consumer payments.
On September 25, Coinbase Tokenized Stocks became available through an Aave V4 Equities Hub on Base, allowing eligible users outside the United States to borrow USDC against seven tokenized equities.
The supported assets include tokenized representations of Apple, Nvidia and Tesla shares.
This introduces a securities-backed lending model into Aave’s onchain infrastructure.
Instead of selling eligible equity exposure to obtain liquidity, a borrower can use tokenized holdings as collateral for a stablecoin loan.
The integration potentially opens a new source of demand from investors whose portfolios extend beyond cryptocurrencies.
However, tokenized equities introduce operational risks that differ from those associated with continuously traded digital assets.
Traditional stock exchanges have defined trading hours, while cryptocurrency lending systems operate around the clock. Differences in market liquidity, pricing availability and redemption arrangements can complicate collateral valuation during periods of volatility.
Aave’s ability to manage those risks will be important as the Equities Hub begins its first full month of operation in October.
September also brought a V4 deployment on Arc, Circle’s blockchain built around USDC.
Launched on September 16, the Arc market averaged $91.1 million in deposits during its first two weeks.
Together, the Base and Arc deployments broaden V4’s reach into stablecoin infrastructure and tokenized financial assets.
Institutional Lending Moves Beyond Onchain Custody Aave is pursuing a separate opportunity in institutional credit through its Horizon market and a proposed custody-based lending model.
Horizon, which supports borrowing against tokenized real-world assets, averaged $396 million in deposits during September, an increase of 6.5% from August.
Outstanding loans grew faster, rising 17.2% to $135 million.
On an annual basis, Horizon’s deposits increased 216.9%, while borrowing expanded 384.7%, making it one of Aave’s faster-growing specialized markets.
The figures suggest increasing demand for stablecoin borrowing against tokenized collateral, although Horizon remains small relative to Aave’s established markets.
Aave Labs has also proposed Custodied Collateral Lending, which would allow institutions to borrow stablecoins against assets held with a regulated custodian such as Anchorage.
The proposal addresses a constraint that can prevent traditional financial institutions from participating in decentralized lending.
Institutional investors may be subject to custody requirements that restrict transferring securities or other assets into onchain smart contracts.
Allowing eligible collateral to remain with a regulated custodian could make blockchain-based borrowing accessible without requiring institutions to abandon their existing custody arrangements.
However, the model would depend on reliable collateral verification, enforceable legal claims and procedures for managing defaults.
The proposal remained under governance discussion in early October and has not yet become an operating lending market.
Aave Labs has also outlined plans for a dedicated V4 real-world asset hub on Avalanche.
The Revenue Test: Can New Markets Restore Lending Income? Aave’s expansion comes against a difficult financial comparison.
The protocol generated $36.5 million in fees during September, up 7.5% from August but down 65.7% year over year.
Aave’s fee generation has remained below its late-2025 levels, despite a modest recovery in recent months. Interest paid by borrowers accounted for $36.1 million, or 99% of total fees.
The Aave DAO retained $5.2 million in revenue, an increase of 4.4% from August but a 66.6% decline from September 2025.
The distinction matters because total fees are not equivalent to protocol earnings.
Borrowers pay interest to access liquidity, most of which goes to depositors. The DAO retains a portion as revenue.
As a result, additional deposits can increase the capital available for lending without producing proportional revenue growth.
Aave’s newer integrations could improve that relationship if they attract borrowers who maintain outstanding loans and consistently pay interest.
For now, V3 remains the dominant contributor to lending activity, with approximately $12.3 billion in average active loans during September.
V4’s $301.2 million average loan book is growing rapidly but remains a relatively small portion of the total.
The protocol’s treasury averaged $161 million, increasing 22.6% from August. Because the treasury includes AAVE holdings, its reported dollar value is also sensitive to changes in the governance token’s market price.
Meanwhile, AAVE’s market capitalization averaged $2.2 billion, rising 32.6% month over month while remaining 53.7% below its year-earlier level.
GHO Growth Adds Another Dimension Aave’s native stablecoin, GHO, continued expanding despite the weaker annual lending figures.
Its average market capitalization reached $679.1 million in September, increasing 2.6% from August and 127.4% year over year.
The increase marked a fifteenth consecutive month of growth.
Aave’s savings product, sGHO, also benefited from an increase in the Aave Savings Rate from 4.25% to 4.50% annual percentage rate in August.
The rate remained unchanged following the October 2 update.
GHO’s expansion strengthens Aave’s stablecoin ecosystem and creates another connection between lending markets, liquidity provision and savings products.
However, growth in circulating stablecoin supply should not be confused with an equivalent increase in protocol revenue.
The economic contribution depends on how GHO is issued, used and integrated across Aave’s markets.
What Matters After September? Aave’s next stage of development will depend on three areas:
Consumer borrowing: Whether Ether.fi Cash produces sustained loan balances beyond its initial expansion. Tokenized collateral: How much borrowing demand emerges from the new Equities Hub on Base. Institutional credit: Whether the proposed custody-based model progresses through governance and attracts participants. The September report shows improving lending activity alongside the emergence of new products that could broaden Aave’s customer base.
Yet the financial figures also establish a clear limitation: the protocol’s recent growth has not restored the borrowing volumes or revenue recorded a year earlier.
Aave V4 provides a route into consumer payments and traditional financial assets, but those markets still need to demonstrate their economic contribution.
For investors and protocol participants, the more important indicators will be sustained growth in outstanding loans, capital utilization and interest-derived revenue rather than deposits or address activity alone.
Alex is a financial markets journalist and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, and he's spent close to ten years trying to answer one stubborn question: what's really driving this? It started in 2016, when Bitcoin refused to make sense to him - and rather than shrug, he stayed with it until it did. That patience became his method. He's less interested in what an asset is doing today than in the plumbing behind it: how liquidity flows, where risk hides, what a chart is quietly telling you that the headline isn't. That lens eventually stretched well past crypto into traditional markets, because the same forces - fear, leverage, incentives, timing - show up everywhere once you know how to look. Most coverage, in his view, insults the reader by stopping at the surface. Price up, price down, moving on. He'd rather leave someone genuinely understanding a move than merely informed that it happened. His path into markets ran through a Tourism degree at New Bulgarian University - proof, maybe, that curiosity beats credentials. With more than 200 deep analyses and over 10,000 articles behind him, he still walks away from most trading days having learned something he didn't know that morning.
AI agents just got a direct line into one of DeFi’s largest credit markets. Agents can now connect their MetaMask Agent Wallet to the Aave MCP, a pairing designed to link Aave’s lending infrastructure with the growing world of agentic finance.
How the plumbing works Aave Labs launched its Model Context Protocol server on September 8, 2026. It lives at mcp.aave.com and serves as the interface between AI agents and the Aave ecosystem.
The coverage is broad. The server pulls information from Aave V3, which runs on 21 chains, and from Aave V4, which supports Ethereum and Avalanche.
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It ships with approximately 40 tools. Those tools let agents read protocol data, simulate actions before committing to them, and prepare transactions for managing positions across both versions.
The MCP server is non-custodial, so every action it prepares comes back as an unsigned transaction. Nothing moves until that signature lands.
The Agent Wallet is a self-custodial wallet built specifically for AI agents, letting them execute DeFi actions within limits the user sets. Users can cap spending, configure security protocols, and run simulations before anything goes onchain. Throughout, the user keeps control of the private keys.
A month of agent-focused launches MetaMask publicly launched the Agent Wallet on August 6, 2026. On that same day, Aave announced that Agent Wallet users could interact with Aave while keeping self-custody of their funds. The early use cases included automated position monitoring and liquidation protection.
Liquidation protection deserves a quick explainer. On a lending protocol like Aave, borrowers post collateral to take out loans. If that collateral falls too far in value, the position can be liquidated, meaning it gets sold off to cover the debt.
Meanwhile, Aave V4 has kept growing. As of September 2026, total deposits on V4 have surpassed $1 billion, a notable figure for a version that currently supports only two networks.
What this means for DeFi users and builders For developers, the roughly 40 tools lower the barrier to building agent products on Aave. Instead of writing custom integrations for each chain and version, builders can point their agents at a single server that already speaks Aave. With V3 spread across 21 chains and V4 on Ethereum and Avalanche, a unified interface saves builders from stitching together a patchwork of data sources.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave na Monadu zalistovalo PT-AUSD-17DEC2026, jehož strop 30 milionů tokenů byl naplněn; jako kolaterál ve stablecoinovém režimu eMode umožňuje poměr úvěru k hodnotě zajištění (LTV) ve výši 93 %.
Aave has added a fresh Pendle principal token to its V3 deployment on Monad. The new reserve, PT-AUSD-17DEC2026, has already filled its 30 million-token supply cap, with $29.67 million supplied.
The previous version of this token matures on October 8, 2026, and its holders needed somewhere to go.
What Aave actually listed The asset is a principal token tied to AUSD, a stablecoin. A principal token is a claim on an underlying asset that comes due on a fixed maturity date, which in this case is December 17, 2026.
Aave copied the risk settings from the predecessor market, PT-AUSD-8OCT2026. Users cannot borrow the principal token directly. They can only post it as collateral.
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That collateral use is limited to a stablecoin-focused eMode. Inside that mode, the loan-to-value ratio is 93% and the liquidation threshold is 95%.
The proposal to list the token was submitted on September 25, 2026. LlamaRisk, which advises Aave on risk, recommended it.
The October market set the template The earlier PT-AUSD-8OCT2026 market launched with a supply cap of 20 million tokens. That cap was eventually raised to 80 million tokens. By October 2, 2026, 67.4 million tokens, roughly $67 million, had been supplied as collateral ahead of the October 8 maturity.
Borrowing activity backs up the appetite. AUSD credit on Aave’s Monad deployment saw active loans climb 113% to $8.7 million in the 15 days leading into early October. Deposits more than doubled over the same window, reaching $11.2 million.
Why the rollover matters The core idea behind this listing is continuity. Fixed-maturity collateral has a built-in cliff, and users running leveraged stablecoin positions would otherwise have to unwind those loans as their token expires. According to the research behind the listing, the structure is designed to let users roll collateral forward without closing existing loans, keeping that capital inside DeFi instead of letting it walk out the door at maturity.
The strategy users are running here is usually called looping. A user posts the principal token as collateral, borrows stablecoins, and can repeat the process to amplify exposure to the yield embedded in the token. A 93% loan-to-value ratio makes that loop very efficient.
What this means for Aave and Monad A 30 million-token cap filling this quickly suggests the October cohort was ready and waiting. The October market’s path from 20 million to 80 million tokens offers a rough playbook for whether Aave governance moves to raise the December cap.
There are real risks baked into the setup. High loan-to-value ratios leave little cushion if the principal token’s price drifts from where users expect it to be, and liquidations in looped positions can cascade if many users sit near the same threshold. The decision to bar direct borrowing of the principal token keeps the asset in a collateral-only role, which limits some of the ways the market could be stressed.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Crypto lending has grown 55% since July, according to Cointelegraph. More borrowing means more money parked in smart contracts, and more money in smart contracts means a bigger target.
Aave, the largest decentralized lender by market share and total value locked (TVL), is responding by stacking its defenses for the V4 rollout. Attackers now have AI tools of their own, and DeFi protocols are wired together closely enough that one failure can spread to its neighbors.
Inside the security stack Aave Labs is treating V4 security as a year-long program instead of a one-time checkup. The Aave DAO, the token-holder body that governs the protocol, approved a $1.5 million budget for the effort.
A governance post from March 2026 set out five commitments. They are early embedding of formal verification, sustained layered auditing, continuous verification, a permanent bug bounty program, and AI-assisted smart contract scanning.
Formal verification uses mathematical proofs to show certain failures cannot happen at all, unlike normal testing, which only confirms the code behaves correctly in the cases someone thought to check.
V4 went through about 345 cumulative days of security review across internal teams and external auditors. A public contest attracted more than 900 participants. None of them turned up a critical or high-severity finding.
An August 2026 blog post reported that AI scans of the V3 and V4 codebases surfaced 71 issues. Every validated finding was rated low or informational severity, with no critical threats identified.
