Community Trust ScoreLikely Real
Aave is walking away from six blockchains. The protocol announced on July 29 that it plans to exit Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium, and Aptos — chains where quarterly revenues have dropped below $5,000 for some deployments and under $1,000 for others.
The push came from LlamaRisk, which put forward a proposal arguing that operational costs on these chains simply outrun whatever revenue they’re pulling in. As of data from July 28, the six affected chains together hold 25 lending reserves with $12.8 million supplied. That’s not nothing — but the revenue numbers make it pretty hard to justify staying. The proposal is still under discussion and hasn’t cleared Aave’s full governance process yet. Before anything goes on-chain, the protocol’s procedural framework calls for an Aave Request for Final Comments, or ARFC, followed by a community vote. Nothing’s final.
$4.1 million in debt needs a controlled exit.
LlamaRisk’s ARFC doesn’t stop at those six chains, either. It also covers 50 individual reserves and 21 Pendle principal tokens spread across 11 deployments, with $85.3 million supplied and $11.5 million borrowed in total across that broader scope. The six-chain exit is the headline piece, but the full picture is bigger.
How the Exit Actually Works
The mechanics are pretty deliberate. Aave’s plan involves freezing all reserves on the affected chains and capping both supply and borrow limits to 1. Any reserves still carrying debt will face a 99% reserve factor and a 5% base variable interest rate. Those two levers basically redirect the bulk of borrowing interest away from lenders, making it economically uncomfortable to stay put. The idea is to push borrowers toward repayment and nudge suppliers toward pulling their funds out — without forcing anyone’s hand overnight.
Freezing reserves means no new supply, no new borrowing, and no use of assets as collateral going forward. But existing positions stay open, at least initially. That’s a meaningful distinction. Users won’t get liquidated the moment the freeze hits. Aave wants an orderly wind-down, not a chaotic one.
If the soft pressure of the rate changes isn’t enough, the protocol left room for harder moves. Adjustments to rate curves or reductions in liquidation thresholds are on the table if the situation calls for it. Deployment oracles could also be swapped out for fixed-price adapters — a way to lock in stable valuations during the transition and avoid weird price-feed dynamics while liquidity is draining.
Why These Six Chains Didn’t Make the Cut
DeFi protocols running across dozens of chains sounds impressive until you look at the unit economics. Maintaining deployments costs real money — smart contract audits, oracle feeds, liquidity incentives, ongoing monitoring. When a chain generates under $1,000 in quarterly revenue, those costs don’t come close to balancing out. LlamaRisk’s argument is basically that Aave has been subsidizing these deployments, and that’s not sustainable.
It’s a tension that’s been building across DeFi for a while. The multi-chain expansion wave of 2021 and 2022 pushed protocols onto every new network that launched, often before user demand was clear. Some of those bets paid off. Others didn’t. Aave pulling back from Metis and zkSync and the rest isn’t a crisis — it’s a correction.
The proposal says further unwinding will get evaluated case by case, which gives the team flexibility to handle unusual positions without a one-size-fits-all approach. That matters when you’re dealing with $4.1 million in debt across chains with thin liquidity.
Community discussion is still shaping the final steps. Aave’s governance structure means stakeholders can push back, suggest modifications, or flag risks before anything goes to an on-chain vote. That process is slower than a centralized team just pulling the plug, but it’s probably the right call when existing user funds are involved.
No timeline for the on-chain vote has been specified yet. Unclear when the freeze would actually take effect if the proposal passes.
What’s not murky is the direction. Aave wants its deployments earning their keep. The chains that can’t clear even a $5,000 quarterly revenue bar aren’t going to get indefinite support. The $12.8 million in supplied assets across those 25 reserves will need to find a new home — or borrowers will repay and suppliers will withdraw as the rate environment makes staying expensive.
The 99% reserve factor alone is probably enough to move most rational actors.
Hub: AAVE price, news, and analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
Which blockchains is Aave exiting?
Aave is exiting Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium, and Aptos, where quarterly revenues fall below $5,000 for some deployments and under $1,000 for others.
What happens to users who currently have positions on these chains?
Existing positions stay open initially — Aave is freezing new supply and borrowing but not forcing immediate liquidations, with a 99% reserve factor and 5% base variable rate designed to encourage voluntary withdrawals and repayments.
