Aave has officially deployed its version 3 (v3) protocol on the Sonic mainnet, marking a significant expansion in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The launch, announced on March 3, follows a governance proposal aimed at integrating Aave’s lending market with Sonic, formerly known as Fantom.
A Strategic Move to Sonic
The deployment was managed by Web3 platform and Aave contributor bgdlabs, with risk assessments conducted by Chaos Labs and LlamaRisk. Chainlink, a leading oracle provider, is supplying price feeds for the on-chain finance operations.
Sonic Labs introduced its layer-1 mainnet in December 2024, coinciding with Aave DAO delegate Aave Chan’s proposal to bring v3 to the network. After receiving approval from the AAVE community, the integration was set in motion, extending Aave’s influence in the DeFi space.
Incentives and User Benefits
As part of the rollout, Aave and Sonic Labs are offering $15 million in S tokens and $800,000 in AAVE tokens to incentivize early adopters. Users can engage in borrowing and lending opportunities on the network, with initial supported assets including USDC, WETH, and wS.
The Aave Chain Initiative highlighted Sonic’s potential as a strong candidate for deployment, citing its innovative approach and the team’s track record. Aave has a history of integrating with emerging blockchain networks, often becoming one of the largest protocols within these ecosystems.
Sonic Labs co-founder Andre Cronje reinforced this sentiment, emphasizing that Sonic is uniquely structured to reward users for network activity. This aligns with Aave’s strategy of leveraging new platforms that offer monetization opportunities and sustainable growth.
Aave’s Expanding Ecosystem
Aave currently holds a total value locked (TVL) of over $18.7 billion, slightly down from its peak of $22 billion in December 2024. Since its inception in 2018 on Ethereum, Aave has deployed across multiple networks, including Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Gnosis Chain.
With its latest expansion to Sonic, Aave continues to solidify its position as a leading DeFi lending protocol, providing users with enhanced access to decentralized financial services on a broader scale.
