Aave v4 Selects Avalanche as First Expansion Chain, CEO Says

Aave has chosen Avalanche as the first network for its Aave v4 expansion, CEO @StaniKulechov said on Sept. 16 during a session with @CamiRusso, remarks shared by avax.

Kulechov pointed to Avalanche's finance-focused builder community and to institutional interest in the network's technology as the reasons behind the decision.

"Avalanche has a very strong community building on finance," he said, framing the choice around the broader push to move the financial system onchain.

What's behind the pick

Aave is the largest lending protocol in DeFi, where users supply crypto assets, borrow against collateral, and earn yield. Its v4 architecture — Hub & Spoke — was deployed on Avalanche in July 2026 and has drawn more than $20 million in deposits on the network since launching roughly two months earlier, according to figures avax published on Sept. 16.

Avalanche's pitch to lending markets has centered on institutional-grade infrastructure, an area where the network has been expanding its footprint through tokenization and identity deals with large enterprises and public-sector partners.

avax framed the choice as Avalanche being the first expansion for Aave v4, positioning the network as a testing ground for the protocol's next-generation lending model.

What to watch

The scale and timing of any further Aave v4 rollout beyond Avalanche has not been detailed by the protocol. For now, the focus stays on Avalanche, where the Hub & Spoke deployment will carry the added weight of serving as the reference implementation for Aave's expansion strategy.