Provider at a glance
- Category
- Stablecoins
- Entity
- All 5 Aave products
- Official website
- aave.com
Independent rankingchecked How it works
Details
Scored 56 out of 100 under methodology 2026.10.18, from the evidence read in September 2026.
GHO (Aave)
Aave protocol dollar token
Stablecoins
#8 Overall
Ranked #8 of 11 stablecoins in the published ranking
56
ChainChoice Score
The ChainChoice Score, shown against 100: published scores run from 41 to 99.- High evidence confidence
Is GHO (Aave) right for you?
Right for you if these matter most
- Freeze and burn powers6/10; the category best is 7
Look elsewhere if these come first
- Who owes you the dollar1/10 here; USDT (Tether) scores 2
- Redemption at par3/10 here; the category best is 8
- Reserves and assurance2/10 here; frxUSD (Frax USD) scores 3
Not yet tested for your country. Markets it lists: Global.
to test where you can use it.
The rank above is the published one, the same for every reader. Find my best stablecoin shows where it lands for you.
What will GHO (Aave) cost you?
Not priced on this basis
- Your monthly volume
- $1k
How safe is GHO (Aave)?
- Evidence: verified4 of 4 criteria rest on quoted, sourced receipts. Read September 2026.
- LicenceMiCA (EU): no register record on file here.
Alternatives to GHO (Aave)
Compare all 4- 6USDT (Tether)1 point above · stronger on who owes you the dollar (2 against 1)57
- 7frxUSD (Frax USD)Level on score · stronger on who owes you the dollar (2 against 1)56
- 9USDe1 point below · stronger on reserves and assurance (3 against 2)55
For your setup
Find out if GHO (Aave) fits you
The rank above is the published one — the same for every visitor. Answer the category's questions and this section shows where GHO (Aave) lands for you, which criteria your answers weight up, and which stated needs the record does or does not meet. The published rank stays beside it.
- A few questions
- No account required
- Ranking-blind: no commercial input
- Personalised in under 60 seconds
Find my best stablecoinNothing is inferred from clicks, popularity or commercial value.
Why this rank
Why GHO (Aave) ranks #8
Each strength is read from evidence on a 0–10 ladder and weighted as the published methodology states. The 32 objective points these produce (8.6 here) sit inside the score; availability, friction, trust record and measured data add the rest.
4 published criteria · Σ weight 100
CriterionWeightStrength · 0–10ScoreContrib.MedianBestRankEvidence
301+0.962.07#8/11Loading evidence…
283+2.693.08#6/11Loading evidence…
242+1.543.08#7/11Loading evidence…
186+3.465.07#2/11Loading evidence…
Hairline = best in this ranking · tick = its median · a missing bar is "not scored", never zero
MarginLevelbehind frxUSD (Frax USD), #7
RobustnessOne point from changingacross a one-point change to each of its 4 criterion scores, the re-run scores 54–58 and ranks #6–#10
Evidence4 of 4 scored4 quoted, 4 with a source link
What would move the rank
Each line is the ranking run again with one of GHO (Aave)’s criterion scores changed and every other value held: the smallest whole-point change on that criterion that moves its rank, and where the re-run puts it. Up to 4 climbs and 3 falls are listed, smallest change first. Nothing here is a forecast.
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? 1 → 2 on its ladder · passes frxUSD (Frax USD)+158#8 → #6
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? 3 → 4 on its ladder · passes frxUSD (Frax USD)+158#8 → #6
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? 2 → 3 on its ladder · passes frxUSD (Frax USD)+158#8 → #6
Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? 6 → 7 on its ladder · passes frxUSD (Frax USD)+157#8 → #6
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? 1 → 0 on its ladder · USDe passes it−154#8 → #10
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? 3 → 2 on its ladder · USDe passes it−154#8 → #10
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? 2 → 1 on its ladder · USDe passes it−155#8 → #10
Smallest climb: “Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?” 1 → 2 passes frxUSD (Frax USD), #7.
