Aave moves to retire 50 underused reserves, exit six chains
Regulation & Gov ·
A governance proposal would deprecate 50 low-adoption asset reserves on Aave V3 and unwind deployments on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium, and Aptos, trimming exposure on a relatively small slice of the protocol's balance sheet.
The proposal, posted to Aave's governance forum, targets reserves that together hold $98.1M in supply and $15.6M in outstanding debt — figures small relative to Aave's overall footprint but concentrated in markets the proposal characterizes as low-adoption. Deprecating a reserve typically means phasing out new borrowing and supply activity, freezing parameters, and eventually removing the asset from active risk accounting once positions are wound down.
The rationale ties into Aave's broader risk-management approach: pruning thinly used markets and chain deployments reduces the surface area the protocol and its risk stewards have to monitor, audit, and backstop. Fewer active reserves and deployments mean fewer edge cases where illiquid collateral, low oracle coverage, or thin trading depth could create outsized risk relative to the assets actually deployed there.
The move sits alongside other recent shifts in Aave's risk posture and expansion strategy. Aave has continued to broaden its multi-chain presence, including a reported expansion to Solana, even as this proposal moves in the opposite direction on six other networks, suggesting a more selective approach to where the protocol maintains active markets rather than blanket expansion. A separate audit of Aave V4 contracts by ChainSecurity, covering the Liquidity Hub, Spoke, and Position Manager components, points to parallel work on the protocol's next architectural iteration, which could itself reshape how chain and asset listings are managed going forward. Background on Aave's protocol design and governance structure is compiled in Leviathan's Aave overview.
What remains unresolved is the outcome of the governance vote itself and the timeline for winding down the affected reserves and chain deployments. It is also unclear whether users with active positions on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium, or Aptos will face specific migration steps or deadlines, and whether the $98.1M in supply and $15.6M in debt will be repaid, migrated, or otherwise unwound as part of the process. The proposal's current status — whether it has passed a snapshot vote or remains under discussion — is not specified in the available material.