Lending’s bumpy comeback Galaxy Research recorded a 28% quarter-over-quarter fall in Aave borrowing volumes during Q2 2026. Deposits grew 41% and active loans rose 32% during Q3 2026. By early October 2026, deposits on V4 had passed $1 billion.
In April 2026, KelpDAO suffered a $292 million incident, one of the year’s largest DeFi losses. Aave expanded its asset-listing criteria to include cybersecurity and carried out a wide-ranging overhaul of its risk framework afterward.
On October 2, 2026, a third-party exploit targeted a FlashLoopAdapter module and drained approximately 114 ETH, worth roughly $310,000. Aave’s core V3 contracts were not affected.
Why interconnected risk changes the math DeFi’s composability means protocols snap together so that a token from one platform can serve as collateral on another and then get looped through a third. A crack in one component can spread through the whole structure. Cointelegraph’s reporting flags this cascade risk as a key danger for the current lending upswing, alongside the rise of AI-assisted attacks.
By rating the cybersecurity of assets before accepting them as collateral, Aave’s updated listing criteria are designed to keep other protocols’ problems from becoming its own.
What this means for DeFi lending For rival lending protocols, Aave has raised the baseline. A $1.5 million DAO-approved security budget, a permanent bug bounty and published AI-scan results set a public standard that competitors may face pressure to meet.
The October 2 adapter exploit points to a specific weak spot: core contracts tend to get the most scrutiny, but add-on modules and third-party integrations around them may not receive the same treatment.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
@Aave has extended BNB Chain stablecoin support to its consumer mobile app, allowing users to deposit $USDC and $USDT balances held on @BNBCHAIN directly into the protocol's decentralized lending pool. The move is the latest step in Aave's effort to bring institutional-grade DeFi to a mainstream mobile audience.
Instant Access for Waitlisted Users The BNB Chain integration gives waitlisted users immediate connectivity through native access codes, removing friction that has historically slowed retail onboarding to DeFi products. The pattern follows a similar playbook to Aave's earlier mobile integrations: The BNB Chain rollout extends that same model to one of crypto's busiest networks.
Routing even a fraction of that activity toward Aave's lending pool represents a meaningful opportunity for protocol liquidity.
Solving Cross-Chain Fragmentation A core design objective of the Aave mobile app is eliminating the need for manual bridging. Adding BNB Chain to that framework means retail dollar balances held natively on the network can flow into Aave's lending markets without users ever touching a bridge interface.
The BNB Chain addition builds on a broader expansion strategy. Each new chain integration widens the funnel ahead of that broader release, and BNB Chain's scale makes it one of the more consequential additions to date.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Base enables USDC deposits on Aave mobile app
CoinInterestRate: Aave App Review 2026
Genfinity: Aave Ships Stable Vaults with Chainlink CCIP
Jediná on-chain peněženka převedla 150 milionů USDT z Aave do spořicího produktu spUSDT od Spark v době, kdy úrokové sazby z úvěrů na Aave dosahovaly dvouciferných hodnot.
A single on-chain wallet has pulled $150 million in USDT out of Aave and parked it in Spark’s USDT Savings product, known as spUSDT.
The withdrawals coincided with double-digit borrowing rates. Stablecoin borrowers usually expect single digits, so that kind of reading tends to be a sign of strain rather than a feature.
Why a $150 million move matters When a depositor of this size walks away, the pool gets thinner. On rate models driven by supply and demand, a thinner pool means pricier loans for everyone still borrowing.
The destination matters too. Spark operates within the Sky ecosystem, and its pitch leans on rate limits and peg stability rather than the free-floating, supply-and-demand approach Aave uses.
The KelpDAO hangover The story starts on April 18, 2026, when the KelpDAO rsETH exploit hit. The incident left Aave with roughly $195 million in bad debt, largely because rsETH used as collateral turned out to be unbacked.
The reaction was swift. Aave saw estimated net outflows of $10 to $16 billion shortly after the exploit, according to the research findings, with total value locked falling from approximately $48.5 billion to $30.7 billion in just over three days.
Spark was one of the clearest beneficiaries. It recorded $2.4 billion in net deposit inflows after the KelpDAO incident, capturing more than 15% of Aave’s outflows. Broader estimates of SparkLend and its savings vaults put net inflows over the period somewhere between $1 billion and $2.4 billion.
The spUSDT vault in particular had a moment. By April 23, 2026, it had surpassed $1 billion in deposits with yields around 3%, before settling at approximately $600 million by October 7, 2026.
Integrations helped. Spark’s savings products have been plugged into platforms such as the OKX app, which lowers the friction for users who might otherwise never touch a DeFi interface directly.
A flight to boring The $150 million transfer is a useful snapshot of what large holders appear to want right now. The motivation, based on the research, looks like a preference for liquidity and risk controls over squeezing out the last basis point of yield.
It also shows how concentrated DeFi liquidity can be. One wallet moving $150 million is enough to register on a lending market, and a handful of similar moves can shift borrowing costs for thousands of smaller users who never made a decision at all.
What this means for Aave, Spark and DeFi lenders For Aave, the immediate issue is confidence. The protocol remains one of the largest lending markets in crypto, but sustained withdrawals by big depositors keep pressure on utilization, and the double-digit borrowing rates seen alongside this exit show how quickly that pressure can reach borrowers.
For Spark, the challenge is different. Winning deposits during a competitor’s crisis is one thing, and the slide in spUSDT from over $1 billion to around $600 million suggests some of that capital is restless. A fresh $150 million deposit helps that number, but it also adds concentration risk.
For the wider DeFi lending sector, the episode is a live stress test of design choices. Aave’s market-driven rates react fast to supply and demand, while Spark’s approach prioritizes stability and controlled flows. The research frames the post-KelpDAO shift as a possible reassessment of protocols around sustainability and reliability rather than raw yield.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave v4 na síti Base drží tokenizované akcie vydané společností Coinbase v hodnotě 4,7 milionu USD; objem se za poslední týden zdvojnásobil. Polovinu vkladů tvoří METAc a NVDAc.
Wall Street’s favorite tech names are quietly becoming DeFi collateral. Aave v4 on Base now holds $4.7 million in Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks, and that figure doubled over the past week.
Half of those deposits sit in just two names: Meta and Nvidia. Even onchain, the market can’t stop chasing AI-adjacent megacaps.
What’s actually happening on Aave’s Equities Hub Aave V4 launched a dedicated Equities Hub on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, on September 25, 2026. Eligible users outside the US can deposit tokenized versions of major stocks and borrow USDC against them.
Seven stocks are supported at launch, all issued by Coinbase with a “c” suffix:
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Apple (AAPLc) Amazon (AMZNc) Alphabet (GOOGLc) Meta (METAc) Microsoft (MSFTc) Nvidia (NVDAc) Tesla (TSLAc) Users can mix and match these tokens as collateral. Someone holding a little Apple and a little Tesla can stack both into a single position rather than picking one.
The hub runs as an isolated market. For now, USDC is the only asset available to borrow. Whatever happens in this corner of Aave is meant to stay in this corner of Aave, walled off from the protocol’s broader lending pools.
The guardrails: collateral factors and caps Risk firm LlamaRisk set the initial parameters, and they lean conservative. Collateral factors for the tokenized stocks range between 65% and 79%.
A quick translation: if you deposit $100 worth of tokenized shares, you can borrow somewhere between $65 and $79 in USDC, depending on which stock you’re using.
The aggregate collateral cap sits near $29 million. The USDC supply cap is $32 million, and the borrow cap is $21 million.
Pricing comes from Chainlink’s onchain feeds, which deliver valuations on a 24/5 schedule. The Aave market itself runs 24/7, pausing only during official corporate actions like stock splits or dividends that change what a share actually represents.
What this means for traders, lenders and DeFi With half of deposits in METAc and NVDAc, early users appear to be bringing their highest-conviction tech positions onchain. By October 1, total deposits reached $9 million, reflecting approximately $3.8 million in inflows during the week following launch.
The scheduling mismatch is a specific risk to watch. Aave’s market never closes, but Chainlink’s price feeds run 24/5, in step with traditional equity trading. That means weekends are a quiet zone where stock prices can’t update. If major news breaks on a Saturday, the onchain price won’t reflect it until feeds resume, and borrowers sitting near their limits may find little room to react. LlamaRisk’s conservative collateral factors look designed partly with that kind of scenario in mind.
The US exclusion is a reminder that tokenized equities still live in a regulatory gray zone. Stocks are securities, and lending against them onchain raises questions that American regulators have not fully settled. For now, the product is built for the rest of the world.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
HashKey Cloud plánuje ve spolupráci s Babylon a Aave v4 institucionální úvěry kryté nativním Bitcoinem bez wrapování či centralizovaného správce; datum spuštění nebylo zveřejněno.
At 14:35 UTC on October 7, 2026, Babylon announced that HashKey Cloud would integrate its Trustless Bitcoin Vaults, or TBV, for institutional clients using Aave v4. The companies have not set a public launch date. Their joint announcement says further timing and partnership details will arrive in the coming months.
The planned service would let a HashKey client borrow against Bitcoin that remains on the Bitcoin network. Babylon says the design avoids wrapping the asset, sending it through a bridge or placing it with a centralized intermediary. Aave v4 supplies the lending market, while HashKey Cloud provides the institutional access and operational role described by the partners.
HashKey clients would be able to borrow stablecoins and other supported assets against that collateral. The announcement also says clients could deploy borrowed stablecoins into yield strategies. It does not name the strategies, borrowing limits, collateral parameters, fees or jurisdictions that HashKey will support.
How the collateral path works Babylon’s technical overview describes a five-stage process. A depositor first locks native Bitcoin in a dedicated unspent transaction output on the Bitcoin network. Participants construct and pre-sign a transaction graph while the deposit receives confirmations. That graph fixes the permitted paths by which the Bitcoin can later be spent.
After setup, a self-custodial BTCVault is activated on Ethereum. Aave v4 can then recognize the locked Bitcoin as collateral. The borrower takes a supported asset from Aave at a market-based variable rate. Babylon’s product page lists $USDC, $USDT and $WBTC as examples of assets that may be borrowed, though the HashKey announcement does not say which assets its service will expose.
Closing the position requires repayment of the outstanding debt and accrued interest before the user requests a withdrawal. The same overview says a position is liquidated only after it falls below the liquidation threshold and that partial liquidation is supported. The HashKey release does not provide the threshold or other market parameters, so clients cannot yet calculate a position’s liquidation buffer from the announcement.
A withdrawal then enters a challenge process on Bitcoin. If no valid challenge is raised, the Bitcoin returns to the address nominated by the user. Babylon says an Ethereum event authorizes redemption, a zero-knowledge proof demonstrates that the event occurred, and the challenge mechanism determines whether the claim may proceed. The process is designed to avoid approval from a custodian, wrapped-asset issuer or signer committee.
This architecture separates the location of the collateral from the location of the loan. The Bitcoin remains locked in a Bitcoin UTXO, while Ethereum and Aave account for the collateral and debt position. It also means the borrower depends on the vault transaction graph, proof system, oracle and Aave market operating as intended.
What changes for HashKey clients HashKey Cloud already provides staking and yield infrastructure under HashKey Holding Limited. The company says it has provided node validation services since 2018 across public chains and Layer 2 networks. The integration adds a proposed borrowing route to that institutional infrastructure.
Fisher Yu, a Babylon co-founder, said HashKey Cloud would take a “core operational role in TBV” and bring native Bitcoin credit to institutional clients in Asia. He also said the self-custodial design lets regulated institutions retain title to their Bitcoin while using it as collateral. Leo Li, CEO of HashKey OnChain, described the goal as turning native Bitcoin into an asset that can be borrowed against and then deploying the proceeds.
For a client, the practical change is the ability to seek stablecoin liquidity without first selling Bitcoin or converting it into a wrapped representation. That removes an issuer and redemption process from the route. It does not remove lending risk. Babylon’s own disclosure says users remain exposed to smart-contract and implementation risk, price-oracle risk, and the risk profile of the lending application they choose.
