Aave
Last changed 2026-10-10 · Score recalculated — Rescored under Scoring v2, the published formula (avoid.net/scoring): 74 → 81. Problems weighed by who is responsible: incidents the subject suffered −16, concerns that are not fraud −15.6, problems around the subject, caused by others −1.7; legitimacy credit well known and widely used +25, long-running +10, regulated +5; a recent unresolved incident −0.6. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -15.6 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -16 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.7 |
| Well known and widely used | +25 |
| Long-running | +10 |
| Regulated | +5 |
| Recent unresolved incident | -0.6 |
| Sum | 71 |
Score: 81/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Summary
Aave is a decentralized, non-custodial liquidity protocol built on Ethereum and multiple other blockchains, enabling users to supply assets to earn interest or borrow against overcollateralized positions. Founded in 2017 as ETHLend by Finnish lawyer Stani Kulechov, it rebranded to Aave in 2020 and grew into the largest DeFi lending platform by total value locked, holding roughly 60% market share in DeFi lending. A multi-year SEC investigation into the AAVE token closed without enforcement in December 2025. In April 2026 Aave was a downstream victim of the $292 million Kelp DAO rsETH bridge exploit (attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group): the attacker used now-unbacked rsETH as collateral to borrow roughly $190 million, leaving Aave with bad debt and triggering an $8.45 billion, 48-hour deposit run that cut TVL from ~$45.8B to ~$28.6B. Aave's own smart contracts were not exploited — the loss stemmed from accepting compromised external collateral. The protocol led the industry-wide 'DeFi United' restitution coalition (raising over $300 million in ETH), pursued recovery of roughly $71 million in frozen attacker funds in U.S. court, and restored rsETH operations by late May 2026. Residual concerns are the bad-debt overhang from the April incident and ongoing governance tensions between token holders and Aave Labs, but the protocol remains a fundamentally legitimate blue-chip lending platform.
Connected Entities
81 entities · 60 linked investigations- Aave (AAVE)→associated with→Aave(80%)
- 5Jw5Lk…zciF→controls→Aave(90%)
- 8GX5dh…AyPm→associated with→Aave(60%)
- 5PQRrd…xmAF→controls→Aave(41%)
- CsVdJ8…DaED→controls→Aave(41%)
- DW4kp1…fRPo→controls→Aave(42%)
- 5yMMxh…QKd3→controls→Aave(41%)
- 5AWyCx…JAk8→controls→Aave(49%)
- GJvewf…T4YA→controls→Aave(55%)
- 6k7hLz…fhSb→controls→Aave(54%)
- + 123 more
Live On-Chain Activity
1 address watched · via HeliusTimeline(18 events)
25 November 2017
ETHLend conducts ICO, raising $16.2 million by selling one billion LEND tokens at $0.0162 each.
Wikipedia / CoinMarketCap8 January 2020
Aave V1 launches on Ethereum, rebranding from ETHLend. Flash loans introduced as a novel DeFi primitive.
Aave Wikipedia / Messari16 March 2022
Aave V3 launches on Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Harmony.
Aave WikipediaApril 2022
Beanstalk Farms exploited for $182 million using a flash loan sourced partly from Aave; Aave itself not directly harmed.
Koinly / Bank UndergroundNovember 2022
Avraham Eisenberg accumulates 92 million CRV short position on Aave; community short squeeze liquidates him, leaving Aave with approximately $1.6 million in CRV bad debt.
CoinDesk / Blockworks26 January 2023
Aave purchases 2.7 million CRV tokens to offset residual bad debt from the Eisenberg incident.
CoinDeskMarch 2023
Euler Finance exploited for $197 million using a flash loan partially sourced from Aave; Aave itself not directly harmed.
Chainalysis14 July 2023
Aave DAO passes AIP-268 to launch GHO stablecoin. GHO begins trading below its $1.00 peg.
DL News / Aave Wikipedia4 November 2023
Critical vulnerability reported via Aave bug bounty affecting V2 Ethereum and V3 on Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche. Markets paused as precaution.
Aave Governance / CryptoSlate16 December 2025
SEC closes its approximately four-year investigation into Aave with no enforcement action.
Unchained / BeInCrypto / Yahoo Finance23 December 2025
Aave Labs submits brand asset transfer proposal to DAO vote during Christmas holiday period without consulting original proposer; 55.29% of token holders vote against.
CoinDesk / CoinTelegraph30 March 2026
Aave V4 launches on Ethereum with hub-and-spoke architecture after audits found zero critical vulnerabilities.
Aave Governance / Blockworks13 April 2026
DAO approves 'Aave Will Win' framework: 100% of revenue from Aave-branded products directed to DAO treasury; $25 million grant approved for Aave Labs.
CoinDesk18 April 2026
Kelp DAO rsETH exploit occurs; attacker attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group mints unbacked rsETH and borrows approximately $190 million from Aave, leaving Aave with bad debt and triggering an $8.45 billion deposit run. Aave's own contracts were not exploited.
CoinDesk / Halborn / Aave Governance23 April 2026
Aave leads the industry 'DeFi United' coalition, raising over $300 million in ETH to contain fallout from the KelpDAO exploit across the DeFi sector.
CoinDesk / Yahoo Finance5 May 2026
Aave LLC files motion in New York federal court to lift restraining notice blocking access to approximately $71 million in recovered ETH frozen on behalf of North Korea terror victims.
CoinDesk26 May 2026
Aave and Kelp DAO restore rsETH operations as recovery and bad-debt remediation from the April exploit progress.
The Block / Crypto TimesDecision Log
- slot 455370701 · hash 3deVAY8obgaX6YPsGmMAfNCxhDDtQo1LAGWizSkASNB2
- slot 445607352 · hash AdY5hA4aNtDLxT3knvR5WC1RFsgcoTAsqadmy8p7JvvL
- slot 423951622 · hash 5jtEBbUbjw1J1ASQm6WJH7tF3XZtDsUrSpnxBz3h4De7
- slot 423951619 · hash 66YJsXrYd8ZEMAucz11DothRhyJ4MgGRw69N5kMDVkkf
- slot 423161827 · hash DjtBWFgVt3y1yrRY3Vcsh5H6K7Jp4Dbkq9RuvXigEKXY
- slot 419618024 · hash 9aHF4zip4qvM3PzhCSDip53ek8cvwh2Q2Q4taz5KPSCs
- slot 419618020 · hash HNZUJNmmUXwRTRg8j4S8R6ttdAAhRJaZ2D8RYgoJvJFx
- slot 419516599 · hash ym5xeSRNoHEi4nbZBAttBSMXCktvUFtvRdhxacyhGvM
- slot 419516595 · hash 8uc2KURPUH9uhAnhQpskPjMEQKjeKTV2Fo4omToJVusS
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (9 decisions). 26 of 26 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-investigator
generated: 5/7/2026, 5:10:48 PM
last updated: 10/10/2026, 6:50:34 PM
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