Audit log

Every state-changing event for GHO: moderation decisions on community submissions, plus corrections and updates from the news pipeline. URL-based decisions carry three independent witnesses — the original source, an Internet Archive snapshot taken at submission time, and a Solana memo signed by our publicly-disclosed publisher key.

1. #1publishby system:backfill

   2026-07-22 03:45:50Z
   Score: ? → ? (no score change)
   anchorpending

   chain

   ●—

   hash

   FReqhBVqnjAD…fxFti11Hcopysha256 → base58

   verifying row…

   canonical bytes (17871 B) ▸

   {"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"fdad1101-684b-4137-b3ab-e68d28005c64","kind":"publish","page_slug":"gho","published_at":"2026-07-22T03:45:50.415Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"GHO","sections":[{"content":"GHO is minted and burned exclusively by contracts called 'Facilitators,' which must be individually approved by Aave Governance and are each assigned a governance-set mint cap (referred to as a 'bucket capacity'). The original and largest facilitator is the Aave V3 Ethereum lending pool itself, through which users mint GHO against over-collateralized crypto deposits. Additional facilitators have since been approved, including a FlashMinter facilitator for flash-minting, the GHO Stability Module (GSM) for stablecoin swaps, and cross-chain facilitators using Chainlink's CCIP to expand GHO to Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Base. Because minting authority is concentrated in a small number of governance-approved contracts, the security and solvency of GHO depends heavily on the correctness of these facilitator contracts and on Aave DAO's governance process for setting and adjusting mint caps.","heading":"Minting Model and Facilitators","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Facilitators | Aave","type":"official","url":"https://aave.com/help/gho-stablecoin/facilitators"},{"credibility":1,"name":"GHO | Aave Protocol Documentation","type":"official","url":"https://aave.com/docs/ecosystem/gho"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO: A Decentralized Multi-Collateral Stablecoin by Aave | CoinGecko","type":"research","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/learn/gho-decentralized-stablecoin-aave"}]},{"content":"GHO launched on Ethereum mainnet on July 15, 2023, with approximately 99% support in an Aave DAO governance vote. Almost immediately, GHO began trading below its intended $1.00 peg, hovering between $0.97 and $0.99 for most of its early months, and briefly falling to roughly $0.94 on August 8, 2023. Analysts and reporters, including DL News, attributed the persistent discount to insufficient demand for minting GHO relative to supply and the absence of a redemption mechanism that would let arbitrageurs reliably restore the peg. Aave founder Stani Kulechov publicly downplayed the depeg at the time, stating that 'the focus on peg should come later' and framing early priorities around growing GHO's debt base rather than defending the price. A separate, sharper depeg event occurred on July 31, 2023, lasting approximately two hours, which market observers linked to stress from a reentrancy exploit on Curve Finance that put pressure on several DeFi-native stablecoin pegs simultaneously, including FRAX and crvUSD alongside GHO. GHO did not durably return to its $1.00 peg until February 2024, roughly seven months after launch, following the rollout of stability mechanisms including the GHO Stability Module. As of mid-2026, reporting indicates GHO's peg has been holding within a basis point of $1.00.","heading":"Peg Stability History","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave stablecoin GHO struggles to hold dollar peg, DL News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/why-aave-stablecoin-gho-trades-below-its-intended-dollar-peg/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave's GHO stablecoin finally reaches $1 peg, DL News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/aave-stablecoin-gho-finally-reaches-1-peg/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave Stablecoin GHO Recovers After Depeg (Curve hack), BeInCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://beincrypto.com/aave-stablecoin-gho-recovers-depeg-curve-hack/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave Founder Says Stablecoin GHO Instability Isn't a Concern, BeInCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://beincrypto.com/gho-stablecoin-depeg-not-concern/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Stablecoin GHO lingers below $1 since launch - why?, AMBCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://ambcrypto.com/stablecoin-gho-lingers-below-1-since-launch-why/"}]},{"content":"GHO's borrow rate is set directly by Aave Governance