The cost is also not limited to Aave’s variable borrowing rate. Babylon says users may pay protocol, Vault Provider and network fees. Its product page displays estimated native Bitcoin borrowing rates between 3% and 5%, alongside estimates between 0% and 5% for on-chain borrowing and between 9% and 16% for centralized borrowing. The page warns that rates and fees are variable and may change. Those ranges are product-page estimates, not terms promised to HashKey clients.
The integration is not live yet Native Bitcoin-backed borrowing through TBV is available on a public Aave v4 testnet with test assets. The HashKey announcement describes a future integration and gives no production deployment date. It also leaves open which entity will act as Vault Provider, how HashKey will handle access controls, which Aave market will hold the debt, and what collateral and liquidation settings will apply.
Those missing terms matter to institutions comparing this route with custody-based loans or wrapped Bitcoin in existing lending markets. Self-custody changes one category of counterparty exposure, but the position still depends on code, proofs, market liquidity, oracle inputs and liquidation execution. Borrowers also need the complete fee schedule to compare the advertised structure with another loan.
A prospective borrower will need several parameters before using the service: the supported debt assets, the variable rate for each asset, the liquidation threshold, oracle design, Vault Provider fees and network costs. The published flow also makes repayment operationally important because a full withdrawal requires the outstanding debt and accrued interest to be repaid. If collateral crosses the liquidation threshold first, the system supports a partial liquidation instead.
The next stated milestone is the release of integration timing and partnership details in the coming months. Until then, the verifiable state is a planned HashKey service built around a live public testnet, not a production borrowing market for HashKey clients.
GSR spustil Hare, kurátora onchainových trezorů; připravuje USD Earn pro hlavní dolarové stablecoiny a Gold Earn pro PAXG a PAXGy, přičemž oba produkty využívají Aave.
At 12:40 UTC on October 7, 2026, Hare announced its launch as GSR’s credit desk for onchain finance. The project named two forthcoming vaults and said Aave, Paxos Labs, Chainlink and Hypernative support the launch.
Hare is a vault curation business rather than a single lending market. Its announcement assigns separate jobs to GSR, Hare and Turtle. That division matters to prospective depositors because the project will choose and structure products while another participant handles distribution. The first products cover dollar stablecoins and tokenized gold, but neither is open yet. The thread describes both products before deposits are available.
How Hare divides the work GSR brings trading and liquidity experience to the new business. Hare said its work starts with origination: helping issuers put assets and products onchain, structuring those products for use across DeFi, and reaching allocators. Those are distinct steps in the route from an issuer’s asset to a vault that investors can use.
The project describes its own role more narrowly around product assessment and structure. Turtle provides liquidity distribution tooling and connects the vaults with allocators. Hare assesses and structures the products. Turtle then helps bring them to market and expand their distribution.
That setup gives issuers one path for product design and allocator access. It also tells allocators which entity is responsible for each part of the offering. Hare is the party assessing and structuring a product. Turtle supplies the distribution layer. GSR contributes the trading and liquidity expertise behind Hare. The announcement does not collapse those functions into one operator.
The launch post lists Aave, Paxos Labs, Chainlink and Hypernative as supporters. It gives a direct product role to Aave in both initial vaults and to Paxos Labs in the gold product. The thread does not specify the roles of Chainlink or Hypernative beyond support. Prospective users therefore have a named protocol and partner for the initial products, while some parts of the supporting setup remain undescribed.
The stablecoin vault The first product is Hare USD Earn. Hare said Aave will power the vault. It is intended to accept all major US dollar stablecoins through one vault rather than being announced as a product for one named stablecoin.
Hare said it is building USD Earn for larger allocations. It also said the design aims to limit yield compression as deposits grow. The announcement does not provide a target yield, supported-token list, allocation rule or contract address. That leaves allocators without the details needed to compare the planned product with an existing Aave position.
Fixed-rate yield will also be available, according to Hare. The project did not state how that fixed rate will be produced, how long it will last, or which counterparty will carry the obligation. Those unanswered terms are material because a fixed-rate option is a different commitment from an unspecified variable return. The launch establishes that both forms are planned, but it does not yet give users enough information to price or monitor either one.
The single-vault design could reduce the operational work of allocating several supported stablecoins separately. The announcement does not say whether depositors will receive one vault share, whether each asset will have separate accounting, or how withdrawals will work across the accepted stablecoins. Users will need the subscription documents and contract details before treating the product as interchangeable with direct deposits into Aave.
The tokenized gold vault The second product is Hare Gold Earn. Hare said Aave will power it and Paxos Labs will be a partner. The vault will bring together $PAXG and $PAXGy so holders can earn onchain.
Hare also said holders will pay no fees at launch. The statement is limited to launch and does not describe a later fee schedule. It also does not identify the source of the return, a target rate, collateral parameters or the treatment of the two gold tokens inside the vault. The fee statement therefore removes one cost at the start without resolving the economic and smart-contract terms an allocator would need to review.
The gold product extends the same operating model beyond stablecoins. Hare assesses and structures the product, Turtle connects it with allocators, Aave powers the vault, and Paxos Labs supports the gold side. For $PAXG and $PAXGy holders, the practical change will begin only when deposits open. Until then, the announcement describes a planned route to onchain yield rather than an available position.
Users should also separate the assets accepted by each product. USD Earn is described as one vault for major US dollar stablecoins. Gold Earn is described as one vault bringing together $PAXG and $PAXGy. Hare did not announce that assets can move between the two products or that they share risk parameters. Each product will require its own terms and contract review.
What users still need Hare said both vaults are coming soon. Opening dates and subscription terms will follow. The project has not yet supplied a dated launch milestone in the announcement.
Those pending terms are the next verification point. Allocators still need the accepted stablecoin list, chain and contract addresses, curator permissions, withdrawal mechanics, fixed-rate structure, fee schedule after launch, and the risk controls attached to each vault. The official thread confirms the product names, participants and intended functions, but it does not provide those operating details.
The open question is whether the subscription terms and deployed contracts will preserve the division of responsibilities described at launch. Users can evaluate that only after Hare publishes the opening dates, terms and contract details for USD Earn and Gold Earn.
Neoznačená peněženka převedla do úvěrového protokolu Aave přibližně 133,78 milionu USDC. Převod zaznamenala služba Whale Alert, jeho odesílatel zůstává neznámý.
An unidentified wallet just sent approximately 133.78 million USDC to Aave, the decentralized lending protocol. Whale Alert flagged the transfer.
Nobody has claimed it. The wallet has no public label, and neither Aave nor Circle has said anything about it.
What happened The transfer itself is simple. A wallet that tracking services label only as an “unknown whale” moved roughly 133.78 million units of USDC into Aave.
USDC is a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. Each token is designed to track one US dollar, which makes this a nine-figure dollar deposit in practical terms.
Aave works like a bank with no tellers. Depositors supply assets to a shared pool and earn variable yield. Borrowers post collateral and take loans from that pool.
When a whale drops this much USDC into Aave, the usual reading is one of two things. It could be liquidity provisioning, meaning the holder wants yield. It could also be a treasury adjustment, perhaps setting up collateral or repositioning funds.
No immediate price impact or disruption to protocol operations has been tied to the transfer.
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Part of a larger pattern This deposit is not a one-off. It lands in the middle of a busy stretch of large USDC movements tied to Aave.
Around October 6, about 129.3 million USDC flowed in. A day earlier, on October 5, roughly 149.6 million USDC arrived.
Traffic has not been one-directional. An outflow of approximately 155 million USDC took place on October 3.
Multiple transactions in the $192 million to $193 million range occurred during August and September 2026.
Across the recent window from mid-September to early October, tracked deposits and withdrawals have ranged from about $120 million to roughly $193 million.
Most of these moves were surfaced by Whale Alert on social media. Transactions flagged this way typically do not show follow-on swaps or bridging activity.
A deposit followed by a swap or a cross-chain bridge would suggest active trading. A clean deposit that just sits there looks more like a parking decision.
Why Aave keeps attracting the whales Aave runs markets across multiple blockchain networks, and USDC is among its most heavily used assets.
USDC supply across Aave markets recently passed $3 billion. Against that backdrop, a 133.78 million USDC deposit is meaningful but not overwhelming.
Utilization rates for USDC vary significantly from one network to another on Aave. Pools with higher utilization tend to pay suppliers more, because borrowers are competing for a smaller cushion of available funds.
Aave’s multi-chain expansion has widened those options. More networks mean more pools, and more pools mean more places for large holders to shop for returns.
What this means The two-way traffic deserves attention. The October 3 outflow of approximately 155 million USDC shows that this capital can leave as quickly as it arrives.
There is also the attribution problem. Without knowing who controls these wallets, it is difficult to tell whether the deposits represent a single entity cycling funds, several unrelated funds making similar bets, or an institution quietly building a DeFi treasury strategy.
Watch whether these deposits stay put or reverse within days, as the October 3 outflow did. Watch utilization rates on the networks receiving the funds, since that reveals whether the cash is being borrowed or simply parked.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Superform spustil na Base strategii Earn Stocks: podporovanou tokenizovanou akcii Coinbase lze použít jako kolaterál v Aave V4 pro úvěry v USDC a automatizované výnosové strategie.
Earn Stocks turns supported Coinbase Tokenized Stocks into productive collateral through transparent, rule-based strategies automated by SuperformOS.
Superform today announced the activation of Earn Stocks on Base, powered by Aave. The rollout begins with superNVDA, with additional Mag 7 SuperStocks to follow: superTSLA, superMSFT, superMETA, superAAPL, superAMZN, and superGOOGL.
Tokenization brought familiar assets onchain. It did not make those assets productive. SuperStocks is Superform’s family of products built on supported tokenized equities, and Earn Stocks is the strategy layer that puts the assets inside those products to work through defined, transparent mandates.
Each SuperStock posts a supported Coinbase Tokenized Stock as collateral in Aave V4’s Equities Hub on Base and borrows USDC. The strategy programmatically deploys the borrowed USDC through venues permitted by its mandate when expected returns clear borrowing and execution costs, liquidity requirements, and a risk buffer.
“Tokenization is not the end product. The bigger opportunity is turning onchain assets into financial products without passing the complexity of collateral, credit, and execution to the user,” said Vikram Arun, Co-Founder and CEO of Superform. “SuperformOS is the infrastructure that makes that possible, and Earn Stocks shows it in action.”
There is clear demand for equities to do more onchain. During pre-deposit, superNVDA attracted nearly 10% of all NVDAc issued on Base.
SuperformOS automates rule-based LTV management, debt, accounting, monitoring, repayment, redemption, and unwind across both legs of the strategy.
“Tokenized stocks have significant potential as onchain collateral, and Aave V4 on Base was built to serve that use case, allowing eligible users outside the U.S. to borrow USDC against supported Coinbase Tokenized Stocks. SuperStocks extends that credit primitive with an automated onchain Earn strategy, a unique product we expect to grow alongside tokenized stocks on Aave V4,” said Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo, Chief Strategy and Business Officer at Aave Labs.
“Coinbase Tokenized Stocks passed $1.5B in onchain volume on Base in 6 weeks. That tells you the demand is there,” said Antonio García Martínez, Head of Growth, Base. “The bigger question is what a stock can do once it’s onchain: serve as collateral, back a loan, earn. Superform is one of the first to put a real answer in front of users.”
Earn Stocks is initially available to eligible users through superNVDA. Additional SuperStocks will be activated in phases.
To learn more about Superform and SuperStocks, users can visit superform.xyz. Product availability varies by jurisdiction.
About Superform
Superform is the neobank for global markets. Buy U.S. stocks, earn on USD, trade crypto, and send money without restrictions. Under the hood, SuperformOS connects financial products so users can move between investing, earning, and trading in fewer steps and earn more money, safely.
Disclaimer: Earn Stocks is available only to eligible users in permitted jurisdictions. Returns are variable and subject to borrowing-rate, liquidity, market, oracle, smart-contract, and liquidation risk. This release is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.
Aave drží 74,2 % DeFi vkladů v tokenizovaném zlatě XAUT; objem vkladů XAUT na Aave vzrostl během zhruba deseti týdnů přibližně o 91,7 % na 76,7 milionu USD.
Gold has spent a few thousand years sitting in vaults doing nothing. Now a growing slice of it is being put to work on DeFi lending markets.
