Aave DAO mulls pulling back ‘multichain strategy,’ deprecating zkSync, Metis and Soneium instances

Aave's community is considering shutting down underperforming instances on low-value networks, according to an ongoing discussion in its governance channel. "Aave maintains several V3 instances which each carry operational costs and present risk surface area. It is believed that the revenue generated by several of these instances is not sufficient to offset the costs and risks they incur," an Aave Chan Initiative rep posted in a "Temp Check" in late November. While not yet a formal governance procedure, the active debate could presage a strategic reversal for the largest decentralized lending protocol, which has historically taken a maximalist view when it comes to launching on new blockchains. Launched in 2018, Aave is by far the largest decentralized lending protocol, accounting for over 81% of the total outstanding debt on Ethereum, according to The Block's data.The project is live on at least 18 chains, including a litany of Ethereum Layer 2s, as well as alternative Layer 1s like Aptos and Sonic, among others. Now, the ACI, a major delegate platform for the Aave DAO, appears to want to roll back some of this expansion and impose stricter requirements for future deployments. Low revenueAccording to the forum discussion, ACI's Growth SP is proposing rolling back Aave instances on zkSync, Metis, and Sony's Soneium network, which "have proven to lack product market fit." These three chains have attracted the lowest total value locked compared to other Aave deployments, and account for a fraction of Aave's income. For instance, Metis, which was co-founded by Vitalik Buterin's mother Natalia Ameline, currently sees just over $3,000 in annualized revenue. Soneium fares a bit better with annualized revenue over $50,000. By comparison, Aave's largest deployment on the Ethereum mainnet sees over $142 million in revenue while Base brings in $4.7 million with just a $1.8 million TVL."In addition to the low revenue, some of these chains require additional engineering effort for any new asset onboardings, which, given current service provider workload and low pay-off, is not currently feasible," ACI wrote. As part of its proposal, ACI also suggested a $2 million annual revenue floor for future deployments and instituting a stablecoin "Reserve Factor" for other small earners. ACI called out Polygon, Gnosis, BNB Chain, Optimism, Scroll, Sonic, and Celo as potential candidates for additional reserve requirements to would lock up stablecoins like Aave's GHO or Wrapped ETH to boost revenue.So far, Aave DAO snapshot has received 100% support in a poll that closes Dec. 5. A Temp Check is generally seen as the first step towards a governance vote, and is a way to gauge sentiment and kickstart a conversation. Community discussionFor its part, Aave governance adviser TokenLogic is in favor of scaling back Aave's multichain strategy, including deprecating the three "structurally non-viable" deployments on zkSync, Metis, and Soneium. However, TokenLogic took a more nuanced view of other low-performing chains like BNB Chain, Polygon, and Optimism, which represent a "strategically important position."ACI co-founder Marc Zeller separately posted that exceptions could be made for low-revenue chains depending on certain tradeoffs. "Celo has a high user count and is low maintenance; I’m not yet in favor of deprecation of this instance," Zeller argued. Likewise, some other AAVE governance token holders urge a more cautious approach towards deprecation. Nano noted that ACI's proposal could lead to a slippery slope where only major instances like Aave on Ethereum, Base, Avalanche, and Arbitrum are viable."This would drastically reduce Aave's presence across the ecosystem and significantly shrink its potential user base," Nano wrote. "Such concentration goes against the broader market trend, where multichain expansion is viewed as a key driver of growth, and most projects are doing everything they can to be available on more chains — not fewer."Notably, Aave is often incentivized to deploy on new chains. ZKSync, for instance, airdropped the highest share of ZK tokens to the protocol out of any "native project," despite the fact it hadn't launched on the chain at the time. The DAO also votes against certain deployments — like its decision to skip Ethereum Layer 2 network Mode.If the Temp Check passes the snapshot vote, ACI will then be able to publish an Aave Request for Comments and then later progress to an official vote. 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