rather than algorithmically determined by utilization, distinguishing it from Aave's variable-rate lending markets. Borrowers who stake AAVE tokens in Aave's Safety Module to receive stkAAVE are eligible for a discounted GHO borrowing rate, with the discount applying on a fixed ratio (reported as roughly 100 GHO of discounted borrowing per 1 stkAAVE held, subject to a governance-set per-stkAAVE cap and discount percentage). Borrowing beyond the amount covered by a user's stkAAVE-linked discount is charged the full governance-set base rate. This mechanism ties GHO's cost of capital to AAVE token staking, which creates an indirect link between AAVE price/staking dynamics and GHO borrowing economics, and means governance retains discretionary control over a core monetary parameter rather than it being set by market mechanics alone.","heading":"Interest Rate Mechanism and stkAAVE Discount","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave V4 GHO Yield 2026: Borrow-Mint Mechanics Explained","type":"research","url":"https://eco.com/support/en/articles/15253998-aave-v4-gho-yield-2026-borrow-mint-mechanics-explained"},{"credibility":3,"name":"How to leverage GHO on AAVE?, Altfolio (Medium)","type":"community_report","url":"https://altfolio.medium.com/how-to-leverage-gho-on-aave-36f8ed58e02d"}]},{"content":"In response to the prolonged post-launch depeg, Aave introduced the GHO Stability Module (GSM), a peg-defense facilitator modeled conceptually on MakerDAO's Peg Stability Module. The GSM allows users to swap approved fixed-value stablecoins, such as USDC and USDT, for GHO at close to a 1:1 ratio minus a small fee, giving arbitrageurs a direct redemption path that had been absent at launch. Independent DeFi risk researcher LlamaRisk has noted that the GSM introduces counterparty and contagion risk: because GSM reserves are held in centralized stablecoins, a depeg of USDT or USDC could in turn destabilize GHO's own peg. LlamaRisk's analysis found that as of its review, the GSM represented only a marginal proportion of total GHO supply and therefore did not pose a significant risk at that time, though this assessment could change if GSM-facilitated supply grows.","heading":"GHO Stability Module (GSM) and Peg Defense","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave Explainer Series - The GHO Stablecoin, LlamaRisk","type":"research","url":"https://www.llamarisk.com/research/explainer-series-gho-stablecoin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO Stablecoin: How Aave's DeFi Dollar Works","type":"research","url":"https://eco.com/support/en/articles/12209036-gho-stablecoin-how-aave-s-defi-dollar-works"}]},{"content":"According to LlamaRisk's GHO risk research, GHO's backing collateral has historically been concentrated in ETH-correlated assets, with wstETH (~34%) and WETH (~16%) forming a large share of the collateral base as of the analysis period, alongside sDAI. LlamaRisk flagged that GHO's collateral ratio has fluctuated around roughly 260% overcollateralization, but identified a specific concentration risk around sDAI: because a single large borrower supplied most of the sDAI collateral backing GHO, the research estimated that a 10% depeg of sDAI could trigger liquidation of approximately 9% of total GHO debt. This illustrates that despite GHO's aggregate overcollateralization, risk can be concentrated in a small number of large positions or correlated asset classes, which could produce localized stress even when system-wide collateralization appears healthy.","heading":"Collateral Concentration Risk","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave Explainer Series - The GHO Stablecoin, LlamaRisk","type":"research","url":"https://www.llamarisk.com/research/explainer-series-gho-stablecoin"}]},{"content":"The Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), a major Aave DAO delegate and service provider founded by Marc Zeller, announced in early March 2026 that it would not renew its engagement with the DAO and would wind down over a four-month period. According to CoinDesk, the dispute centered on 'Aave Will Win,' a roughly $51 million budget proposal for product development and Aave V4 expansion, which ACI opposed on the grounds that addresses tied to Aave Labs voted on their own funding request without what ACI considered adequate transparency; the proposal nonetheless passed its first vote with about 52% support. Zeller stated the episode showed there was 'no role for an independent service provider' under these governance dynamics. ACI had been credited with driving substantial GHO growth, reportedly helping scale GHO's supply from roughly $35 million to over $500 million over about three years. Its departure, alongside the separate exit of contributor BGD Labs around the same period, raises questions about the