Tether’s tokenized gold, XAUT, worth $94.6 million is now deposited across DeFi platforms, with Aave and Uniswap holding most of it.
Where the gold is going Aave is doing most of the heavy lifting. Research data shows the lending protocol captured 74.2% of XAUT DeFi deposits, mainly through its V3 and V4 markets.
Its growth curve has been steep. Aave’s XAUT deposits climbed from around $40 million in early June 2026 to approximately $76.7 million by mid-August. That works out to roughly 91.7% growth in about ten weeks.
A separate snapshot in the research puts total XAUT DeFi deposits at $102.9 million across approximately ten venues as of early September 2026. That figure marked the first time deposits crossed the $100 million line.
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Within Aave, the newer V4 markets are pulling in fresh capital. V4 attracted about $8 million in net inflows over a 90-day period, while earlier venues saw money head for the exits.
Uniswap remains the main decentralized exchange for trading the token. Its V3 pools held about $16.5 million in XAUT liquidity in mid-2026. Its share of total deposits, however, appears to be shrinking as users drift toward Aave’s lending products.
Gold as collateral, not just a hedge On Aave, XAUT functions as an ERC-20 token that can back loans. A user deposits XAUT, borrows stablecoins against it, and keeps full exposure to gold’s price moves.
The research notes that Aave has processed liquidations of XAUT positions successfully during volatility events.
Still, the numbers need some perspective. XAUT used in lending pools represents only about 1.5% of the combined market capitalization of XAUT and PAXG, the two leading tokenized gold products.
Tether keeps printing gold The supply side is also expanding. Tether minted approximately 119,670 additional XAUT tokens, worth around $495 million, in late September 2026.
Each token is backed by physical gold held in Swiss vaults, according to the research. The mint pushed XAUT’s on-chain supply higher in a single batch that dwarfs the entire DeFi deposit base.
The research flags an open question: does the new supply reflect fresh demand and new uses, or is it largely a redeployment of holdings that already existed in another form?
What this means The most obvious takeaway is concentration. With Aave holding 74.2% of XAUT DeFi deposits, the tokenized gold lending market is effectively a one-protocol show.
The thing to watch is the gap between supply and usage. Tether’s roughly $495 million mint is several times larger than the entire DeFi deposit base. If a meaningful portion of that new supply flows into lending markets, the 1.5% utilization figure could start climbing.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Circle přidala Aave do své služby půjček krytých bitcoinem pro klienty Circle Mint, kteří tak mohou použít cirBTC jako zástavu pro půjčky v USDC i mimo Morpho.
Circle has added Aave as a lending option inside its Bitcoin-backed borrowing service for Circle Mint clients, according to The Defiant. The move extends a product that has so far run on Morpho alone.
How the service works Circle formally launched the product, called Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing (DABB), on September 21, 2026. It targets eligible institutional clients who want liquidity but don’t want to part with their Bitcoin.
The mechanics run in three steps. A client deposits native Bitcoin with Circle, which mints a token called cirBTC on a 1:1 basis. Each cirBTC is backed by Bitcoin held in reserve at Circle National Trust.
That token then serves as collateral in third-party on-chain lending markets. Against it, the client borrows USDC, Circle’s dollar stablecoin.
Circle is not the lender in this arrangement. Borrowing rates and available liquidity are set by the third-party protocols. Positions sit in smart wallets that customers control, and those positions follow each protocol’s own liquidation procedures.
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The service is not available to everyone. Customers based in New York are excluded, which limits the pool to institutions eligible under Circle Mint LLC.
From Morpho-only to a second venue DABB debuted with Morpho on Arc, Circle’s EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain. The product’s launch landed alongside the early operational rollout of Arc itself.
Aave was part of the plan from the start, but it wasn’t ready on day one. As of early October 2026, the Aave integration was still not functional. Its arrival now gives Mint clients a second place to post cirBTC and borrow USDC.
The early numbers Morpho’s cirBTC market gives a sense of initial appetite. Shortly after launch, market data showed nearly $18.86 million borrowed against a liquidity pool of $157.85 million.
The market set its liquidation loan-to-value threshold at 86%. Once a loan reaches 86% of the value of the Bitcoin backing it, the position becomes eligible for liquidation.
By October 2, 2026, Morpho deposits on Arc had surpassed $500 million. The cirBTC/USDC borrowing market accounted for a large majority of Morpho’s early activity on the chain.
What this means Adding Aave matters for competition between lending protocols. Morpho had the cirBTC market to itself, and that market drove most of its early Arc activity. A second venue means borrowers and lenders can now split between two protocols.
Circle is effectively the custodian and token issuer, while the lending outcomes depend on code and rules it does not control. An 86% liquidation threshold on Morpho leaves limited room in a sharp drawdown, and borrowers using Aave will need to learn that protocol’s parameters separately.
The New York exclusion caps the near-term reach, as some of the largest US financial institutions are based there and cannot use the service in its current form.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave is preparing to hand a slice of its risk management to software. LlamaRisk has proposed registering its LlamaGuard PT risk oracle agents on Aave V3 Plasma. The agents would adjust collateral settings for a Pendle Principal Token automatically.
The asset in question is PT-sUSDe-22OCT2026. More than $45 million of it had been supplied when the proposal landed.
What the proposal actually does The governance proposal kicked off on October 1, 2026. It asks Aave to register LlamaRisk’s agents so they can change specific risk parameters for the PT-sUSDe-22OCT2026 market on Plasma.
The agents run on Chainlink’s Runtime Environment, carrying a risk decision from LlamaRisk’s models onto the blockchain without someone pushing a button each time.
The parameters in scope include smoothed interest rates and liquidation thresholds.
The supply figures vary depending on who is counting. The proposal cited over $45 million supplied at the time. Later market tracker data put the figure at approximately $37 million on Plasma.
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Aave’s parameters for the October 2026 maturity included a supply cap of 150 million, alongside settings described as conservative.
The guardrails are the real story Discount rate changes are capped at 100 basis points per update. At least 2 days must pass between those updates.
E-Mode parameters face a tighter leash. Each can move by no more than 50 basis points at a time, with a minimum gap of 3 days between changes.
Aave governance also keeps its hand on the controls. Agents must be registered through governance in the first place, and emergency protocols remain available.
How Aave got here LlamaRisk originally handled Pendle PT parameters through manual risk stewardship. That shifted earlier in 2026, when LlamaGuard PT moved to automated, on-chain execution. The switch happened on Ethereum first, around early September. Plasma is the next stop.
Pendle PTs are a moving target as collateral. A principal token is essentially a claim on an underlying asset at a future date, so its fair value changes as that date gets closer and as market rates shift.
PTs have also become popular as productive collateral on Aave. Users deposit them in E-Mode, which offers more favorable borrowing terms for correlated assets, and build leveraged strategies on top.
What this means for Aave, Pendle and Plasma users For borrowers using PT-sUSDe-22OCT2026 on Plasma, the practical change is more frequent, smaller adjustments within the 100 and 50 basis point bands.
With 2-day and 3-day minimum gaps, no position should face a sudden parameter cliff from the agents alone.
For Aave as a protocol, the Ethereum deployment served as a proving ground. Extending it to Plasma signals that governance is comfortable letting registered agents operate across more than one network.
Every new agent registration widens the set of actors that can touch live risk settings. How Aave handles registrations, revocations and emergency overrides on Plasma will shape whether this model spreads to other assets and chains.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
AAVE price has climbed toward $184 as Aave’s V4 lending markets passed $1 billion in deposits, putting a key daily resistance level in focus before a possible October move above $200.
Summary
AAVE price traded near $183 on Binance, with daily resistance at the $183.86 Fibonacci level. Aave Labs reported more than $1 billion in V4 deposits and $310 million in active loans. The 4-hour chart showed a rising channel, with Supertrend support at $171.66. An analyst identified $202.29 as an upside target, conditional on a daily close above $184. CoinGecko recorded AAVE at approximately $182.51, up about 22.1% over seven days and 35.4% over a month. Its 24-hour trading range stretched from $177.50 to $187.06, placing the token close to the resistance area visible on the Binance daily chart.
Trading volume reached roughly $391.9 million over 24 hours, while AAVE’s market capitalization stood near $2.82 billion, according to the same dataset. Reaching $200 from that price would require an advance of approximately 9.6%.
Aave V4 growth adds context to the rally Aave Labs reported on Oct. 1 that V4 deposits had crossed $1 billion during September, alongside $310 million in active loans. The update confirmed that V4 had already gone live on Arc and Base.
On Base, the first market is an Equities Hub that accepts seven Coinbase tokenized stocks as collateral, with USDC as the sole borrowable asset. Aave Labs also reported that V3 active loans reached $12.5 billion during September.
The deposit and borrowing figures give the rally a measurable protocol backdrop. However, the move toward $200 also faces a price barrier that AAVE has reached following several weeks of recovery from its summer lows.
For the U.S. connection, Aave said the Coinbase stock tokens are available only to eligible users outside the United States. The products provide exposure to seven U.S. technology companies, including Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia, but their availability does not extend to U.S. investors.
Aave’s Sep. 25 announcement also said the equity tokens are collateral-only at launch. Users can borrow USDC against them, while borrowing the equity tokens themselves is not enabled.
AAVE meets its daily barrier near $184 TradingView’s Binance daily chart placed AAVE at $183.32, up 2.34% for the session, with a high of $187.36 and a low of $177.29. Price was testing the 0.618 Fibonacci level at $183.86, drawn across the larger decline from $386.25 to $58.76.
AAVE price daily chart — Oct. 5 | Source: TradingView The position of that level makes roughly $184 the immediate test for buyers. Price has traded above it during the session, but the chart still placed AAVE just below the line at the time recorded.
Above the recent $187 area, $200 is the next round-number threshold. The daily Fibonacci framework places the next higher retracement at $222.50, followed by $261.15, although neither level establishes a timetable for reaching it.
Daily momentum remained positive. The Awesome Oscillator read 34.58, with the latest green bars expanding above zero as AAVE approached resistance.
Chaikin Money Flow stood at 0.20, above its zero line. Together, the positive oscillator and money-flow readings support the bullish technical setup, while the $183.86 barrier remains the level price needs to clear.
A rejection around that barrier would leave AAVE trading below a major retracement despite the recovery. The nearer downside levels on the shorter timeframe would then become more relevant than the higher daily Fibonacci targets.
The rising channel puts $171.66 in focus The Binance 4-hour chart showed AAVE at $183.20 inside an ascending channel extending from mid-September. Successive advances and pullbacks have kept price between the two upward-sloping boundaries.
AAVE price 4-hour chart — Oct. 5 | Source: TradingView Recent trading was below the upper boundary after the early-October advance toward $187. The channel’s upper edge extends toward the high-$190s farther along the chart, while its lower boundary approaches the $170 area.
The 4-hour Supertrend remained green at $171.66, approximately 6.3% below the displayed price. Holding above that line would preserve its bullish signal; a move below it would weaken the shorter-term setup.
ADX registered 37.69, above the commonly watched 25 threshold associated with a stronger trend. Its latest reading had eased from the recent peak, suggesting that trend strength had cooled even as price remained elevated.
For an October advance, the technical sequence starts with a sustained move through $184–$187, followed by a test of $190 and the upper channel area. Falling through $171.66 and the lower channel boundary would instead expose the earlier trading area around $158–$160.
Liquidity near $186–$189 precedes the $200 target CoinGlass’s one-week liquidation heatmap showed prominent overhead concentrations around $185–$189, including a bright band near $189. Additional bands appeared toward $190–$193.
AAVE liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass Below price, clusters extended through roughly $174–$177 and $170–$172. A deeper concentration remained near $154–$156, close to the lower portion of the week’s trading range.
The overhead bands place leveraged-position exposure near the same area as recent price resistance. Clearing that zone is the nearer test before a move toward $200.
In an Oct. 5 X post, a pseudonymous analyst identified $202.29 as a potential target after a confident daily close above $184. The analyst also warned that a pullback toward $150–$160 could occur before another advance, citing extended gains and overheated futures.
