Aave Launches on OKX Ethereum Layer-2 X Layer

Aave, a leading DeFi lending protocol with nearly 60% market share in on-chain lending, has officially launched on X Layer—a Layer-2 network that is developed and maintained by the crypto exchange OKX.

Key Takeaways:

Deployment Details: Aave v3.6 has launched on X Layer, supporting eight assets—USDT0, USDG, GHO, xBTC, xETH, xSOL, xBETH, and xOKSOL—with six Efficiency Modes allowing loan-to-value (LTV) ratios up to 88% for selected liquid staking pairs.
Impact on TVL: Before Aave's entry, X Layer had a TVL near $25 million, creating a notably low base for growth and providing OKX’s 50 million users with a direct opportunity to increase this figure.
Competitive Landscape: This initiative aligns with similar DeFi integrations by Coinbase on Base and Binance through PancakeSwap, solidifying OKX’s Layer-2 as a major player in the race for exchange-native DeFi solutions.

OKX Wallet users can access Aave lending markets effortlessly on X Layer, reducing barriers to DeFi participation.

This move allows users of the OKX Wallet to easily access Aave’s lending markets without the complications of bridging or setting up separate wallets. This development addresses the challenges that have long deterred users of centralized exchanges from participating in DeFi.

As of now, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in X Layer was approximately $25 million prior to this integration. The potential for growth is substantial, but it hinges on converting a significant portion of OKX’s existing user base.

Aave currently boasts $23.8 billion in total value locked across all its deployments, according to DeFiLlama. This depth of liquidity enhances the significance of its expansion, as X Layer now connects to infrastructure that has been tested through various market cycles.

What Aave v3.6 Deployment Brings to OKX Layer

The Aave deployment operates on v3.6, which is the protocol’s most capital-efficient version to date. It includes six Efficiency Modes specifically tailored for the asset ecosystem of X Layer, allowing loan-to-value ratios as high as 88% for liquid staking pairs, compared to the typical ~70% limit seen in most platforms.

This difference is significant as it enables users to leverage more borrowing power from their collateral, thereby enhancing capital efficiency throughout the network.

The aTokens created from Aave supplies can now be traded directly on OKX’s decentralized exchange (DEX), eliminating the need for users to unwind their positions manually to access liquidity. This seamless process—from supplying, earning yield, to trading yield-bearing tokens—illustrates the composability that differentiates a true DeFi ecosystem from a simple lending tool added to a blockchain.

Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave Labs, articulated the strategic rationale: “By expanding to X Layer, Aave connects its liquidity to a growing ecosystem of users and applications, facilitating easier earning, borrowing, and application development on the network.”

OKX also supported this integration in its official blog, describing it as “permissionless, non-custodial, and directly accessible from OKX Wallet.”

Furthermore, X Layer received an upgrade in August 2025 to increase its capacity to handle 5,000 transactions per second, along with a token burn of 65 million OKB tokens to limit the total supply to 21 million. These enhancements aim to establish X Layer as OKX’s main settlement layer rather than a secondary project. Aave’s launch benefits from this robust infrastructure that was strategically scaled for high-profile integrations like this one.

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