Aave, the largest decentralized lending protocol by total value locked, is considering one of its biggest ecosystem restructurings to date after a new governance proposal suggested retiring six underperforming blockchain deployments.
The proposal recommends winding down Aave’s markets on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium, and Aptos, arguing that maintaining these networks no longer makes economic sense given their limited adoption and revenue generation.
According to the proposal, the six blockchain deployments each generate less than $5,000 in quarterly revenue, with Metis, Soneium, and Aptos reportedly producing less than $1,000 each. Those figures fall well below the operational costs required to maintain oracle price feeds, liquidation infrastructure, monitoring systems, and ongoing protocol support.
Deposit Activity Has Fallen Sharply Across Smaller Networks
The proposal highlights a significant decline in user activity across the affected chains over the past six months.
Soneium experienced the steepest contraction, with deposits falling approximately 95%, while Aptos saw liquidity decline by 94%. zkSync’s deposits dropped about 88% to roughly $844,000, and Scroll declined 86% to around $2 million. Metis recorded a 79% reduction, while Sonic, the largest of the proposed retirements, saw deposits decrease 74% to just under $8 million.
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Combined, the six networks now account for roughly $13 million in deposits compared with approximately $14 billion managed across Aave’s 23 supported blockchains, representing well under 1% of the protocol’s total assets.
The proposal also includes the retirement of 21 expired Pendle principal token markets across multiple Aave deployments as part of a broader effort to simplify and optimize the protocol.
Revenue Focus Drives Strategic Shift
While Aave remains one of DeFi’s most profitable protocols, the proposal reflects a growing emphasis on concentrating resources where user demand is strongest.
Ethereum remains Aave’s dominant deployment, reportedly generating more than $142 million annually, while Base contributes approximately $4.7 million each year. By comparison, Metis generates only around $3,000 annually, illustrating the widening performance gap between Aave’s largest and smallest markets.
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The proposal also notes that Aave’s gross revenue declined from $198 million in the first quarter to approximately $156 million in the second quarter. Early third-quarter figures reportedly indicate continued pressure, particularly from lower liquidation fees.
Rather than immediately closing the affected markets, the proposal outlines a gradual wind-down process. New deposits, borrowing, and collateral usage would be frozen, supply and borrow caps would be reduced to a single token, borrower interest would largely be redirected to Aave’s treasury, and borrowing costs would increase to encourage users to migrate naturally without forcing liquidations.
The governance proposal follows earlier discussions within the Aave community that questioned whether several smaller blockchain deployments had achieved sufficient product-market fit. If approved, the changes would represent a strategic consolidation aimed at reducing operational complexity while allowing Aave to focus on blockchain ecosystems that generate stronger adoption, liquidity, and long-term sustainability.
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