The bullish October scenario therefore depends first on AAVE establishing support above $184 and clearing the recent highs near $187. Maintaining the rising channel and $171.66 Supertrend support would keep that setup intact, while losing both would shift attention toward the lower support areas.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Aave is making it more expensive to borrow its own stablecoin. The GHO Risk Council has raised the core GHO borrow rate on Ethereum, which The Defiant reports now sits at 5%, and it also lifted the base rate on the Prime market.
The timing is not random. Ethereum’s USDC conversion module, one of the main tools that keeps GHO tied to the dollar, was nearly empty when the change landed.
What changed, and why the math matters The latest move follows a proposal published on October 2, 2026, by TokenLogic, which serves among the GHO Stewards. That proposal called for lifting the GHO borrow rate on the Ethereum Core market from 4.25% to 4.50% APR. The 5% figure reported by The Defiant sits above that level.
The stated goal of the October 2 proposal was alignment. The Aave Savings Rate, the yield paid to people who stake GHO as sGHO, was set at 4.50%.
With borrowing at 4.25%, a user could take out GHO cheaply and park it in sGHO for a higher return. Closing that 25 basis point gap was meant to end the free lunch. Matching the borrow cost to the savings yield removes the incentive to mint GHO purely to farm sGHO.
The Prime market got the same treatment. Under the TokenLogic proposal, the Ethereum Prime base rate climbs from 2.75% to 3.00%, while the kink rate rises to 4.25%. Prime borrowers still keep a 25 basis point discount at optimal utilization, so the premium venue stays a little cheaper.
The Risk Council carries these changes out under mandates it already holds. It calls a function named updateGhoBorrowRate on specific Aave contracts, and each adjustment must stay within preset per-update limits. That cap means the council can steer rates quickly without a full governance vote, but it cannot yank them around in one dramatic swing.
The reserve problem behind the rate hikes To understand why Aave keeps nudging rates upward, look at the GHO Stability Modules, or GSMs. These are pools where users can swap other stablecoins for GHO, and back again, at close to a one-to-one rate.
When GHO trades below $1, traders can buy it cheaply on the open market and redeem it through a GSM for a full dollar of USDC or USDT. That arbitrage pulls the price back up. It also drains the module of whatever stablecoin sits on the other side.
That draining is exactly what has happened. The USDC GSM has been depleted, and the USDT GSM holds approximately 22.5M USDT.
GHO traded near $0.999 for much of September and early October 2026. Higher borrow rates attack the problem from the supply side. When borrowing GHO costs more, some borrowers repay their loans. To repay, they need GHO. Some will buy it on the market, which supports the price. Others may route stablecoins through the GSMs to get GHO, which refills the modules. The research describes the strategy as encouraging repayment flows back into the stability modules.
A pattern, not a one-off This is the third time in roughly as many months that the rate dial has turned. In August 2026, Aave raised the Core borrow rate from 3.75% to 4.25%. Further adjustments followed in September, and then came the October proposal.
GHO is an overcollateralized stablecoin. Users mint it by locking up more value in crypto collateral than the GHO they receive. Its peg depends on a mix of collateral backing, interest rates, and arbitrage tools like the GSMs. Because Aave controls the borrow rate directly, it has a lever that many other stablecoin issuers lack.
What this means for GHO holders and Aave users For borrowers, the message is simple. Holding a GHO loan on Ethereum Core costs more than it did a few months ago, and the Prime market has moved up as well. Anyone running a leveraged position or a looping strategy built on cheap GHO will need to recheck their numbers.
For sGHO holders, ending the borrow-to-stake loop reduces artificial GHO supply that existed mainly to chase the savings yield.
The empty USDC module is the number to watch. If higher rates drive repayments and the module starts to refill, the strategy is working. If the USDT pool, at approximately 22.5M USDT, keeps shrinking while GHO lingers near $0.999, the council may need to keep pushing rates higher within its per-update limits.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov has publicly challenged positions taken by European authorities as the European Commission reviews the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
In comments published on October 2, 2026, he said he was disappointed by the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority’s submissions to the MiCA consultation.
Those submissions, he argued, go beyond existing limits by calling for a ban on yields paid on stablecoins.
They also seek tighter limits on how crypto-asset service providers can connect customers to decentralized finance.
That would cover protocols that generate returns on stablecoins not authorized under MiCA, even though the authorities have not set out a workable description of how such access should operate.
Kulechov further noted that the responses favor confining DeFi access, for providers that offer it, to selected categories of users through so-called suitability tests.
They also raise the possibility of a certification system for decentralized lending protocols.
He said it is not clear how either requirement could be applied in practice.
If public authorities themselves decide which protocols count as appropriate for users in Europe, the outcome could diverge sharply from the open DeFi markets that exist now.
In his view, the more likely result would be additional walled gardens.
Those closed environments would weaken the liquidity and network effects that open financial systems depend on, and would narrow the options Europeans have for building or protecting wealth.
Disappointed by the European Central Bank’s (ECB) and European Banking Authority’s (EBA) responses to the MiCA consultation.
They are not only advocating for a prohibition on paying yield on stablecoins, but also for restrictions on CASPs providing access to DeFi, including…
— Stani (@StaniKulechov) October 2, 2026
Although the proposals are framed as consumer protection, he warned that overly broad limits can instead add friction, slow innovation, and delay the growth of financial infrastructure that is open, transparent, and auditable.
He contrasted that approach with the practical capacity of onchain systems. Stablecoins, decentralized finance, and tokenized securities, he said, can reduce operational drag, improve visibility, and widen access to financial opportunities.
Consumers and businesses in Europe stand to gain if firms developing that infrastructure are able to keep building and competing from inside the region.
He also observed that US agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), have lately shown a more pragmatic stance toward onchain innovation.
Kulechov urged European authorities to place users and their interests at the center of the rulebook.
Banks and other established firms, he argued, should adjust their models so they can serve customers in an economy that is moving onchain, rather than depend on artificial barriers that raise costs and cut access while activity elsewhere continues.
He closed by stating that decentralized finance will ultimately prevail.
The remarks sit against Aave Labs’ own late-September submission to the Commission’s MiCA review, in which the firm pressed for clearer treatment of lending returns and for rules that leave room for non-custodial protocols.
The exchange highlights a live dispute over how far Europe’s crypto framework should reach into yield products and into the gateways that regulated firms use to reach decentralized markets.
ether.fi uzavřela partnerství s Aave a Optimism, aby do roku 2027 navýšila úvěrovou kapacitu pro kartu ether.fi Cash na 500 milionů USD. Nyní má v oběhu zhruba 22 milionů USD.
ether.fi entered into a three-way infrastructure partnership with decentralised lending protocol Aave and layer-2 network Optimism to expand the borrowing capacity underpinning its ether.fi Cash Visa card. The company says it will deploy a dedicated Aave V4 lending instance on Optimism’s OP Mainnet, targeting $500 million in lending capacity by 2027, up from approximately $22 million currently outstanding across its cardholder base. The move is presented as a response to outgrowing in-house credit infrastructure. ether.fi Cash, which launched in partnership with Visa in 2024, now counts 100,000 active cardholders across 300,000 registered accounts, a scale the company says has made bespoke lending architecture necessary rather than optional.
How the infrastructure stack works The technical arrangement assigns a specific role to each partner. Aave V4 provides a single lending market capable of accepting a wide range of collateral types held by cardholders: Ethereum derivatives, wrapped Bitcoin, stablecoins, platform tokens and vault receipts. Crucially, Aave V4 issues risk parameters on a per-asset basis within that unified market, which matters when collateral quality varies as widely as it does across a retail crypto user base.
Optimism’s OP Mainnet supplies the execution layer. The rationale is latency and cost: consumer card spending demands near-instant settlement at a price point that is commercially viable for sub-hundred-dollar transactions, conditions that Optimism’s rollup architecture is intended to meet.
Mike Silagadze, founder and chief executive of ether.fi, framed the ambition broadly. “Aave and Optimism are the right partners to help us scale from tens of millions to half a billion dollars in lending capacity. This partnership is about making it possible for anyone holding digital assets to use them like real financial capital, without ever having to sell,” he said.
Dan Roesbery, vice president of global crypto partnerships at Visa, noted that ether.fi Cash was helping bridge on-chain capital with everyday spending, though the statement did not add commercial detail to that claim.
Market context and competitive read-across The announcement lands against a backdrop of accelerating crypto card volume. According to data cited in the release from research firm Artemis, monthly crypto card spending rose from around $100 million in early 2023 to more than $1.5 billion by late 2025. Separate data from a16z and Paymentscan put July 2026 global crypto card spending at $759 million across roughly nine million transactions, approximately 2.5 times the $306 million recorded in July 2025. Optimism is reported to account for around 29% of that volume, ahead of Solana and Base, which each carry approximately 19%.
The credit-against-crypto model that ether.fi Cash uses sits in a structurally interesting position in the payments landscape. It competes not only with other crypto card issuers but, more broadly, with collateralised lending products offered by centralised exchanges and with the emerging cohort of DeFi-native credit facilities. The distinction ether.fi stresses is non-custodial ownership: cardholders are said to retain full ownership of their digital assets while drawing credit against them, which removes the counterparty risk present in exchange-based borrowing but introduces smart contract risk in its place.
For Optimism, the partnership is the latest in a series of institutional infrastructure deals. The network recently signed an MOU with South Korean fintech Toss to pilot a won-backed stablecoin, and has agreements covering Bitpanda‘s Vision Chain and Mitsui and Co.’s tokenised metals platform, Zipangcoin. Each deal reinforces Optimism’s positioning as a managed infrastructure provider for regulated and semi-regulated financial use cases rather than a purely retail-speculative chain.
The key milestones to watch are whether the $500 million lending capacity target is reached on schedule, which collateral types prove most popular in practice, and how the arrangement is treated by regulators as crypto card products draw increasing attention from payments supervisors in both the UK and the EU under evolving digital assets frameworks.
AI level 1 of 5: written by Darlyn Ho; AI helped with tone, structure or wording; edited and signed off by Mark Walker, Editorial Director. What the levels mean
Aave Labs navrhuje založit nadaci na Kajmanských ostrovech, která by pro ekosystém Aave držela a chránila ochranné známky, domény a duševní vlastnictví protokolu. Návrh je nyní ve fázi ARFC a pokrývá pouze první fázi plánu; pozdější fáze budou samostatně žádat o převod ochranné známky Aave, hlavních domén a duševního vlastnictví kódu protokolu. O schválení se rozhodne v dalších krocích governance.
Aave Labs has proposed creating the Aave Foundation, a Cayman Islands foundation company designed to hold and protect the protocol’s trademarks, domains and intellectual property on behalf of the Aave ecosystem.
The proposal, currently at the ARFC stage, covers only the first phase of the plan. It would authorize the incorporation of the entity and the appointment of an independent director, supervisor and secretary.
Later phases would separately seek governance approval to transfer the Aave trademark, primary domains and protocol codebase intellectual property to the foundation.
Aave Labs said the structure is intended to solve a longstanding problem for the DAO: while governance has funded software, risk tooling, models and documentation through service providers, ownership of that work has been handled inconsistently and sometimes remains with the provider that created it.
The Aave trademark and primary domains also currently sit outside DAO control, according to the proposal.
Because a DAO itself cannot register trademarks, hold domains or bring legal actions to protect intellectual property, the proposed foundation would act as the legal owner of those assets while remaining memberless, with no shareholders or owners sitting above the protocol.
The foundation’s stated role would be limited to holding, protecting and licensing intellectual property for the benefit of Aave.
Aave Labs and other DAO service providers would not be able to appoint directors or supervisors and would be prohibited from serving in those roles. Future directors could only be appointed or removed through an Aave Improvement Proposal.
The DAO would retain control over protocol decisions including listings, parameter changes, budgets, service-provider engagements and framework amendments.
It would also retain consent rights over changes to the foundation’s constitution, disposal of core intellectual property, mergers and restructurings, while governance could direct the foundation to wind down and transfer its remaining assets to a successor vehicle.
The proposal does not request a recurring operating budget. Phase 1 would cover reasonable incorporation costs, legal expenses and fees associated with appointing the initial director, supervisor and secretary. Any additional funding would require a separate governance proposal.
