Crypto Spotlight: AAVE

We’ve recently added AAVE to the Wirex app. We know you must be curious about our latest addition - so here’s a little insight into AAVE and what it’s all about.

What is AAVE?

Who created AAVE?

AAVE was created by Stani Kulechov and launched in 2017. It is based in Switzerland and was founded when Kulechov was a student.

What does it do?

AAVE is best known for being a system of lending pools for crypto assets. For instance, you choose how much you wish to lend, which in turn is collected into a pool. Then, if someone wishes to borrow from your fund, they can draw from those pools to take out a loan. As a lender, you’ll have full control on tokens, as you can trade or transfer them as you wish.

There are two types of tokens you can get from AAVE – aTokens and AAVE tokens. You get aTokens as a lender to gain interest on deposits, but this gets converted to the native AAVE tokens when you withdraw the funds.

What makes it unique?

What makes AAVE particularly stand out is how it allows you to lend and borrow tokens. For example, if you borrow and take out a loan in AAVE tokens, you won’t get charged any fees.

You’ll only face fees if you take out non-AAVE tokens, but these will be discounted if you used AAVE tokens as collateral.

AAVE also offers ‘flash loans, which, as the name suggests, are quick and easy loans that can be issued and settled almost instantly. They also don’t require upfront collateral.