Strengths
1 from the score dataWhere it leads
Best for readers who weight
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? — 6/10, category best 7/10
Tradeoffs
3 from the score dataWhere it trails
Not for readers who put first
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? — 1/10 against a category best of 7/10
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? — 3/10 against a category best of 8/10
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? — 2/10 against a category best of 8/10
Record watch-outs
- Nobody owes you anything, and the page that says otherwise is not a contract. aave.com/gho sells GHO as "Every GHO is backed by more than $1 of crypto held inside Aave." and "Swap USDC, USDT for GHO at 1:1 — free to redeem." — but the only binding documents Aave publishes, its Terms of Service (Updated 07 September 2026) and Aave App Terms of Service (Updated 14 August 2026), never use the words 'redeem' or 'redemption', never mention GHO outside the footer menu, name two different counterparties ('Aave Labs' and 'Aave Interfaces Ltd'), and state "We do not act as your broker, exchange, lender, borrower, counterparty, agent, adviser, trustee or fiduciary in connection with your use of the Protocol." and "We do not take possession, custody or control of your digital assets or funds." What you get instead is better than nothing and worse than a right: a permissionless protocol swap facility that any wallet can use today with no account, no KYC and no minimum — but it charges 0.10% to leave through the USDT leg and 0.15% through the USDC leg while entry is free, it pays you a wrapped Aave deposit receipt rather than dollars, on 2026-09-29 it covered 19.01m GHO against a 699,000,000 supply (2.72%), with the USDC leg down to 0.029227 units, and a single governance transaction can switch it off. That is exactly what happened to its predecessor on 2025-03-17, when $24.0m of exit inventory was swept to the treasury in one transaction and both swap contracts were disabled for good, with no un-seize function in the code.
Competitive position
Where GHO (Aave) leads and where it trails
Rank on every objective dimension among the rows scored on it. A criterion in the top third of its pool is listed as a lead, the bottom third as a trail; the middle is neither. Popularity, size and commercial terms are not dimensions.
Availability#1 / 1114.0 of 20 · constant here
Published criteria#7 / 116.5 of 30 · best 15.3
Friction#1 / 112.7 of 10 · constant here
Trust record#1 / 113.2 of 8 · constant here
Measured data#1 / 118.3 of 18 · constant here
Where GHO (Aave) leads
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?#2 / 11
Where it trails
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?#8 / 11
Closest alternatives
The 3 nearest rows by score
Nearest by published score in either direction. Each card states the criteria on which the two rows differ and the cost difference under the same scenario inputs; the compare arithmetic below shows why the higher one ranks higher.
frxUSD (Frax USD)#7 of 11 · score 56 · same score
GHO (Aave) leads on
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?6 vs 3
frxUSD (Frax USD) leads on
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?2 vs 1
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?3 vs 2
Scenario cost: frxUSD (Frax USD) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
USDe#9 of 11 · score 55 · 1.0 point behind
GHO (Aave) leads on
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?3 vs 1
USDe leads on
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?3 vs 2
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?7 vs 6
Largest single reason GHO (Aave) is ahead: published criteria (+1.0 display points).Scenario cost: USDe has no verified pricing for this scenario.
USDT (Tether)#6 of 11 · score 57 · 1.0 point ahead
GHO (Aave) leads on
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?6 vs 5
USDT (Tether) leads on
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?2 vs 1
Largest single reason USDT (Tether) is ahead: published criteria (+0.8 display points).Scenario cost: USDT (Tether) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Against the leader
79 vs 56 · gap 23.0Why PayPal USD (PYUSD) ranks above GHO (Aave)
The compare workspace's arithmetic applied to these two rows. Each dimension's share of the gap is its weight × the difference, on the displayed scale; a row-above bound on one of the rows keeps the reproduced gap (22.9) from matching the displayed one exactly, which is stated rather than hidden.
DimensionThisPayPal USD (PYUSD)Gap share
Availability · 23% weight · constant here14.014.0same
Published criteria · 35% weight6.515.3−22.9, worse
Friction · 12% weight · constant here2.72.7same
Trust record · 9% weight · constant here3.23.2same
Measured data · 21% weight · constant here8.38.3same
Published criterionThisPayPal USD (PYUSD)Points
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? · w3017−5.76, worse
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · w2838−4.48, worse
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · w2424−1.54, worse
Net5679−23.0≈
Your scenario
GHO (Aave) is not priced for this scenario
Conversion spread on your volume for a year. Excludes network gas and any withdrawal fee. Change an input and every figure recomputes from the published rate; the published rank does not move.
your cost/yr · default scenario — set your own
Your monthly volume · your input$1k
Rate read from the provider’s published pricing ↗ on 29 September 2026.
your cost/yrCost is stated as your cost/yr in USD; it is never a yield, never annualised, and it does not enter the score.
Not priced on this basis
Under the default inputs · USDCategory median and cheapestNot statedOnly 2 of 11 rows publish a comparable price; a median and a cheapest row need at least 3.
8 of 11 rows in this ranking have no verified rate for this scenario and are absent from the median, not counted as free.
1 of 11 quote a zero fee that leaves costs out, so they are absent from the median and the cheapest row, not counted as free.
Evidence
Evidence read 29 September 2026
One row per published criterion: the page each strength was read from, its source type by domain, the reading date and whether the file and the published table agree. Open a row for the quote and the receipt.