The foundation would publish quarterly reports covering the assets it holds, changes in ownership, operating expenses and any legal actions taken to protect Aave trademarks or code.
If the ARFC receives sufficient community support, it would move to a Snapshot vote followed by an onchain AIP. The entity would then be incorporated in the Cayman Islands before the proposed trademark, domain and codebase transfers begin.
Aave Labs said the structure forms part of its broader Aave Will Win framework and is intended to create a community-controlled legal vehicle for assets associated with the protocol while keeping governance authority with AAVE tokenholders.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave Labs vyzývá Evropskou komisi, aby v MiCA regulovala prostředníky, ne open-source software, a chránila DeFi i self-custody. Zároveň chce volnější pravidla pro euro stablecoiny.
Aave Takes Aim at MiCA's Intermediary GapAave Labs has submitted formal recommendations to the European Commission as part of its ongoing review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The protocol is pushing for a regulatory approach that focuses on intermediaries rather than open-source financial software, a distinction it argues is essential to preserving the integrity of decentralised finance.
The submission feeds into a targeted consultation the Commission launched in May 2026 to examine whether MiCA remains fit for purpose. The review covers stablecoin rules, DeFi, staking and lending, with a Commission report to the European Parliament due by June 2027.
Aave argues that MiCA was designed for an earlier generation of the crypto market, one dominated by centralised issuers and custodians. It believes Europe now has an opportunity to modernise the framework to reflect newer financial infrastructure built on open, permissionless protocols.
Self-Custody and Euro Stablecoin CompetitivenessAmong its specific requests, Aave is calling for stronger protections for self-custody and for the preservation of lending returns under euro stablecoins. The protocol also wants euro stablecoins to be given room to compete globally, which it says will require more flexible reserve and liquidity requirements than those currently prescribed under MiCA.
The intervention comes at a busy moment for the review. The European Securities and Markets Authority published its own response on 30 September 2026, proposing targeted amendments covering DeFi, stablecoins, staking, and lending and borrowing. The European Banking Authority has separately recommended that crypto lending and DeFi access be brought further into MiCA's scope, a position that sits in direct tension with Aave's push to keep software itself outside the regulatory perimeter.
Aave's message to Brussels is straightforward: regulate the intermediaries who sit between users and protocols, not the code that powers them. Whether the Commission agrees will shape how DeFi operates across the EU for years to come.
Sources:
Coinfomania: Aave Labs Submits Response to European Commission's MiCA
ESMA: ESMA Calls for Changes to Make MiCA Clearer, Safer and Ready for Emerging Services
Skadden: Fit for Purpose? European Commission Launches Review of MiCA
AAVE za posledních 24 hodin vzrostl zhruba o 13 % na 185–186 USD, zatímco futuresový objem dosáhl 1,09 miliardy USD. Růst podpořily vklady do Aave V4 nad 1 miliardu USD a short squeeze.
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Aave is experiencing another aggressive expansion in trading activity as AAVE pushes toward $190. The token was trading around $185–$186 on Oct. 2, gaining roughly 13% over 24 hours and more than 26% over seven days, according to the supplied market data. Futures volume reached approximately $1.09 billion, while open interest climbed to about $535 million.
Aave crosses a key thresholdThe increase is not occurring without fundamental catalysts. Aave Labs reported on Oct. 1 that Aave V4 surpassed $1 billion in deposits during September and expanded to Arc and Base. The Base deployment also introduced an Equities Hub where tokenized Coinbase equities can serve as collateral.
AAVE/USDT Chart by TradingViewAAVE's tokenomics provide another part of the explanation. The Aave DAO currently operates a buyback program with a $50 million annual budget, purchasing between $250,000 and $1.75 million of AAVE weekly depending on market conditions. Recent discussion around potentially adding a token-burning mechanism to Aavenomics has given traders another scarcity narrative to price in, although no formal burn proposal or schedule has been established.
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Bearish market positions ariseDerivatives appear to be amplifying the move. The supplied Coinglass data shows roughly $3.82 million in AAVE liquidations over 24 hours, of which approximately $3.26 million came from shorts. That imbalance indicates that rising prices forced bearish positions out of the market, potentially adding compulsory buying on top of organic demand.
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Technically, AAVE has now extended far beyond its major moving averages. The daily chart shows an almost uninterrupted sequence of higher highs since the September recovery around $120, culminating in a spike toward $188. Volume also expanded sharply alongside the breakout, supporting the move rather than leaving it as a low-liquidity price excursion.
There is a trade-off, however. The RSI is approaching the overbought region and AAVE has risen more than 100% over 90 days according to the supplied data. After such an acceleration, $190 becomes the immediate psychological barrier, followed by $200. On the downside, the former breakout area around $170–$175 is the first important zone to watch.
For now, the volume increase reflects a combination of V4 growth, improving tokenomics expectations, broader altcoin demand and a substantial short squeeze rather than one isolated catalyst.
Zakladatel Aave Stani Kulechov kritizoval ECB a EBA za návrhy, které by omezily přístup k DeFi v rámci MiCA. Varuje, že to může oslabit otevřené finanční sítě a likviditu.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov has released a statement expressing disappointment with the European Central Bank (ECB) and European Banking Authority (EBA)’s responses to the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) consultation. He noted that the two authorities not only advocate banning yields on stablecoin payments, but also propose restricting crypto asset service providers (CASPs) from granting users access to decentralized finance (DeFi) channels—including yield protocols involving stablecoins not authorized under MiCA—without clarifying a concrete implementation framework. Kulechov added that the proposals suggest limiting DeFi user access via so-called "appropriateness tests" and are considering introducing a certification system for DeFi lending protocols. He argued that if regulators decide which protocols are suitable for European users, it could lead to more closed DeFi ecosystems, eroding the open finance network’s liquidity and network effects. Stated Kulechov, excessive restrictions could increase barriers to innovation and slow the development of open, transparent, and auditable financial infrastructure. He believes stablecoins, DeFi, and tokenized securities have the potential to reduce frictions in financial services, enhance transparency, and expand users’ access to financial opportunities, calling on European regulators to place users and their interests at the core of the regulatory framework. Finally, he concluded: “DeFi will ultimately prevail.”
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Útočník vyčerpal dvě Safe multisig peněženky na síti Ethereum přes chybný modul pro Aave v3 a způsobil ztráty kolem 305–310 tisíc dolarů. Aave ani core infrastruktura Safe kompromitovány nebyly.
An attacker drained two Safe multisig wallets on Ethereum on October 1, 2026. They did it by exploiting a third-party module built to run leveraged positions on Aave v3.
Security firm SlowMist flagged the attack. It reported that the exploiter forged Safe authentication and repaid about 1,300 WETH of Aave debt to unlock the wallets’ collateral. Combined victim losses are estimated between $305K and $310K.
Neither Aave v3 nor Safe’s core infrastructure was compromised. The weak link was the FlashLoopAdapter, a module the victims had enabled on their own wallets.
How the FlashLoopAdapter attack worked The vulnerable component was the FlashLoopAdapter, a module designed to help users build leveraged positions on Aave v3. It gets limited permission to operate the account so the owner doesn’t have to do every step by hand.
The attacker deployed a fake contract that impersonated Safe authentication. That let them slip past the module’s access controls. From there, they steered the module’s execution paths to move assets out of the two multisigs.
The whole operation ran in a single transaction. It started with a WETH flash loan sourced from Morpho.
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With the borrowed funds, the attacker paid down roughly 1,300 to 1,335 WETH of Aave debt held by the wallets. Repaying a loan frees up the collateral behind it, and that collateral was the real prize.
From one Safe, the attacker pulled collateral worth around 1,306.48 WETH. A smaller sum came out of the second wallet. After repaying the flash loan, the attacker’s net profit landed at approximately 114.09 ETH.
The root cause: trusting the caller Post-incident analyses traced the flaw to the module’s open() and close() functions. These are the routines that set up and unwind leveraged positions.
The specific problem was weak validation of responses controlled by the caller. The module accepted answers from whoever called it without properly confirming they came from a legitimate Safe.
SlowMist and fellow security firm ExVul both raised alerts after the attack. Both affected Safes disabled the vulnerable module right away to stop further losses.
Why modules keep becoming the weak spot Safe wallets are popular precisely because they are modular. Owners can attach extensions that automate strategies, manage permissions or connect to lending protocols like Aave.
A module with broad execution rights over a wallet effectively inherits that wallet’s power. If the module has a bug, the multisig’s signature requirements don’t help much, because the module was already granted a way around them.
What this means for DeFi users and builders For users running leveraged strategies through third-party tooling, the security of a position is only as strong as the least-audited contract with permission to touch it.
Holders of Safe multisigs may want to review which modules are enabled on their wallets. Any module that can move funds deserves the same scrutiny as the wallet’s signer set, arguably more, since it can act without collecting signatures.
For Aave, the protocol worked as designed: debt was repaid, so collateral was released. The failure sat entirely in the adapter that decided who was allowed to trigger those actions.
For developers building leverage tools and wallet extensions, validating every caller-supplied input, especially anything claiming to come from a trusted contract, is the minimum. Flash loans mean attackers can bring enormous temporary capital to any flaw, so even narrow bugs can unlock large balances.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
DeFi Saver uvedl, že jeho automatizace ochránila během výprodeje na Aave V3 kolaterál za 446,3 milionu USD a žádná chráněná pozice nebyla zlikvidována. Platforma odhaduje, že uživatelé ušetřili asi 8,38 milionu USD na poplatcích za likvidaci.
When crypto markets drop hard, leveraged borrowers on lending protocols tend to get a rude awakening. Their collateral shrinks, their loans don’t, and liquidators show up to collect a fee.
DeFi Saver says its users mostly skipped that part. In a case study released on July 23, 2026, the non-custodial DeFi management platform reported that its automation tools defended $446.3 million in collateral on Aave V3 during a sharp market selloff earlier in the year, without a single protected position being liquidated.
What the numbers show The stress test ran from January 25 to February 9, 2026. Over those roughly two weeks, DeFi Saver executed 382 automated repay actions on Aave V3 across several networks.
Of those, 365 were classified as emergency interventions. These targeted positions whose safety ratios had slid to around 150%, a zone where a further price drop could tip them into liquidation.
On Aave, you deposit crypto as collateral and borrow against it. If your collateral’s value falls too far relative to your debt, outside parties can liquidate the position and pocket a penalty for their trouble. In conventional Aave liquidations, third-party liquidators can repay up to 50% of the debt, acquiring collateral along with a penalty fee that can be as high as approximately 5%.
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According to the platform, the protected positions carried $335 million in debt against that $446.3 million in collateral. DeFi Saver estimates its users avoided approximately $8.38 million in third-party liquidation penalties during the selloff.
The headline stat is the success rate: 100%. No position under its protection was liquidated during the downturn, the company reports.
One whale’s math The case study also highlights a single Mainnet position carrying $7.16 million in debt. That borrower paid just $5.9k in automation fees during the period.
The estimated liquidation penalty that position would otherwise have faced was $179k. That works out to savings of about $173k, which DeFi Saver frames as a 97% reduction in costs.
New tools and a longer track record On August 10, 2026, DeFi Saver launched a streamlined Liquidation Protection automation feature with protocol-specific triggers. For Aave V3, that trigger sits at a 105% safety ratio, acting as a last line of defense rather than an early-warning system.
As of mid-August 2026, DeFi Saver’s automation was managing approximately $263 million in collateral across 873 positions. That figure is a snapshot of current usage, separate from the $446.3 million defended during the earlier selloff.
The platform has offered automation support for Aave since 2020, and it added support for Aave V4 in March 2026. DeFi Saver’s automation focuses on calculating and executing the minimal necessary adjustments to maintain a user-defined safety target, imposing a nominal fee only on the portion of the transaction executed.
Why this matters for DeFi borrowers Liquidations are one of the least glamorous but most consequential mechanics in decentralized finance. They keep lending protocols solvent, but they also transfer value from stressed borrowers to whoever is fastest at closing out their positions.
The roughly $8.38 million in avoided penalties gives a concrete sense of how much money changes hands in a single volatile stretch.
Still, readers should keep the source in mind. These figures come from DeFi Saver’s own case study, and they cover one specific window of market stress on one protocol.
