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Head-to-head · Stablecoins

FDUSD (First Digital USD) vs GHO (Aave) FDUSD (First Digital USD) leads by 6 points.

FDUSD (First Digital USD) scores 6 points above GHO (Aave), led by counterparty and insolvency rank and reserve and assurance scope. FDUSD (First Digital USD) ranks #4 and GHO (Aave) #8 of 11 published stablecoins. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.

FDUSD (First Digital USD)62
GHO (Aave)56
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #4 and #8 of 11
Methodology v2026.10.18Ranking snapshot Evidence verified through 4 published criteria5 score dimensions Receipt #cc-VS-FDUSD-FIRST-DIGITAL-USD-VS-GHO-AAVE-9453ec7d
Published verdictRanking snapshot 3 November 2026

FDUSD (First Digital USD) leads by 6 points

FDUSD (First Digital USD) scores 6 points above GHO (Aave), led by counterparty and insolvency rank and reserve and assurance scope.

FDUSD (First Digital USD) #4 of 1162
GHO (Aave) #8 of 1156
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termFDUSD (First Digital USD) leads on 2 of 4 published criteria; GHO (Aave) on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermFDUSD (First Digital USD)GHO (Aave)WeightPoints
Counterparty and insolvency rank2/101/107.2+1.9for FDUSD (First Digital USD)+1.0 of 32
Reserve and assurance scope6/102/105.8+6.0for FDUSD (First Digital USD)+3.1 of 32
Seizure and upgrade authority4/106/104.3−2.2for GHO (Aave)−1.2 of 32
Net of the terms+5.6
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread−0.2
Reproduced gap+5.5
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below6256+6.0

Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.

  • A row-above bound on one row means the criterion arithmetic does not reproduce the displayed gap exactly.
Quick facts

At a glance

2 of 3 rows read the same for both.
FactFDUSD (First Digital USD)GHO (Aave)
PricingSnapshotNO FEE SCHEDULE IS PUBLISHED ANYWHERE REACHABLE, AND NO MINIMUM IS PUBLISHED AT ALL. Re-verified 29 September 2026. (a) The binding FDD Terms (https://firstdigitallabs.webflow.io/legal/fdd-terms, fetched 29 September 2026) are SILENT on mint and redeem fees and on minimums: the document’s only fee sentence concerns currency conversion — “If you transmit your wire in a currency other than in the currency which the FDD is denominated in, we will deduct an amount of FDD that results following a currency conversion of any fees charged for such currency conversion.” (b) The FD121 Account User Agreement (https://firstdigitallabs.webflow.io/legal/fd121-account-user-agreement, fetched 29 September 2026) defers to a schedule it does not link: “FD121 may charge fees in connection with the Services. You agree to pay the fees shown to you, if any, or as separately agreed between you and FD121 without set off or deduction. Fees are generally disclosed in the fee schedule which we publicize from time to time; we may change any of the fees that FD121 charges at any time, with or without notice.” No such schedule was found at any URL on 29 September 2026. A full-text search of both documents for “minimum” returns only the severability boilerplate “the minimum extent necessary” — there is no minimum ticket published anywhere. (c) The only price claim is on the product marketing page (https://firstdigitallabs.webflow.io/fdusd, fetched 29 September 2026), under the heading “Mint and Redeem at Near-Zero Cost”: “We offer zero fee minting and redemption, as long as you mint more than you redeem.” The condition matters — zero-fee redemption holds only while the client mints more than it redeems, and what is charged otherwise is published nowhere; this marketing claim is in no binding document. (d) Access, quoted from the issuer’s transparency page (fetched 29 September 2026): “Please note that First Digital Labs does not sell tokens directly to retail customers.”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.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotglobalglobal
From the published criteria

Which should you pick?

FDUSD (First Digital USD)

