Aave, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has made a significant move by expanding its version 3 network to the Sonic mainnet. The announcement was made on March 3, marking a milestone for both Aave and the Sonic blockchain platform.
The deployment of Aave v3 on the Sonic network follows a recent governance proposal that aimed to bring the decentralized finance protocol’s lending market to the network, which was previously known as Fantom. The deployment was managed by web3 platform and Aave contributor bgdlabs, with risk assessment conducted by Chaos Labs and LlamaRisk. Additionally, on-chain finance and oracle platform Chainlink provides price feeds for the Aave network.
Sonic Labs launched its layer-1 mainnet in December 2024, the same month that Aave DAO delegate Aave Chan introduced the v3-to-Sonic governance proposal. The AAVE community later approved the proposal, leading to the deployment of Aave v3 on the Sonic mainnet.
This expansion to the Sonic network represents Aave’s first move of the year, further solidifying its presence in the broader DeFi ecosystem. The deployment introduces borrowing and lending opportunities for Sonic users, allowing them to earn DeFi-related incentives on the Aave platform. To incentivize early adopters, Aave and Sonic Labs are offering $15 million in S tokens and $800,000 in AAVE tokens.
The motivation behind deploying v3 on Sonic was explained by the Aave Chain Initiative, stating that Sonic’s impressive team and promised innovations make it a strong candidate for Aave v3 deployment. Furthermore, the fee monetization for apps on Sonic has the potential to provide an additional income source for Aave.
Aave currently boasts a total value locked of over $18.7 billion, showcasing its significant presence in the DeFi space. Since its launch in 2018 on Ethereum, Aave has expanded to multiple networks, including Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, as well as BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Gnosis Chain.
Overall, the expansion of Aave v3 to the Sonic mainnet represents a strategic move for both platforms, further enhancing the DeFi ecosystem and providing new opportunities for users to engage with decentralized finance protocols.