EtherFi proposes Aave V4 hub on Optimism for Cash card
DeFi & Yields ·
EtherFi has put forward a proposal to move its Cash stablecoin card onto a whitelabel Aave V4 credit hub on OP Mainnet, targeting $175M in launch assets by July.
The proposal, detailed in a thread on X, would replace Cash's existing bespoke "Debt Manager" market, which currently carries roughly $25M in active borrows across more than 16 collateral assets. That system underpins a Visa card letting holders borrow a stablecoin against yield-bearing collateral without liquidating their positions. Under the new structure, that engine would be retired in favor of an isolated, whitelisted Aave V4 instance that EtherFi would operate end to end, including collateral listings, risk parameters, oracles, liquidity and growth.
Aave's role would be limited to licensing the V4 codebase for an initial 2-year term, with no responsibility for the instance's assets or configuration. Revenue would split 80/20, and the arrangement includes GHO integration alongside a GHO GSM on Optimism, giving the stablecoin a path to organic demand tied to card volume. The proposal also carries $20M in support from the Optimism Foundation treasury, a $1.2M joint incentive package, and a $5M strategic GHO position to be held for 6 months. Launch assets are capped at up to $175M, with product exclusivity to Aave V4, and the plan targets roughly $500M in total assets by the end of 2026.
Approval would follow a staged governance path: a 5-day feedback window, then a Temp Check Snapshot, then an ARFC vote finalizing parameters, ahead of a targeted deployment.
The proposal lands amid a broader wave of capital moving into stablecoin and settlement infrastructure, with projects across the sector having raised more than $1.5B collectively, including Tempo at $500M, Canton Network at $355M, and Arc at $222M — context that underscores the scale of activity around stablecoin-linked credit and settlement rails EtherFi's plan would tap into.
What remains unresolved is whether the Temp Check and ARFC votes will pass with the parameters as proposed, and whether the July deployment timeline and the $500M end-of-2026 target hold once the market goes live. It is also not yet clear how the shift away from the existing 16-plus-asset Debt Manager market will affect current borrowers during the transition.