ether.fi and Aave Partner to Boost Lending Capacity to $500m by 2027

ether.fi has entered a partnership with Aave and Optimism to increase the lending capacity for its ether.fi Cash Visa card. The new infrastructure will allow the company to reach a $500 million lending capacity by 2027, up from the current $22 million outstanding across its cardholder base.

The partnership involves Aave's V4 lending protocol and Optimism's OP Mainnet. Aave will provide a unified lending market that can accept a wide range of collateral types, while Optimism will supply the execution layer to meet the demands of consumer card spending.

Mike Silagadze, founder and CEO of ether.fi, said the partnership will enable anyone holding digital assets to use them like real financial capital without having to sell. Dan Roesbery, vice president of global crypto partnerships at Visa, noted that ether.fi Cash is helping bridge on-chain capital with everyday spending.

The announcement comes as the crypto card market is experiencing rapid growth. Monthly crypto card spending rose from around $100 million in early 2023 to over $1.5 billion by late 2025. Optimism accounts for around 29% of the market, ahead of Solana and Base.

The partnership is seen as a response to ether.fi's growing scale, which has made bespoke lending architecture necessary. The company currently has 100,000 active cardholders across 300,000 registered accounts.