Morning Update — 9 February 2026 (Mon)

Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, has unveiled new goals for the Ethereum blockchain today at the Japan Developer Conference. The plan lays out short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals touching on L2 interoperability and faster responsiveness among others. In terms of technology, he said again that he is sure that Layer 2 options are the best way […]

White House stablecoin meeting could unfreeze the CLARITY Act, but your USDC rewards may be the price The newly confirmed Feb. 10 White House meeting on stablecoin

The post Aave DAO to Shut Down 50% of L2s While Doubling Down on GHO appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Aave DAO is gearing up for a significant overhaul by shutting down over 50% of underperforming L2 instances. It is also restructuring its governance framework and deploying over $100 million to boost GHO. This could be a pivotal moment that propels Aave back to the forefront of on-chain lending or sparks unprecedented controversy within the DeFi community. Sponsored Sponsored ACI Proposes Shutting Down 50% of L2s The “State of the Union” report by the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) paints a candid picture. After a turbulent period in the DeFi market and internal challenges, Aave (AAVE) now leads in key metrics: TVL, revenue, market share, and borrowing volume. Aave’s annual revenue of $130 million surpasses the combined cash reserves of its competitors. Tokenomics improvements and the AAVE token buyback program have also contributed to the ecosystem’s growth. Aave global metrics. Source: Aave However, the ACI’s report also highlights several pain points. First, regarding the Layer-2 (L2) strategy. While Aave’s L2 strategy was once a key driver of success, it is no longer fit for purpose. Over half of Aave’s instances on L2s and alt-L1s are not economically viable. Based on year-to-date data, over 86.6% of Aave’s revenue comes from the mainnet, indicating that everything else is a side quest. On this basis, ACI proposes closing underperforming networks. The DAO should invest in key networks with significant differentiators. Second, ACI is pushing for a complete overhaul of the “friendly fork” framework, as most have been unimpressive regarding TVL and revenue. In some cases, attackers have exploited them to Aave’s detriment, as seen with Spark. Sponsored Sponsored “The friendly fork model had a good intention but bad execution where the DAO was too friendly towards these forks, allowing the DAO only little upside,” the report states. Third, the instance model, once a smart…