Aave Deprecates Low-Adoption Assets, Winds Down Six Chains

Aave is deprecating 50 low-adoption asset reserves and fully winding down its deployments on six chains, according to a governance proposal posted by risk provider LlamaRisk. The move aims to reduce Aave's operational, technical, and economic risk surface, as stated by founder Stani Kulechov.

The deprecations cover $98.1 million in supplied assets and $15.6 million in outstanding debt, which is less than 1% of the protocol's deposits. The six whole-market shutdowns add 25 reserves and $12.8 million to the total. Each reserve will be frozen, with supply and borrow caps dropping to 1 and reserve factors rising.

The proposal doesn't shut markets abruptly, but instead freezes them so suppliers can withdraw and borrowers repay. LlamaRisk applies the same treatment market-wide on the six chains being retired. The biggest individual positions in scope are two Bitcoin liquid-staking wrappers on Ethereum, FBTC and eBTC, which hold a combined $16.3 million.

The cleanup comes as Aave's newest deployment pulls in the opposite direction: the protocol said Wednesday that Aave V4 deposits nearly doubled over the past month, with caps raised for the eleventh time. Kulechov framed the deprecations as housekeeping under the protocol's new Risk Framework, which sets usage thresholds each listed asset must justify against its fixed operational load.