Aave Plan Would Require Approval to Swap GHO Back for waUSAT

A proposed Aave gateway on Avalanche would let approved counterparties exchange USAT deposit receipts for transferable GHO, while continued approval and shared liquidity would govern whether they can swap GHO back for waUSAT.

A counterparty would deposit Tether America USD (USAT) into Aave V4 and receive waUSAT, a receipt representing the deposit. The gateway would exchange waUSAT for GHO, which could then be transferred. Before a reverse swap, the gateway would check the counterparty’s approval again. If approval were withdrawn, that counterparty could no longer use the gateway to exchange GHO for waUSAT.

The module would draw from shared liquidity and would not track each participant’s original deposit. A reverse swap would depend on both approval and available liquidity, so it would not guarantee a return of that participant’s particular receipts. Obtaining the underlying USAT from waUSAT would be a separate step dependent on the integration and available liquidity.

The proposed initial funding is 65 million GHO. The module’s draw from that reserve would be capped at 25 million GHO, while incoming assets would be limited to 20 million waUSAT. These are proposed settings, not amounts already deployed. Initial swap fees are zero in both directions, though stewards could adjust them within the proposal’s limits; the pricing strategy has not been set.

Issuer redemption is a separate process from the Aave swaps. Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. redeems USAT only for clients with an account relationship in good standing under a written agreement. Its fee schedule, effective Oct. 9, 2026, sets a 0.1% redemption fee.

Aave V4 launched on Avalanche on July 15, 2026. A separate Aave Labs proposal posted Monday, Oct. 19, identifies an Avalanche USAT address for possible onboarding. The bank’s supported USAT contract list includes Ethereum and Celo, with no Avalanche entry; the onboarding proposal alone does not establish a direct issuer-redemption route for that Avalanche token.

The gateway proposal calls for a Snapshot vote, followed by an implementation proposal if approved. The commercial counterparty and some contract addresses remain to be finalized.