62#4 of 11
Leads
Pick it when
Pick FDUSD (First Digital USD) if counterparty and insolvency rank matters most — it scores 2/10 to GHO (Aave)'s 1/10 there (weight 30).
Strength
Reserve and assurance scope — 6/10
Tradeoff
The marketing says the reserve sits in a “bankruptcy-remote trust structure” and the contract says you own none of it. https://firstdigitallabs.webflow.io/fdusd (read 2026-08-19) states: “FDUSD is fully backed on a one-to-one basis by cash and cash equivalents only, held in a secure, bankruptcy-remote trust structure.” The transparency page adds that reserve assets are “fully segregated from the Trust company’s assets to isolate the Trust company’s bankruptcy” — the CUSTODIAN's bankruptcy, not the issuer's. The FDD Terms (https://firstdigitallabs.webflow.io/legal/fdd-terms, read 2026-08-19) then say of the issuer: “FDD Reserves are owned beneficially by FD121.” and, in the next sentence, “you acknowledge that you are not entitled, whether by way of contract, trust or otherwise, to such assets or any interest or other returns whatsoever earned by FD121 or its custodian on FDD Reserves.” The footer of that same Terms page settles it: “FD121 (BVI) Limited, which is not a trust company, is a financial technology company, not a bank.” A buyer who reads only the product page will believe a trust stands between them and FD121 (BVI) Limited's insolvency. No document says it does, the Terms say the opposite, the issuer's own footer says it is not a trust company, and FD121 (BVI) Limited holds no stablecoin authorisation on any register — the HKMA Register of Licensees under the Stablecoins Ordinance, re-loaded 2026-08-19, names only Anchorpoint Financial Limited (FRS01) and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (FRS02).

GHO (Aave)

56#8 of 11
Pick it when
Pick GHO (Aave) if seizure and upgrade authority matters most — it scores 6/10 to FDUSD (First Digital USD)'s 4/10 there (weight 18).
Strength
Seizure and upgrade authority — 6/10
Tradeoff
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.
Self-identify in 10 seconds

Which one is actually for you?

FDUSD (First Digital USD)Leads

Choose FDUSD (First Digital USD) if counterparty and insolvency rank matters most

  • Counterparty and insolvency rank: 2/10 against 1/10 for GHO (Aave) (weight 30)
  • Reserve and assurance scope: 6/10 against 2/10 for GHO (Aave) (weight 24)
GHO (Aave)

Choose GHO (Aave) if seizure and upgrade authority matters most

  • Seizure and upgrade authority: 6/10 against 4/10 for FDUSD (First Digital USD) (weight 18)
Criterion by criterion

Scorecard

Published criteria · weight in points of 868 of 8 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology

Counterparty and insolvency rank

by 1 of 10weight 7.2 of 86FDUSD (First Digital USD) leads
FDUSD (First Digital USD)2 out of 10
GHO (Aave)1 out of 10

Redemption right exercised

weight 6.7 of 86Tie
FDUSD (First Digital USD)3 out of 10
GHO (Aave)3 out of 10

Reserve and assurance scope

by 4 of 10weight 5.8 of 86FDUSD (First Digital USD) leads
FDUSD (First Digital USD)6 out of 10
GHO (Aave)2 out of 10

Seizure and upgrade authority

by 2 of 10weight 4.3 of 86GHO (Aave) leads
FDUSD (First Digital USD)4 out of 10
GHO (Aave)6 out of 10

Score dimensions

weights sum to 86

The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.

Availabilityweight 20 of 86 · constant here
FDUSD (First Digital USD)14/20GHO (Aave)14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
FDUSD (First Digital USD)8.6/30GHO (Aave)6.5/30
FDUSD (First Digital USD) leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
FDUSD (First Digital USD)2.7/10GHO (Aave)2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
FDUSD (First Digital USD)3.2/8GHO (Aave)3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
FDUSD (First Digital USD)8.3/18GHO (Aave)8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order

Choose FDUSD (First Digital USD) unless the term GHO (Aave) leads on is the one you are buying.

Pick GHO (Aave) if seizure and upgrade authority matters most — it scores 6/10 to FDUSD (First Digital USD)'s 4/10 there (weight 18).

The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .

From the published order

Next best action

If this isn't your case

Other matchups worth comparing

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
  • Control failure: a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.
    Scored by Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · 18% (FDUSD (First Digital USD) 4/10, GHO (Aave) 6/10)
  • 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% (FDUSD (First Digital USD) 2/10, GHO (Aave) 1/10)
    Scored by What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · 24% (FDUSD (First Digital USD) 6/10, GHO (Aave) 2/10)
  • Exit failure: 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% (FDUSD (First Digital USD) 3/10, GHO (Aave) 3/10)
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.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

FDUSD (First Digital USD) scores 6 points above GHO (Aave), led by counterparty and insolvency rank and reserve and assurance scope. Published scores, out of 100: FDUSD (First Digital USD) 62 (rank 4 of 11 stablecoins), GHO (Aave) 56 (rank 8 of 11).

Related pages

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Written and reviewed by Founder
Reviewed Next review by Methodology v2026.10.18
How this page is reviewed

Reviewed means both products compared here 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.

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