Aave Labs, the company behind the Aave lending protocol, has asked the Aave community to consider listing USAT, a dollar stablecoin, on two versions of Aave on Ethereum. It is a request for comments, the opening stage of Aave’s process. Nothing has been approved, and no vote has been scheduled.
What was posted
Proposal (not a decision). On 9 October 2026 at 16:13 UTC, the account AaveLabs posted an “ARFC” on Aave’s governance forum [1]. ARFC stands for Aave Request For Comments. Its summary reads: “This proposal seeks to onboard USAT to the Aave V3 Core Instance and the Aave V4 Core Hub on Ethereum. Final asset configuration will be determined by the Risk Service Providers.” [1]
In plain words, Aave is a service where people lend crypto to earn interest and borrow against crypto they deposit. To “onboard” an asset means to list it as a market, so it can be supplied and borrowed. The proposal names two places: the V3 Core Instance and the V4 Core Hub. Put simply, Aave runs two versions of its markets, and the proposal asks for USAT on both. Aave’s own documentation describes V4 as built around a central “Hub” that holds the liquidity [3]; TSN has covered a V4 hub on Base [4].
What USAT is, according to the proposal
The proposal says USAT (it gives the name “Tether America USD”) “is a dollar stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A., a federally chartered national trust bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)” [1]. It also says USAT is subject to the GENIUS Act and is redeemable 1:1 for US dollars [1]. The proposal says nothing about what reserves back it, and TSN has not checked that independently.
Aave Labs’s case is that USAT would add a bank-issued, federally supervised stablecoin and suit institutions that want one [1]. The proposal’s disclaimer says Aave Labs “has no financial relationship with Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A., Tether, or their affiliates” and has received no compensation for it [1].
What is still open
The proposal says final settings are not yet decided: “Risk Parameters and final configuration will be updated by Risk Service Providers and ARFC will be updated accordingly.” [1] Risk Service Providers are the specialist teams Aave’s community relies on to set risk controls for each asset. CoinScoop notes that onboarding alone does not set caps, collateral treatment or other controls [2]; that is its reading, and the proposal gives no figures [1].
The next steps listed are [1]:
- Gather community feedback.
- If the response is positive, hold a Snapshot, an off-chain community poll.
- Submit an AIP (Aave Improvement Proposal) to Aave Governance, the formal on-chain step.
No dates are given for any of them [1]. When TSN checked on the morning of 10 October, the forum thread held only the opening post, with no replies, so there is no community discussion of risks to report yet.
The Bottom Line
USAT is only a candidate. Aave Labs has opened a discussion, and the community, the risk teams, a Snapshot and an AIP all still stand between this and a listing. TSN will update if the process moves. This is not investment advice.
Related on TSN: Tokenised Stocks Grow Up: Notices, Redemptions, Plumbing and Collateral
Sources
- AaveLabs, “[ARFC] Onboard USAT to Aave V3 Core Instance and Aave V4 Core Hub on Ethereum”, Aave governance forum, 9 October 2026, 16:13 UTC (primary source). https://governance.aave.com/t/arfc-onboard-usat-to-aave-v3-core-instance-and-aave-v4-core-hub-on-ethereum/25817
- Marcus Feld, “Aave ARFC proposes USAT for Ethereum V3 and V4”, CoinScoop, 9 October 2026 (trade press; used for context only). https://coinscoop.org/aave-community-debates-onboarding-usat-to-v3-and-v4-on-ethereum-expanding-stable/
- Aave, “Aave v4” documentation (describes the Hub and Spoke design). https://aave.com/docs/aave-v4
- TSN, “Tokenised Stocks Grow Up: Notices, Redemptions, Plumbing and Collateral” (earlier TSN post covering Aave V4’s Equities Hub on Base). https://tsnmedia.org/tokenised-stocks-okxice-notice-robinhood-redemption-ondo-aave-equities-hub/
