Aave tightens multi-chain strategy, three chains face "delisting", $2 million revenue threshold becomes the new standard

On-Chain Governance Sparks New Waves

The Aave community recently took a major step—DAO is voting on whether to shut down deployment instances on zkSync, Metis, and Soneium. This is not a minor patch but a re-evaluation of the entire multi-chain expansion strategy. The voting deadline is December 5, 2025, with a support rate of 100% so far, indicating a strong community consensus.

Why “Cut and Leave”?

Aave previously expanded widely—deploying on at least 18 blockchains, including Ethereum L2 networks, Aptos, Sonic, and others. But now, the main proposers, Aave Community Delegates (ACI), seem to want to hit the brakes.

According to analysis by ACI growth service provider(Growth SP), the Aave instances on zkSync, Metis, and Soneium “do not meet market expectations.” In plain terms, these chains have the lowest TVL and income that’s hardly impressive. Data speaks volumes:

• Metis: This chain, co-founded by Natalia Ameline (Vitalik’s mother), has an annualized income of just over $3,000, almost bleeding;
• Soneium: Slightly better, with annualized income over $50,000, but still quite marginal;
• Contrasts sharply: Aave on Ethereum mainnet earns over $142 million annually, and the Base chain also generates $4.7 million—these are real “money makers.”

New Era, New Requirements

Rather than continuing to support “low-income” chains, ACI also proposes setting a clear annual income threshold of $2 million for future new chain deployments. In other words, to deploy Aave on your chain, you must first demonstrate the ability to generate sufficient economic value. For smaller chains that do not meet this standard, the proposal suggests establishing a stablecoin “reserve factor” mechanism to support them.

This move not only optimizes resource allocation but also signals to the market: Aave is shifting towards a curated approach, moving away from the “deploy on every chain” broad-sweep model.