Aave, the largest decentralized lending protocol by total value locked, has notched two significant milestones within the same week. The protocol’s V4 deployment on Ethereum surpassed $250 million in deposits, while its newly launched lending market on the Monad blockchain crossed $100 million in deposits just 48 hours after going live on July 2. The dual achievement highlights both the protocol’s continued growth on its home chain and the strength of its multichain expansion strategy.
Monad Market Gains Traction Fast
According to data from on-chain analytics firm TokenLogic, Aave’s Monad market attracted more than $75 million in deposits within its first 24 hours, then crossed the $100 million mark roughly two days after launch. The deployment runs Aave Protocol V3.7 and supports 12 assets, including USDT0, USDC, GHO, WETH, Coinbase’s cbBTC, wstETH, weETH, USDe, mUSD, AUSD, syrupUSDC, and sUSDe.
The rapid inflow is notable given the size of Monad’s broader ecosystem. According to a LlamaRisk assessment posted to Aave’s governance forum, Monad’s entire DeFi sector held about $359.5 million in total value locked as of June 8. That means Aave’s new market alone accounted for more than a quarter of that figure within two days of launching.
Monad, an EVM-compatible Layer 1 network built by former Jump Trading engineers, launched its mainnet and MON token in November 2025. The chain is designed for high throughput, targeting 10,000 transactions per second with roughly 800-millisecond transaction finality — specs aimed at DeFi applications where speed and low latency matter.
Monad Market Surpasses $100M in 48 Hours
Governance Process and Incentive Structure
Aave‘s deployment on Monad followed a multi-month governance process that began with a Temp Check proposal on February 24, 2026. The proposal, authored by TokenLogic, received strong community backing and cleared final approval in late June before the market launched on July 2.
To help bootstrap liquidity, the Monad Foundation committed $15 million in incentives over the deployment’s first year and agreed to acquire and hold 10 million GHO tokens for more than six months. The Aave DAO separately allocated 500,000 GHO to support stablecoin adoption within the Monad ecosystem. Analysts have noted that a portion of the early deposit surge is likely incentive-driven, and that sustained borrowing activity and utilization rates in the coming weeks will be a better test of whether the liquidity is durable once rewards taper off.
Early borrowing data suggests genuine two-way market activity rather than one-sided deposits. Total borrowings on the Monad market have reached roughly $48 million against a total market size north of $117 million, according to Aave app data, with borrowing concentrated in stablecoins such as USDT0 and USDC.
V4 Reaches New Milestone on Ethereum
Separately, Aave’s V4 version — which launched on Ethereum mainnet in late March using a new “hub-and-spoke” architecture — crossed $250 million in deposits, marking an all-time high for that version of the protocol. Aave Labs founder and CEO Stani Kulechov called it “a remarkable milestone for Aave” and said he expects the protocol to grow toward $1 billion in deposits “with more crypto-backed loans and expanding to securities-backed lending.”
AAVE’s TVL on 06/7/2026 (Source: DefilLama)
Kulechov has previously described V4’s rollout as deliberately gradual, following the same controlled approach used with earlier versions of the protocol. Aave’s governance proposal for the Monad deployment leaves it up to the Monad Foundation to decide whether and when to eventually migrate that market to V4.
GHO’s Multichain Expansion Continues
The Monad launch also marks a notable expansion for GHO, Aave’s native stablecoin, which had previously been available on Base and Arbitrum. Monad represents GHO’s first deployment on a standalone, high-performance Layer 1 outside the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem. The integration uses Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to facilitate transfers, and marks the first time Aave has used Chainlink’s Smart Value Recapture (SVR) technology from launch, a mechanism designed to return a portion of liquidation and MEV-related revenue to the protocol.
Keone Hon, co-founder and general manager of the Monad Foundation, said the deployment brings “Ethereum’s core liquidity infrastructure onto a faster chain,” framing Aave’s presence as validation of Monad’s ability to attract established DeFi protocols. Monad Foundation has indicated that future phases could add Pendle PT assets and Fastlane’s shMON liquid staking token to the market’s asset roster.
