Aave Considers Closing Six V3 Markets, Retiring 50 Low-Use Reserves

A new Aave governance proposal would wind down the lending protocol’s V3 markets on six blockchains and shut down dozens of underused token listings, covering roughly $98.1 million in supplied assets and $15.6 million in outstanding debt.

LlamaRisk Recommends Broad Cleanup

Risk service provider LlamaRisk, working alongside other Aave contributors, proposed offboarding 50 low-use reserves along with 21 matured Pendle principal token listings across 11 deployments. The plan also calls for retiring all 25 reserves on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium and Aptos, based on balances measured July 28. The proposal is an ARFC, an early-stage governance step that precedes a final vote.

Aptos Market Faces Early Exit

The proposed Aptos withdrawal comes just 11 months after Aave launched its V3 market there, with available liquidity down 94% over six months and quarterly revenue falling below $1,000. Reserves on Scroll, zkSync, Metis and Soneium were already frozen, while Sonic and Aptos remain active but are now recommended for freezing. A December 2025 governance vote had already approved raising reserve factors on weak instances and shutting down zkSync, Metis and Soneium, along with setting a $2 million annual revenue floor for future deployments.

Founder Frames Move as Risk Reduction

Aave founder Stani Kulechov said the changes will reduce the protocol’s economic and technical risk exposure under its newly adopted Risk Framework and Technical Asset Listing Framework.

He clarified the move does not reverse Aave’s broader multichain strategy but reflects a sharper focus on select protocols, noting continuous risk assessment will continue across all deployments. The announcement follows Aave’s recent expansion to Avalanche and Monad.