The Aave community has tabled a new tentative proposal that envisions a comprehensive overhaul of its approach to multi-chain growth.
The proposal suggests adjustments aimed at boosting revenue on underperforming networks, potentially leading to the complete shutdown of Aave V3 on certain chains. It also introduces a minimum annual revenue floor requirement of $2 million for all future deployments.
Rationale Behind the Strategic Shift
Aave currently operates numerous V3 instances across different blockchains. Each instance incurs additional overhead in terms of operational costs and security. The community has observed that the revenue generated by some of these instances does not sufficiently offset these costs. This has led to the conclusion that the multi-chain expansion strategy pursued in previous years has not yielded the expected results, necessitating a shift in focus towards networks that offer higher revenue potential.
Proposed Adjustments for Existing Networks
According to the proposal, the reserve factor will be increased for instances currently generating annual revenue below $3 million. This adjustment will specifically target networks including Polygon, Gnosis, BNB Chain, Optimism, Scroll, Sonic, and Celo. If these networks do not demonstrate a significant revenue increase within 12 months following the implementation of these adjustments, the proposal outlines that the abandonment process may be initiated on the relevant networks.
Shutdown of Low-Revenue Networks
The proposal identifies three networks with the lowest revenue generation as candidates for the complete shutdown of Aave V3. zkSync, Metis, and Soneium currently generate annual revenues ranging from $3,000 to $50,000. The community highlights that these chains exhibit insufficient product-market fit. Furthermore, the additional engineering costs associated with listing new assets on some of these networks, coupled with their low revenue streams, create an unsustainable financial burden.
Criteria for Future Deployments
The proposal also establishes a clear criterion for all future new deployments. For Aave to be deployed on a new chain, that chain would be required to commit to a minimum of $2 million in guaranteed annual revenue. The community's reasoning is that while Aave offers significant value to new ecosystems, the associated operational costs and inherent risks are also substantial and cannot be overlooked.