4 of 4 cells scored
Score evidenceVerified4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from receipts
4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from a quoted, sourced receipt equal to the published strength.Public receiptsReading…4 quoted with a source URL
The receipt file has not been read yet.Evidence confidenceHighcoverage and corroboration, never freshness
4/4 criteria scored, with 4 dated sources quoted.RobustnessOne point from changingrank #6 to #10 across one-point re-runs
Whether the position holds when one criterion score is changed by one point and the ranking is run again. It is always a re-run of the ranking, never an estimate.The newest evidence read on the platform is 3 November 2026; this category's reading is older. The scores stand as read on 29 September 2026.
Reading the evidence ledger…
CriterionSourceTypeReadFreshnessStatusReceipt
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?strength 1 · weight 30Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?strength 3 · weight 28Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?strength 2 · weight 24Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?strength 6 · weight 18Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
- Control failure (GHO (Aave) 6/10): a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.Scored by Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · 18%
- Insolvency failure: the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.Scored by Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? · 30% (GHO (Aave) 1/10)Scored by What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · 24% (GHO (Aave) 2/10)
- Exit failure (GHO (Aave) 3/10): you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.Scored by Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · 28%
Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Custody failure, Regulatory failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Facts
facts, not scoresWhat the record publishes
- Pricing
- PUBLISHED (marketing, https://
aave .com /gho, fetched 29 September 2026): "Swap USDC, USDT for GHO at 1:1 — free to redeem." The same page's numeric counters (Max swap fee, Total Backing, Total Reserves, current borrow and savings rates) are still rendered client-side and serve placeholders to a non-browser fetch, so no fee or rate figure is readable from the page as published; the quoted sentence is the only static fee statement on it. NO BINDING DOCUMENT PRICES ANYTHING: the Aave Terms of Service (https:// aave .com /terms-of-service, rewritten, "Updated 07 September 2026") and the Aave App Terms of Service (https:// aave .com /legal /app /terms-of-service, "Updated 14 August 2026"), both fetched 29 September 2026, contain no mint fee, no redemption fee and no minimum, and mention GHO only in the footer menu. ACTUAL LIVE PRICING, read on-chain 29 September 2026 at Ethereum block 26,082,183 via https:// ethereum-rpc .publicnode .com: GSM_USDT 0x882285E62656b9623AF136Ce3078c6BdCc33F5E3 returns getFeeStrategy() = 0x06fbDE909B43f01202E3C6207De1D27cC208AcC1, whose getSellFee(1e18) = 0 and getBuyFee(1e18) = 1e15, i.e. 0.00% to convert USDT into GHO and 0.10% to convert GHO back out; GSM_USDC 0x3A3868898305f04beC7FEa77BecFf04C13444112 now returns a DIFFERENT strategy, 0xfDB0090A92d20EE39d82ac680477b1F58f0A23dE, whose getSellFee(1e18) = 0 and getBuyFee(1e18) = 1.5e15, i.e. 0.15% to leave via USDC (on 19 August 2026 both GSMs used the 0.10% strategy). WORKED EXAMPLE (label: on-chain read, not a page price): GSM_USDT getGhoAmountForBuyAsset(1000000000) returns 1,000.000000 waEthUSDT for 1,178.220242 GHO, of which gross 1,177.043199 GHO and fee 1.177043 GHO. CAPACITY: GSM_USDT getAvailableLiquidity() = 16,136,899.348701 waEthUSDT (worth 19,012,821.45 GHO by getGhoAmountForBuyAsset) and GSM_USDC 0.029227 waEthUSDC, so the par exit covers 2.72% of the 699,000,000 GHO supply (7.60% on 19 August 2026); the exit pays a wrapped Aave deposit receipt (waEthUSDT / waEthUSDC), not dollars. There is NO minimum and NO account requirement: buyAsset and sellAsset carry only the notFrozen and notSeized modifiers, and getIsFrozen() and getIsSeized() both return false on both GSMs. BORROWING: Aave v3 Pool 0x87870Bca3F3fD6335C3F4ce8392D69350B4fA4E2 getReserveData(GHO) at the same block returns currentVariableBorrowRate = 4.25% (3.75% on 19 August 2026). CAUTION FOR THE NEXT READER: neither live fee-strategy address appears in Aave's own documentation, https:// aave .com /docs /ecosystem /gho .md (fetched 29 September 2026), whose address table still lists GSMUSDCFixedFeeStrategy 0xE5025A7c15a44283A0616567181587eE6A646D64 and GSMUSDTFixedFeeStrategy 0xA4346AEa575fCf5777D32F419E5850E5c68B2329; all fees above were read from the live contracts.GHO (Aave) — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026 - Prices published in
- USDGHO (Aave) — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026
- Licences held
- Not published
- Compliance level
- partial
- Regulatory note
- BAND 0-2 CONFIRMED — the terms disclaim protection rather than grant it, and no legal entity anywhere owes a GHO holder a dollar. ALL FOUR QUOTES RE-LOADED AND CHARACTER-EXACT, https://
aave .com /terms-of-service (HTTP 200, 117,819 bytes, header 'Updated 6 January 2026', read 19 August 2026). The counterparty is named without a legal-entity form: "The Services are brought to you by the Aave Labs ("we," - Supported chains
- Ethereum
- Markets served
- global
- Primary markets
- Not published
- Restricted markets
- Not published
- Operating limits
- Not published
- Availability note
- Not published
Legal entity on file: Aave, placed in 5 products. Only confirmed entities are shown; nothing is inferred from the brand name.
