ETH deposited into the Aave lending protocol reached a new record, peaking at over 3M tokens. The collaterals deposited doubled in 2025, leaving Aave as the leader.
ETH deposits into Aave accelerated throughout 2025, as confidence in DeFi increased. Aave was a way to tap the value of ETH, both as direct collateral or through wrapped tokens. According to data from Sentora, Aave now carries over 3M ETH, an all-time record.
Aave lending may have to increase its threshold, as the ETH available is currently 94% utilized. Aave has a preferred utilization limit of 92% of collateral. A higher utilization means lenders may not be able to withdraw their funds with ease. The main concern about utilization is the potential to redirect funds to other riskier, non-transparent protocols.
Aave has a 1.2% APY for its ETH lenders, lower in comparison even to simple validator staking. The ETH lent out is illiquid and more unpredictable, but lenders were still willing to boost Aave’s vaults. Aave has $21.4B in active loans, according to data from Token Terminal, down from over $30B in September. The lower ETH price increased the need to deposit more tokens.
ETH collateral on Aave doubles in the past year
The ETH collateral also doubled in the past year, as traders regained confidence in DeFi. Lending accelerated just as ETH moved away from centralised exchanges, while holders discovered on-chain tools to extract the value of ETH.
Aave still locks in over $32B in value, down from a peak of $44B as of October 8. ETH is the main booster for Aave, as collaterals also come in the form of wstETH, WETH, and other wrapped or liquid staking tokens based on the value of ETH.
In total, Aave carries around 50% of the value of lending protocols, which now carry $64B in liquidity.
Aave is still the leader in DeFi lending
Both Aave and Morpho increased their total value locked in the past year. Aave saw 5X growth of its value locked, while Morpho started out at $550M and carries around $6B in TVL as of November 2025.
DeFi lending has recovered above the levels from the previous bull market, boosted by the increased supply of stablecoins. Improved liquidation protocols also mean loan liquidation is more rare and holders have enough time to post new collateral.
Lending protocols suffered from over-utilization, when some vaults were emptied out, in order to deposit funds to even riskier lending protocols. However, Aave is more strict with its collateral and utilization requirements.
Aave’s GHO stablecoin remains reliable, with the supply rising to a record of 451M tokens. In the past two weeks, Aave retired some of the supply, down to 416M tokens. AAVE traded at $184.39, sliding in the past three months.
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