Automation also doesn’t eliminate the underlying risk of leverage. It reduces collateral exposure by repaying debt, which can mean selling assets at unfavorable prices during a dip. Users avoid the penalty, but they still absorb the drawdown.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
MetaMask preventivně ukončil část stakingu přes Lido kvůli bezpečnostnímu incidentu v infrastruktuře. Společnost uvedla, že pro peněženky MetaMask nevidí žádnou okamžitou hrozbu.
Ethereum-based wallet provider MetaMask has proactively exited non-custodial staking operations.
In a statement on the 1st of October, the firm said it was responding to a “security incident” that impacted part of its infrastructure. But it did not share more details on the nature or scope of the impact.
However, the firm assured that it has “identified no immediate threat to MetaMask wallets.”
Source: X Separately, Lido, one of the MetaMask partners, confirmed the validator exit and projected that the exercise could end by the 7th of October. The Lido staking provider assured that the incident does not affect users or their operations.
Lido Protocol’s diverse Node Operator set and other security systems, including the ad hoc reserve fund (of over 6,750 stETH), are designed to contain and mitigate disruptions.
Normal resumption of operations by MetaMask staking is expected in the next 45 days due to a long validator entry queue. It’s worth noting that Lido controls 29% of staked ETH, but the amount staked by MetaMask alone isn’t publicly disclosed.
Will MetaMask contain the DeFi contagion risk? Following the update, on-chain data showed that Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys, the firm behind MetaMask, moved 133K ETH. It’s unclear whether it was tied to the incident.
Speaking on the MetaMask incident, Stani Kulechov, Aave CEO, clarified that the lending protocol was not facing any contagion risk.
We’re keeping an eye on this situation alongside Lido. No impact to Aave markets, and everything is operating normally.
For his part, Guy Young, founder of Ethena, assured USDe investors that there was no risk exposure to Lido assets.
We are aware of the situation. USDe backing assets do not currently include any direct exposure to stETH or any other liquid staking tokens. No expected impact on Ethena.
In other words, the incident may not affect MetaMask wallets, but it could be far-reaching. In fact, security analysts compared the compromise to last year’s Kiln incident that affected back-end node infrastructure.
Kiln was forced to take its validators offline to contain the risk but suffered a $41M loss.
Crypto hacks have surged in 2026. It remains to be seen whether MetaMask’s precaution of taking its validators offline will help minimize a potential full-blown contagion risk.
That said, MetaMask has evolved into an integrated wallet offering staking, perps trading, prediction markets, tokenized securities trading, and more. Its perps volume has increased by 2x to $1.6B in Q3.
Source: DeFiLlama Final Summary MetaMask has taken some of its validators offline to contain an infrastructure security risk. Aave, Ethena, and Lido have assured that user funds are safe and that private keys weren’t compromised.
Treehouse spouští na Aave Prime kampaň pro tETH s odměnami až 400 000 TREE. Uživatelé, kteří vloží tETH jako kolaterál a půjčí si wstETH, mohou získat až 0,5 % APR v TREE. Kampaň běží od 28. září 2026, 11:00 UTC do 3. prosince 2026, 14:00 UTC.
Looping strategies on Aave just got more rewarding.
Following the approval of TIP 12, Treehouse is launching a new incentives campaign for tETH on Aave Prime, with up to 400,000 TREE allocated in Community Rewards.
From 28 September to 3 December, users who supply tETH as collateral and borrow wstETH against it can earn up to 0.5% APR in TREE, lowering the effective cost of borrowing wstETH on Aave Prime.
Funded through the Community Rewards token allocation, this campaign builds on tETH’s growing utility across lending markets and directs Community Rewards toward deeper adoption of Treehouse’s tAssets across DeFi.
About the Campaign From 28 September 2026, 11:00 UTC to 3 December 2026, 14:00 UTC, eligible tETH positions on Aave Prime can earn TREE rewards, with distribution powered by Merkl, an onchain rewards distribution infrastructure.
To participate, users simply:
Supply tETH as collateral on Aave Prime Borrow wstETH against their tETH position Eligible positions opened during the campaign period are automatically tracked onchain.
Rewards are distributed using a Capped Reward Rate at up to 0.5% APR in TREE, earned on top of the position’s own yield. Your TREE rewards are calculated based on the amount of tETH collateral supporting your eligible wstETH borrow. The more collateral your borrow uses, the more you earn.
Rewards accrue automatically and can be tracked on-chain and claimed anytime through the Merkl dashboard.
With TREE incentives, borrowing wstETH on Aave Prime becomes a more cost-efficient alternative to borrowing wstETH or ETH on other major lending markets. This makes it a prime opportunity for users building looping strategies or seeking more efficient ways to deploy their ETH exposure across DeFi.
View the opportunity on Merkl and participate in tETH strategies on Aave Prime.
What Is tETH? tETH is Treehouse’s liquid staking tAsset for Ethereum, designed to enhance ETH staking yield through Market Efficiency Yield (MEY) while remaining liquid and composable across DeFi.
Through a rate arbitrage strategy, tETH captures differences between Proof-of-Stake rewards and DeFi lending markets to add an additional source of yield for holders while contributing to greater interest rate convergence across DeFi.
Beyond earning yield, tETH can be deployed throughout DeFi. On Aave Prime, for example, users can supply tETH as collateral and borrow against their position, creating additional opportunities to deploy capital without giving up their underlying tETH exposure.
Read more about how tETH revolutionizes DeFi yield in our blog, Branching Out 4.
What Is Looping? Looping is a lending strategy that uses supplied collateral to borrow additional assets, which can then be redeployed to increase exposure to an underlying position.
In a traditional looping strategy, users repeatedly borrow against supplied collateral and redeploy the borrowed assets, cycling through multiple rounds to build up leveraged exposure.
For tETH on Aave Prime, the strategy begins by supplying tETH as collateral and borrowing wstETH against it. Because tETH and wstETH are two closely related Ethereum staking assets, this pairing is the natural starting point for building leveraged exposure.
While a full looping strategy may involve repeatedly redeploying borrowed assets and borrowing again, this campaign does not require users to complete those additional steps. Supplying tETH and borrowing wstETH during the campaign period is all it takes to qualify for rewards.
This creates a straightforward way for tETH holders to deploy their position in one of DeFi’s established lending markets while earning additional TREE incentives during the campaign.
Why TREE Rewards? TREE is the native token of the Treehouse Protocol, connecting governance, ecosystem incentives, and participation in Treehouse’s benchmark rate infrastructure.
Through Decentralized Offered Rates (DOR), TREE also aligns participants contributing to decentralized benchmark rates designed to support fixed income markets in digital assets.
TIP 12 enables Community Rewards to be directed toward initiatives that expand the Treehouse ecosystem. For this campaign, up to 400,000 TREE is being deployed to encourage greater use of tETH on Aave Prime and reward users actively putting tETH to work across DeFi.
As tETH becomes more deeply integrated across lending and liquidity markets, these incentives help expand its utility while strengthening the broader tAsset ecosystem.
Learn more about TREE and its full utility.
Onchain Reward Distribution Powered by Merkl Reward distribution is powered by Merkl, an onchain distribution infrastructure that provides transparent, verifiable onchain tracking throughout the campaign.
Eligible tETH supply and borrow positions are tracked automatically, allowing TREE rewards to accrue automatically without manual snapshots.
Users can monitor their accumulated TREE rewards and claim them directly through the Merkl interface at any time.
Expanding tETH Across DeFi The tETH Incentives campaign on Aave Prime is another step in Treehouse’s broader commitment to deepening tETH’s utility and integrations across DeFi.
As tETH’s DeFi integrations continue to mature, Treehouse will continue exploring new opportunities for users to deploy tETH across lending markets, liquidity venues, and other DeFi primitives.
Each new integration makes tETH more composable and creates more ways for users to deploy their tETH positions, advancing Treehouse’s vision of a more liquid, efficient, and capital-efficient fixed-income ecosystem across DeFi.
Roots run deep. Put your tETH to work on Aave Prime.🌳
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Q: What is the tETH Incentives campaign?
A: The campaign distributes up to 400,000 TREE to eligible tETH positions on Aave Prime. Users who supply tETH as collateral and borrow wstETH against it earn up to 0.5% APR in TREE, on top of their position’s own yield.
Q: When does the campaign run?
A: The campaign runs from 28 September 2026, 11:00 UTC to 3 December 2026, 14:00 UTC.
Q: How do I participate?
A: During the campaign period, simply:
Supply tETH as collateral on Aave Prime. Borrow wstETH against your tETH position. If your position meets the campaign’s eligibility requirements, it will automatically begin accruing TREE rewards.
Q: Do I need to complete multiple looping transactions to qualify?
A: No. While looping can involve repeatedly borrowing and redeploying assets to increase exposure, no additional looping steps are required for this campaign. To qualify, you need to supply tETH and borrow wstETH in an eligible position during the campaign period.
Q: How are TREE rewards calculated?
A: Rewards are calculated based on how much of your tETH collateral is used to support your wstETH borrow. The more tETH collateral your borrow uses, the more you earn.
Q: Why is the reward rate “up to” 0.5%?
A: The campaign uses a maximum APR. If participation grows faster than the budget can support, the rate adjusts down pro rata so rewards last for the full campaign period.
Q: Do I need to do anything besides holding my borrow position?
A: No. Once opened during the campaign period, TREE rewards accrue automatically for as long as the position is held.
Q: Where do I track and claim my rewards?
A: Rewards are claimed directly through Merkl.
Q: What network does this campaign run on?
A: The campaign runs on Ethereum.
Q: Can positions be withdrawn before the campaign ends?
A: Yes, positions can be withdrawn anytime. Rewards accrue only while an eligible position is held during the campaign period.
About Treehouse 🌳
Treehouse, the decentralized arm of digital assets infrastructure firm Treehouse Labs, is building the fixed income layer for digital assets.
Treehouse Protocol develops fixed income products and infrastructure across chains through tAssets, a new class of liquid staking tokens designed to support on-chain interest rate convergence while remaining liquid and composable across DeFi.
Treehouse is also developing Decentralized Offered Rates (DOR), a consensus mechanism for decentralized benchmark rate setting that provides the foundation for a broader range of fixed income products in digital assets.
Together, these products are designed to bring more structured and transparent fixed income markets on-chain for both individual and institutional participants.
Chainlink byl vybrán jako oficiální datové orákulum pro data pro Open USD (OUSD), který startuje s více než 1 miliardou USD v počáteční likviditě. OUSD je spuštěn na Base, Ethereum, Solana a Tempo.
TLDR Chainlink was named an official data oracle for Open USD (OUSD), which launched Sept. 30 on Base, Ethereum, Solana and Tempo. Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa committed more than $1 billion in launch liquidity for OUSD. Aave Labs proposed adding OUSD to Aave V3 and V4, with Chainlink feeds still pending production. Grayscale bought 629,100 LINK in September, and Bitwise filed to stake 20% of its Chainlink ETF holdings. LINK’s weekly structure turned bullish, with the token holding a demand zone just under $14. Chainlink (LINK) has been named an official data oracle for Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin from Open Standard. The stablecoin went live on Sept. 30 with more than $1 billion in launch liquidity committed by five founding partners.
Those partners are Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa. Open Standard said the group is investing in the company and helping set up the near-term liquidity.
OUSD is live on Base, Ethereum, Solana and Tempo. Businesses can mint and burn it one-to-one with U.S. dollars, with no mint or burn fees.
Access runs through Stripe, Mastercard, Visa and Coinbase. Mastercard offers OUSD through BVNK, while Visa uses its Stablecoin Platform, which is still in beta.
Bridge, a Stripe-owned company, issues OUSD. Reserves are held at BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY, and monthly attestations are expected through Bridge.
Chainlink’s Role in OUSD Chainlink said Open Standard had standardized on its infrastructure as an official oracle. The network said its technology can support collateral, trading, lending, margin products, liquidity pools and yield vaults.
Oracles feed outside data, such as asset prices, to smart contracts. Lending markets and decentralized exchanges rely on these feeds for pricing.