concentration of effective control within Aave Labs and the DAO's degree of decentralization, though normal GHO lending, borrowing, and facilitator operations were reported to be continuing.","heading":"Aave Chan Initiative Exit and Governance Turmoil","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Aave governance rift deepens as major governance group exits $26 billion DeFi protocol, CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2026/03/03/aave-governance-rift-deepens-as-major-governance-group-exits-usd26-billion-defi-protocol"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Marc Zeller's ACI to leave Aave in July amid growing governance tensions, The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/391872/aave-chan-initiative-marc-zeller-leave-governance-tensions"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave's Governance Turmoil and the Future of On-Chain Revenue Alignment","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ainvest.com/news/aave-governance-turmoil-future-chain-revenue-alignment-2601/"}]},{"content":"GHO's circulating supply and market capitalization grew substantially through 2025 and into 2026. Reporting indicates GHO's market cap crossed $500 million in early 2026 and reached approximately $648 million by late June 2026, with circulating supply figures cited around 580–650 million tokens at various points in the period, putting GHO's DeFi-native stablecoin supply ahead of comparable protocol-issued stablecoins such as Curve's crvUSD. As of July 2026, GHO's price has been reported holding at or very near $1.00. The protocol has also expanded GHO's utility, including a sGHO savings vault offering a fixed yield to retail depositors introduced around April 2026, and cross-chain deployment via Chainlink CCIP facilitators to Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Base.","heading":"Supply Growth and Current Status","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave's GHO Stablecoin Supply Hits $500M, The Defiant","type":"news_article","url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/aave-gho-stablecoin-market-cap-breaks-usd500-million"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO Price | Market Cap | CryptoRank.io","type":"on_chain","url":"https://cryptorank.io/price/gho"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO (GHO) Market Cap, Supply & Peg Chart, DefiLlama","type":"on_chain","url":"https://defillama.com/stablecoin/gho"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO Token Price, MetaMask","type":"on_chain","url":"https://metamask.io/price/gho"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Facilitators | Aave","type":"official","url":"https://aave.com/help/gho-stablecoin/facilitators"},{"credibility":1,"name":"GHO | Aave Protocol Documentation","type":"official","url":"https://aave.com/docs/ecosystem/gho"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO: A Decentralized Multi-Collateral Stablecoin by Aave | CoinGecko","type":"research","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/learn/gho-decentralized-stablecoin-aave"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave stablecoin GHO struggles to hold dollar peg, DL News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/why-aave-stablecoin-gho-trades-below-its-intended-dollar-peg/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave's GHO stablecoin finally reaches $1 peg, DL News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/aave-stablecoin-gho-finally-reaches-1-peg/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave Stablecoin GHO Recovers After Depeg (Curve hack), BeInCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://beincrypto.com/aave-stablecoin-gho-recovers-depeg-curve-hack/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave Founder Says Stablecoin GHO Instability Isn't a Concern, BeInCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://beincrypto.com/gho-stablecoin-depeg-not-concern/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Stablecoin GHO lingers below $1 since launch - why?, AMBCrypto","type":"news_article","url":"https://ambcrypto.com/stablecoin-gho-lingers-below-1-since-launch-why/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave V4 GHO Yield 2026: Borrow-Mint Mechanics Explained","type":"research","url":"https://eco.com/support/en/articles/15253998-aave-v4-gho-yield-2026-borrow-mint-mechanics-explained"},{"credibility":3,"name":"How to leverage GHO on AAVE?, Altfolio (Medium)","type":"community_report","url":"https://altfolio.medium.com/how-to-leverage-gho-on-aave-36f8ed58e02d"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave Explainer Series - The GHO Stablecoin, LlamaRisk","type":"research","url":"https://www.llamarisk.com/research/explainer-series-gho-stablecoin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO