Aave (AAVE): questions and answers
Every answer below is written from the sources listed at the end of this page, with the date each one was checked.
The question that decides how you read Aave
Aave is usually described as a lending protocol. The interesting part is that its first version failed for a reason nobody could code around.
ETHLend launched in late 2017 doing the obvious thing: matching individual lenders to individual borrowers on-chain. Its own whitepaper names the underlying difficulty — with pseudonymous borrowers there is no way to enforce repayment, so the loan has to be secured by collateral held in a contract.
What the collateral model could not fix was liquidity. Peer-to-peer matching meant waiting for a counterparty who wanted the same amount, the same asset and the same terms. The market existed; the matching did not.
What is still unsettled
Decentralisation on Aave is a spectrum, not a state. Emergency-admin and guardian roles still exist for good operational reasons, and the founding team remains central to development. How much of the protocol's direction is genuinely decided by token holders rather than by the people who write the code is an open question that governance forum posts debate openly.
What this means when you swap AAVE
AAVE is an ERC-20 token, native to Ethereum, with deployments on the other networks Aave supports — Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism among them. The token on each network is a different contract, and sending to the right address on the wrong network is the standard way to lose it permanently.
You need ETH (or the relevant network's gas token) in the same wallet to move AAVE; the token cannot pay its own fees. The token also supports EIP-2612 permit approvals, which is why some apps can take an approval as a signature instead of a separate transaction. Confirmation timing follows Ethereum: twelve-second slots, with finality a few minutes later.
Common AAVE questions
- How do I swap Aave (AAVE) instantly on Monivo?
- Pick AAVE as the asset you want to receive, choose what you're paying with, paste your wallet address, and confirm. Monivo routes your order to the provider offering the best rate, and most swaps complete in under 10 minutes — no account needed.
- Can I swap AAVE with no KYC?
- Yes. Crypto-to-crypto swaps of AAVE on Monivo require no identity verification and no sign-up. Only fiat purchases (card or bank transfer) require KYC, because banks and payment processors mandate it.
- Is swapping Aave on Monivo non-custodial?
- Yes. Monivo never holds your funds. AAVE is sent directly to the wallet address you provide, so you stay in control the whole time.
- Which network does AAVE use here?
- Monivo supports Aave on the ERC20 network. Always double-check that your receiving wallet supports this network before confirming.
- What fees apply when I swap AAVE?
- Monivo adds zero fees on top. The quote you see already reflects the strongest quote we found across connected providers, including their network and processing costs — all fees are included in the shown amount.
- What does staking AAVE actually do?
- Staked AAVE sits in the protocol's Safety Module as a backstop: if the protocol suffers a shortfall, a portion of staked tokens can be used to cover it, and stakers are paid rewards for accepting that risk. It is closer to underwriting than to earning interest.
- Which network should I use to receive AAVE?
- Whichever network your wallet or exchange is expecting — AAVE exists as separate contracts on Ethereum and several other networks. Match the network label on both sides of the transfer, and keep some of that network's gas token in the wallet so you can move the funds afterwards.
Sources and dates (4)
- ETHLend's whitepaper frames pseudonymous default risk as the core problem for on-chain lending. ETHLend whitepaper · 2018-02-25 · checked 2026-09-21
- ETHLend announced Aave as a new parent company in September 2018. PR Newswire · 2018-09-18 · checked 2026-09-21
- AIP-1 migrated LEND to AAVE at 100:1 and activated the Safety Module. Aave Improvement Proposal 1 · 2020-09-21 · checked 2026-09-21
- Governance V2 separated voting power from proposition power and opened proposals beyond the genesis team. Aave governance forum · 2020-12-09 · checked 2026-09-21