Skip to main content

Head-to-head · Stablecoins

USDT (Tether) vs GHO (Aave) USDT (Tether) leads by 1 point.

USDT (Tether) scores 1 point above GHO (Aave), led by counterparty and insolvency rank. USDT (Tether) ranks #6 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.

USDT (Tether)57
GHO (Aave)56
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #6 and #8 of 11
Methodology v2026.10.18Ranking snapshot Evidence verified through 4 published criteria5 score dimensions Receipt #cc-VS-USDT-TETHER-VS-GHO-AAVE-25f5447b
Published verdictRanking snapshot 3 November 2026

USDT (Tether) leads by 1 point

USDT (Tether) scores 1 point above GHO (Aave), led by counterparty and insolvency rank.

USDT (Tether) #6 of 1157
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 termUSDT (Tether) leads on 1 of 4 published criteria; GHO (Aave) on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermUSDT (Tether)GHO (Aave)WeightPoints
Counterparty and insolvency rank2/101/107.2+1.9for USDT (Tether)+1.0 of 32
Seizure and upgrade authority5/106/104.3−1.1for GHO (Aave)−0.6 of 32
Net of the terms+0.7
Reproduced gap+0.8
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below5756+1.0

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.
FactUSDT (Tether)GHO (Aave)
PricingSnapshothttps://tether.to/en/fees (HTTP 200 after redirect to /en/fees/, fetched 29 September 2026) publishes exactly four rows: “Minimum Tether Token acquisition or redemption amount” — “100,000 USD”; “Fee per redemption” — “The greater of $1,000 or 0.1%”; “Fee per acquisition” — “0.1%”; “Verification fee” — “150 USD in Tether Tokens”. On the verification fee, quoted continuously: “This amount is non-refundable but can be part of your redemption. The verification fee is intended to ensure that only those who are serious about establishing an account apply. The fee also helps offset a portion of the incurred costs from the execution of a robust verification process. Tether maintains the sole discretion to approve or not approve accounts. By submitting a verification request you agree that the 150 USD₮ deposit is non-refundable.” Also: “Tether does not offer wallet functionality for any digital tokens. Withdrawal requests for digital tokens held by Tether are evaluated per request and can take several days to process.” WORKED EXAMPLE (label: derived arithmetic, not a quote): the redemption floor equals 10 basis points only at one million US dollars, so at the published minimum of one hundred thousand it is 1.0 per cent; a minimum-size round trip costs 100 + 1,000 + 150 = 1,250 US dollars on 100,000, i.e. 1.25 per cent. The 30 June 2026 Reserves Report (BDO Advisory Services S.r.l., signed “Milan, 31 July 2026”, still the newest on 29 September 2026) books the fee into the liability: “As per its definition, contractual redemption value of the token takes into consideration the redemption fee of 10 basis points.”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?

USDT (Tether)

57#6 of 11
Leads
Pick it when
Pick USDT (Tether) if counterparty and insolvency rank matters most — it scores 2/10 to GHO (Aave)'s 1/10 there (weight 30).
Strength
Seizure and upgrade authority — 5/10
Tradeoff
That there is no such thing as "your" dollar at Tether — and, for almost everyone reading this, no such thing as your redemption right either. The buyer's mental model is a segregated dollar held for them, redeemable on demand. The binding terms say the opposite twice over. Balances are "not segregated assets held in your name or for your benefit but reflected only in the books and records of Tether"; the reserve is defined as every asset the company owns rather than a ring-fence carved out for holders; the claim is booked as an IFRS 9 "refund liability", an unsecured payable. And the exit is not a property of the token: "The right to purchase Tether Tokens or have Tether Tokens redeemed is a contractual right personal to you" — unlike USDC's terms, which assign the right onward to "any subsequent Holder", Tether's right belongs to the verified customer who contracted for it and does not travel with the coin you bought on an exchange. Four things compound it. (1) Even for that customer the exit is gated: 100,000 USD minimum to redeem and a fee of "The greater of $1,000 or 0.1%", which is 1.0% at that minimum, not the advertised 0.1%. (2) A quarter of the reserve — US$47.1bn of gold, bitcoin, equities, corporate bonds, an unnamed US$13.45bn secured-loan book and a US$5.24bn "Other Investments" bucket defined only as whatever fits no other row — sits behind an equity buffer of US$4.11bn that just shrank 35% on a US$3.17bn half-year loss, with no custodian named anywhere and an unprovisioned New York class action disclosed on the same page. (3) The contract is construed as a British Virgin Islands contract even though the issuer redomiciled to El Salvador, so the register entry and the governing law point at different jurisdictions. (4) If you are a US Person you are contractually prohibited from holding it at all. The deepest market in crypto is not the same thing as a claim you can enforce.

GHO (Aave)

56#8 of 11
Pick it when
Pick GHO (Aave) if seizure and upgrade authority matters most — it scores 6/10 to USDT (Tether)'s 5/10 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?

USDT (Tether)Leads

Choose USDT (Tether) if counterparty and insolvency rank matters most

  • Counterparty and insolvency rank: 2/10 against 1/10 for GHO (Aave) (weight 30)
GHO (Aave)

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

  • Seizure and upgrade authority: 6/10 against 5/10 for USDT (Tether) (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 86USDT (Tether) leads
USDT (Tether)2 out of 10
GHO (Aave)1 out of 10

Redemption right exercised

weight 6.7 of 86Tie
USDT (Tether)3 out of 10
GHO (Aave)3 out of 10

Reserve and assurance scope

weight 5.8 of 86Tie
USDT (Tether)2 out of 10
GHO (Aave)2 out of 10

Seizure and upgrade authority

by 1 of 10weight 4.3 of 86GHO (Aave) leads
USDT (Tether)5 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
USDT (Tether)14/20GHO (Aave)14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
USDT (Tether)6.8/30GHO (Aave)6.5/30
USDT (Tether) leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
USDT (Tether)2.7/10GHO (Aave)2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
USDT (Tether)3.2/8GHO (Aave)3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
USDT (Tether)8.3/18GHO (Aave)8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order

Choose USDT (Tether) 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 USDT (Tether)'s 5/10 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% (USDT (Tether) 5/10, 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% (USDT (Tether) 2/10, GHO (Aave) 1/10)
    Scored by What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · 24% (USDT (Tether) 2/10, 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% (USDT (Tether) 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

USDT (Tether) scores 1 point above GHO (Aave), led by counterparty and insolvency rank. Published scores, out of 100: USDT (Tether) 57 (rank 6 of 11 stablecoins), GHO (Aave) 56 (rank 8 of 11).

Related pages

Go deeper

Trust & process
Individual reviews
Other comparisons
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.

How we review · Review calendar · Corrections log · How we make money

Free advisorNo signup needed

Skip the comparison — get your best match

Answer a few quick questions and get one clear recommendation based on how you actually plan to use crypto — with rationale, tradeoffs, and a path to monitor the decision.

No signupFree first pass · PrivateNo spam · No account

Not financial advice · Independent · Always do your own research

Not financial advice · For informational purposes only · Always do your own research