Stablecoin: How Aave's DeFi Dollar Works","type":"research","url":"https://eco.com/support/en/articles/12209036-gho-stablecoin-how-aave-s-defi-dollar-works"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Aave governance rift deepens as major governance group exits $26 billion DeFi protocol, CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2026/03/03/aave-governance-rift-deepens-as-major-governance-group-exits-usd26-billion-defi-protocol"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Marc Zeller's ACI to leave Aave in July amid growing governance tensions, The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/391872/aave-chan-initiative-marc-zeller-leave-governance-tensions"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave's Governance Turmoil and the Future of On-Chain Revenue Alignment","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ainvest.com/news/aave-governance-turmoil-future-chain-revenue-alignment-2601/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Aave's GHO Stablecoin Supply Hits $500M, The Defiant","type":"news_article","url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/aave-gho-stablecoin-market-cap-breaks-usd500-million"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO Price | Market Cap | CryptoRank.io","type":"on_chain","url":"https://cryptorank.io/price/gho"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO (GHO) Market Cap, Supply & Peg Chart, DefiLlama","type":"on_chain","url":"https://defillama.com/stablecoin/gho"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GHO Token Price, MetaMask","type":"on_chain","url":"https://metamask.io/price/gho"}],"summary":"GHO is a decentralized, crypto-collateralized stablecoin native to the Aave protocol, launched in July 2023 and minted through governance-approved 'Facilitators.' The token suffered a prolonged sub-$1 depeg for roughly seven months after launch and a sharper flash depeg during the July 2023 Curve Finance exploit, before stabilizing near $1.00 in 2024–2026 following the introduction of a Peg Stability Module-style mechanism. As of mid-2026, GHO's peg is largely stable and its supply has grown to roughly $500–650 million, but the protocol carries residual risks tied to collateral concentration, stablecoin-backed peg defenses, and recent turmoil in Aave DAO governance following the exit of the Aave Chan Initiative, a delegate that had driven much of GHO's growth.","timeline":[{"date":"2023-07-15","event":"GHO launches on Ethereum mainnet following an Aave DAO governance vote with approximately 99% approval.","source":"AMBCrypto / DL News reporting","source_url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/why-aave-stablecoin-gho-finally-reaches-1-peg/"},{"date":"2023-07-31","event":"GHO depegs for roughly two hours amid market stress linked to a reentrancy exploit on Curve Finance that also pressured FRAX and crvUSD pegs.","source":"BeInCrypto","source_url":"https://beincrypto.com/aave-stablecoin-gho-recovers-depeg-curve-hack/"},{"date":"2023-08-08","event":"GHO trades as low as approximately $0.94, its deepest reported discount to peg in the early post-launch period.","source":"DL News","source_url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/why-aave-stablecoin-gho-trades-below-its-intended-dollar-peg/"},{"date":"2024-02-01","event":"GHO returns to its $1.00 peg roughly seven months after launch, following introduction of the GHO Stability Module and related mechanisms; announced by Aave founder Stani Kulechov.","source":"DL News","source_url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/aave-stablecoin-gho-finally-reaches-1-peg/"},{"date":"2026-02-01","event":"GHO's market capitalization surpasses $500 million.","source":"The Defiant","source_url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/aave-gho-stablecoin-market-cap-breaks-usd500-million"},{"date":"2026-03-03","event":"The Aave Chan Initiative announces it will not renew its Aave DAO engagement and will wind down over four months, following a governance dispute over a ~$51 million Aave Labs budget proposal.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2026/03/03/aave-governance-rift-deepens-as-major-governance-group-exits-usd26-billion-defi-protocol"},{"date":"2026-04-01","event":"Aave launches an sGHO savings vault offering a fixed 4.25% APR to retail depositors.","source":"Eco Support Center","source_url":"https://eco.com/support/en/articles/15002230-aave-gho-stablecoin-how-the-yield-works"},{"date":"2026-07-10","event":"GHO trades at approximately $1.00, with its peg reported holding within a basis point of target.","source":"MetaMask price data / CoinMarketCap AI summary","source_url":"https://metamask.io/price/gho"}]},"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision bbaa53a3-fa9b-4897-a8bb-43708f3782e1copy