Aave weighs closing blockchain markets on 6 chains
Aave weighs closing blockchain markets on six V3 deployments after LlamaRisk urged a wind-down covering $98.1 million in supplied assets. The proposal would retire all reserves on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium and Aptos, plus dozens of low-use listings, under Aave's updated risk framework.
Key Takeaways
- LlamaRisk recommended winding down every reserve on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium and Aptos.
- The cleanup would cover about $98.1 million in supplied assets and $15.6 million in debt, measured July 28.
- Scroll, zkSync, Metis and Soneium reserves were already frozen; Sonic and Aptos remain active and are recommended for freezing.
- Founder Stani Kulechov framed the move as cutting economic and technical risk, not reversing multichain expansion.
What is Aave proposing to close?
An Aave Request for Comment (ARFC) would wind down the lending protocol's V3 markets on six blockchains and retire dozens of low-use token listings. Risk service provider LlamaRisk, working with other Aave service providers, recommended offboarding 50 low-use reserves and 21 matured Pendle principal token listings across 11 deployments.
It also proposed retiring all 25 reserves on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium and Aptos. Balances were measured on July 28. According to Cointelegraph, an ARFC is a detailed proposal and precursor to an Aave Improvement Proposal—not proof of a completed final onchain vote or execution.
Why does this matter for DeFi users?
The Aptos exit would come just 11 months after Aave launched its V3 market there. Available liquidity there fell 94% over six months, and quarterly revenue sat below $1,000, according to LlamaRisk.
Every reserve on Scroll, zkSync, Metis and Soneium was already frozen. Sonic and Aptos remained active and are recommended for freezing. For readers tracking Fintech & Crypto Alerts, the move signals tighter chain-level risk screens as underused deployments get cut.
A December 5, 2025, temp check on Aave's multichain strategy passed with 923,400 votes in favor and under 1% against. That vote backed raising the reserve factor on underperforming instances, shutting down zkSync, Metis and Soneium, and setting a $2 million annual revenue floor for new instance deployment.
Scroll was later added through an accelerated process in April, when LlamaRisk filed a direct-to-AIP proposal to freeze every Scroll reserve and raise selected reserve factors after liquidity and market activity deteriorated. Aave published an updated risk framework on June 9 covering asset, bridge, monitoring and chain risk, and criteria for winding down reserves or deployments. This month's announcement indicated de facto adoption of those rules.
Is Aave quitting its multichain strategy?
Not according to Aave founder Stani Kulechov. In a Thursday post, he said the plan will "reduce Aave's economic and technical risk surface as part of the new Aave Risk Framework and Technical Asset Listing Framework."
He cast the cleanup as a strategic refocus on select protocols, not a reversal of multichain expansion. "Aave will continue applying continuous risk assessment for all assets across all deployments," Kulechov said. The comments follow Aave's Avalanche launch earlier this month.