Aave Labs has proposed adding OUSD to Aave V3 on Ethereum and the Aave V4 Core Hub. Under the plan, OUSD could be supplied and borrowed, but not used as collateral at first.
The proposal listed the oracle setup as pending. Final risk settings will come after Chainlink feeds enter production.
Chainlink also recently launched Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol 2.0, or CCIP 2.0. The upgrade gives institutions more control over how assets move between chains.
On the fund side, Grayscale bought 159,480 LINK worth $2.36 million through its Chainlink ETF. Its September purchases totaled 629,100 LINK, worth about $8.3 million.
Bitwise filed a new SEC prospectus for its own Chainlink ETF. The filing would put 20% of the fund’s holdings toward staking.
Chainlink Price on CoinGecko LINK Price Levels to Watch On the weekly chart, LINK has turned its structure bullish, according to AMBCrypto analysis. The token broke above the $10.87 swing level from May in mid-August and retested it as support.
That retest set up a move toward the next key level at $15.01. The DMI indicator showed a strong uptrend, while the RSI was not overbought.
On-balance volume has been recovering since July, pointing to steady buying. A drop below $10.60 would be the first sign of weakness on the weekly chart.
On the 4-hour chart, LINK pulled back from $15.77 to just under $14. That area is a demand zone that acted as resistance in late August, and buyers have defended it so far.
A drop to $12.85 is possible if Bitcoin falls below $80,000. The 4-hour structure stays bullish as long as LINK holds above $12.05.
Zakladatel Aave Stani Kulechov v rámci Aavenomics 3.0 uvažuje o zavedení burn mechanismu místo současných zpětných odkupů. Burn by trvale snižoval nabídku AAVE.
Stani Kulechov, founder of DeFi lending giant Aave, has floated the idea of adding a token burn mechanism to the protocol’s evolving economic framework. The consideration, shared publicly on September 28-29, represents a potentially significant escalation in how Aave returns value to its token holders.
If implemented, the burn would mark a departure from the current buyback model, which accumulates purchased tokens in reserves. Instead of parking bought-back AAVE in the DAO’s Ecosystem Reserve, a burn would destroy them permanently, shrinking the total supply with each transaction.
From buybacks to burns In early 2025, Aave kicked off its first structured buyback program under what became known as Aavenomics Part One. That initiative authorized spending up to $1 million per week to purchase AAVE tokens from the open market. By mid-2026, the program had accumulated more than 205,000 AAVE tokens sitting in the protocol’s reserves.
Then came the “Aave Will Win” governance framework, which passed in April 2026. That proposal formalized a new revenue allocation model, directing 100% of revenue from the Aave Protocol and its GHO stablecoin toward the DAO treasury and AAVE token holders.
By late June 2026, Aavenomics 3.0 took things further with automated buybacks. The protocol began channeling all its revenue into continuous AAVE purchases from secondary markets.
Now Kulechov is suggesting the next logical step: instead of just buying and holding, buy and destroy.
Why burns hit different than buybacks When a protocol buys back its own tokens and holds them in a treasury, those tokens still exist. They could theoretically be sold, redistributed, or used as collateral. The supply hasn’t actually changed.
A burn, on the other hand, is permanent. Tokens sent to a burn address are gone forever. Each burn reduces the denominator in the supply equation, meaning every remaining token represents a slightly larger share of the protocol’s value.
Kulechov hasn’t provided specifics on how the burn would work mechanically, what percentage of revenue it might consume, or whether it would run alongside or replace the existing buyback-to-reserve model. The Aave community expects more details during an upcoming quarterly call.
The numbers behind the narrative Aave’s financial position gives this conversation real weight. The protocol has generated more than $2.2 billion in total fees since inception, a figure that puts it firmly at the top of the DeFi lending category.
Recent annualized revenue sits at approximately $134 million. For context, the earlier buyback program’s $1 million weekly budget annualizes to roughly $52 million, which represents a significant chunk of that revenue being directed straight into token demand.
The 205,000 AAVE tokens already accumulated through prior buybacks represent a meaningful position. Whether those existing reserve tokens might also be candidates for burning remains an open question that Kulechov hasn’t addressed.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aave V4 na Base umožňuje způsobilým uživatelům mimo USA použít tokenizované akcie Coinbase jako zástavu a půjčit si USDC. Prvních sedm aktiv zahrnuje AAPLc, AMZNc, GOOGLc, METAc, MSFTc, NVDAc a TSLAc.
Aave V4 has opened a dedicated Equities Hub on Base that lets eligible users outside the United States post Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) tokenized U.S. stocks as collateral and draw USDC loans against them. The first seven assets are AAPLc, AMZNc, GOOGLc, METAc, MSFTc, NVDAc and TSLAc.
Chainlink supplies the official price feeds used to value the positions onchain.
Each token is a certificate issued by Coinbase Onchain SPV Ltd.
The matching shares sit with Alpaca Securities LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer, in segregated custody accounts held in the issuer’s name.
The custodian cannot lend the shares, use them for its own book, or place a lien on them.
Under a deed of trust the issuer acts as bare trustee, so token holders receive the economic exposure of the actual equities rather than a synthetic price tracker.
Corporate actions are handled through a multiplier that begins at 1.0.
Dividends are reinvested (after fees and withholding tax) by buying additional shares instead of being paid in cash; stock splits are treated the same way.
The result is a total-return instrument whose onchain claim can drift above the raw share price over time.
The Equities Hub is structured as a single USDC reserve paired with one lending spoke that pools all seven collaterals. Users may deposit any mix of the tokens and borrow USDC.
Each asset carries its own collateral factor.
At launch the stocks themselves cannot be borrowed and equity-versus-equity positions are disabled.
The market remains open around the clock except when a reserve is paused for a corporate action until the new multiplier is applied.
Chainlink’s tokenized-equity feeds publish from Sunday 20:00 ET through Friday 20:00 ET.
On weekends and US market holidays the last published price is held, so collateral values stay frozen until cash markets reopen; a position’s health factor can decline in that window only from accrued interest.
Aave Labs deployed the instance on behalf of Aave DAO after risk work by LlamaRisk.
Additional Coinbase tokenized stocks and GHO as a borrowable asset are expected later, each subject to governance and risk review.
Supply and borrow caps will be adjusted through the risk-steward process as circulating supply and venue liquidity grow.
The integration turns tokenized shares from static holdings into productive DeFi collateral.
Holders can keep long-term equity exposure while unlocking dollar liquidity without selling. The products remain securities issued by Coinbase under Regulation S and are offered only to eligible non-US persons in permitted jurisdictions.
Aave V4 na Base nově umožňuje použít tokenizované akcie Coinbase jako zástavu pro půjčky v USDC. Do kolaterálu patří sedm amerických titulů včetně Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia a Tesla.
Coinbase’s tokenized stocks can now be used as collateral for USDC loans on Aave V4 on Base, bringing seven U.S. equities into the decentralized lending protocol’s collateral markets.
The Equities Hub launched Friday with Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks tracking Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, according to a statement shared with The Block. The seven assets are available to eligible non-U.S. users in permitted jurisdictions.
Aave said users can deposit the tokenized stocks and borrow USDC against them. The equities are collateral-only at launch, with Chainlink providing onchain pricing through its tokenized equity feeds.
“Public equities are one of the largest pools of capital in the world, and tokenization is starting to bring that capital onchain,” Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, said in the announcement.
“Until now a tokenized stock was something you could hold or trade. Today it becomes something you can borrow against,” Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, told The Block.
The market launches with an initial collateral cap of roughly $29 million across the seven stocks, a $32 million USDC supply cap and a $21 million USDC borrow cap, according to Aave’s risk provider LlamaRisk. Collateral factors range from 65% to 79%, depending on the stock.
Aave pushes beyond crypto assets The launch comes as Kulechov has been outlining a broader push into tokenized stocks, securities, and other real-world assets. In a recent interview with The Block, he said institutions "come with size" and could drive demand for onchain borrowing.
Kulechov also said the technology behind tokenization is no longer the main obstacle for the sector. “Tokenization and DeFi are not a technological challenge anymore,” he said. “I think it's a go-to-market challenge.”
His comments came a day after the Senate voted 49-50 against advancing the Clarity Act. Kulechov said DeFi may need to follow an “Uber path” by reaching enough users that lawmakers are forced to address how the sector should be regulated.
“But if that doesn’t obviously happen, I think the ultimate goal is to really use this technology and empower millions of people around the world,” he said.
Equities pooled into one USDC market Aave said the Equities Hub uses its Hub and Spoke architecture to pool the equity collateral into a single market with one USDC reserve. Risk parameters are set separately for each asset, while issues affecting one equity are isolated from the others.
The market operates around the clock, according to the statement. Additional Coinbase tokenized stocks could be added over time, along with GHO as a borrowable asset, subject to governance and risk review.
“Aave's adoption of Coinbase’s Tokenized Stocks powered by Chainlink as official oracle solution marks a major step toward bringing the $150+ trillion global equities market onchain,” Chainlink Chief Business Officer Johann Eid said.
Base Head of Growth Antonio García-Martínez said eligible customers outside the U.S. can use the stocks to borrow USDC, while USDC suppliers can earn interest.
USDC supply by blockchain. Image: The Block. Aave said it has processed $3.6 trillion in cumulative deposits and more than $1 trillion in all-time loans.
EU chce zahrnout crypto lending do rámce MiCA a EBA navrhuje limity páky i certifikaci DeFi protokolů. Aave zároveň označil návrh Morpho na klasifikaci vaultů za „účelový“.
The European Union [EU] wants to bring crypto lending within the scope of the MiCA framework. In a recent policy review, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said that DeFi lending and borrowing should be regulated.
EBA crafts policy and regulates the EU-wide banking sector to ensure financial stability and user protection.
According to EBA, crypto lending, either via an intermediated interface of crypto asset service providers (CASPs) or DeFi protocols, can offer regulatory arbitrage for stablecoin yields.
MiCA banned stablecoin yield, but some, such as Circle’s USDC and EURC, still earn yield via DeFi strategies. For EBA, this could cause more problems,
Thus, the activities (DeFi lending) may pose regulatory arbitrage risks. Additionally, the EBA and ESMA have identified a series of potential consumer protection risks.
The consumer protection risks highlighted by the watchdog include over-leverage, contagion risks, hacks, and fraud.
To mitigate against these risks, EBA proposed a few considerations, including leverage caps, disclosure requirements, and cyber resilience-based certification for DeFi protocols.
Source: EBA Additionally, the proposed rules could bar unlicensed stablecoins such as USDT from DeFi lending. Regulators would likely focus on platforms that give users access to DeFi protocols through intermediated lending and borrowing.
The proposed EU approach differs from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approach. The SEC warned that securities laws could apply when curators actively manage vaults to generate yield. The treatment of fully non-custodial vaults remains less clear.
Still, leading industry players disagree on how regulators should classify on-chain vaults and which rules should apply.
Aave disagrees with Morpho on DeFi vaults Vaults pool users’ assets and deploy them across lending opportunities. Some follow preset rules; others give curators discretion over where the assets go.
The segment held roughly $10 billion across more than 4,000 deployed vaults, within a $54 billion DeFi lending market.
However, Aave and Morpho, some of the top DeFi lending giants, are undecided on the classification of vaults for regulation.
Why did Aave challenge Morpho’s vault model? For his part, Morpho CEO Paul Frambot proposed two categories: non-custodial and discretionary vaults. According to him, non-custodial vaults will limit curators’ role and allow user flexibility (including exit capacity or time lock).
In contrast, discretionary vaults should be managed by asset managers, but will trigger the SEC’s securities laws.
However, Stani Kulechov discredited Frambot’s non-custodial vault proposal as weak.
This categorisation doesn’t make sense and is pretty much self-serving. Vaults that could reasonably be considered non-custodial are those without a manager. There’s nothing inherently wrong with discretionary vaults, as long as the regulatory path is figured out.
Source: X Overall, the EU wants to expand MiCA oversight to crypto lending and borrowing, yet the industry is undecided on how to classify vaults.
Final Summary European banking regulator wants crypto lending to be regulated under MiCA with leverage caps and DeFi certification. Aave’s Kulechov discredited Morpho’s proposed vault classification model for US regulation.