If something goes wrong with GHO (Aave): where to complain, and where to report a scam
Loading the routes for your country.
How this page is reviewed
Reviewed means this product in this category was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.
How we review · Review calendar · Corrections log · How we make money
History
What the record carries
Changes to published ranks are recorded in a ledger; every step and its cause is listed on the rank-history page. The entries below begin with the current verified snapshot, then the methodology versions whose changes applied to this category, newest first.
10 methodology entries
- 29 September 2026Current verified snapshot · methodology 2026.10.18Score 56, #8 of 11. 4 of 4 criteria scored. History starts here; earlier values are not interpolated.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.8When nothing serves your country, the list shown for reference is the published ranking · platform-wide- fixed The reference list shown when nothing serves your country is the published order with the published scores, and a build check now fails any such list out of that order or with a score the ranking does not publish.
- fixed The explorer prints an overall rank only for a row the published ranking holds; a country entrant such as Coinbase Commerce for US merchants shows no overall rank.
- changed Published orders do not move. Country results change only where nothing serves the country: in India bill pay keeps Bitcoin Well first and now shows Strike second, as published; 35 such runs across all categories and countries now match the published list exactly.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.6A criterion you require re-scores the rows that meet it · platform-wide- changed The explorer sends each criterion you require, at any band, as fit_required with your other answers; region, licence, chain and fact filters stay filters. On /best, a required criterion joins For you as a marked preference does, which needs your country; Overall stays the published ranking, filtered.
- added Every published criterion has a golden case as the explorer sends it (require:<criterion>), so the order a requirement gives is replayed and gated as the published order is, and a change to it needs an entry here.
- 1 October 2026
2026.10.0Layer-2 chains are ranked on whether you can leave with your funds- added Four l2_chains criteria with published band ladders: proof system (18), withdrawals if the operator stops (18), rollup stage (14) and exit window before an upgrade (6). EVM equivalence moves 40 to 17, Ethereum data availability 25 to 15 and maturity 35 to 12. Every chain's emergency exit window reads None, so the exit-window ladder also reads L2BEAT's regular, non-emergency upgrade path (Arbitrum One 10 days, Starknet and Arbitrum Nova 7, zkSync Era 4 days 3 hours); data availability separates full transaction data (10) from state diffs only (9, L2BEAT: Onchain (SD)). A stage L2BEAT marks Under review keeps its last score for at most one 45-day cycle and is never interpolated.
- changed l2_chains ranks through scoreCriterionObjective on fitStrength, like the other criterion-ranked categories; the hand-written structural scorer is deleted. All 105 criterion scores across 15 rows carry a quote and source in research-pending/rereads/2026-10-01-l2_chains.json; 131 of 135 quotes re-fetched verbatim on the read date, and the four behind a bot wall or a JavaScript shell were read by the adversarial model run.
- fixed Four facts corrected on the read: Scroll, Mantle and Blast are EVM-compatible, not equivalent (their own documentation, and for Blast live RPC probes); Starknet's public mainnet opened to users in 2022, not 2021. Arbitrum Nova's data has gone to Ethereum as blobs since 31 August 2026, and the row now leads with the Arbitrum DAO's decision to minimise it.
- fixed The old scorer credited Ethereum data availability whenever the data-availability text contained the word "ethereum", so Arbitrum Nova's committee ("…Ethereum L1 rollup fallback") and Polygon zkEVM's off-chain data ("…Ethereum L1 before the sunset") both scored full marks. Data availability is now a quoted L2BEAT reading.
Methodology 2026.10.18, the same published run every visitor sees · receipt stablecoins:gho-aave:2026.10.18:1e2308e3f28a
Are you GHO (Aave)? Reply to this verdict, or send evidence, ask for a correction or claim the listing. Every message gets a public ticket number; none of it changes a rank unless a public page or a signed statement supports it.