Aave DAO signals unanimous support for deploying on ZKsync in community vote

The community of lending protocol Aave has voted unanimously on an early proposal to deploy the lending protocol on the Ethereum Layer 2 network ZKsync, in collaboration with service providers BGDLabs and Catapulta. 

The AFRC proposal, or Aave Formal Request for Comments, was authored by Aave Chan Initiative and passed with 662,000 'yes' votes, signaling strong support from the community. The proposal will now move to an AIP on-chain vote for final approval. 

"By integrating with zkSync, Aave can offer users faster and cheaper transactions while maintaining the security and decentralization of the Ethereum mainnet," the proposal reads. Benefits of deploying Aave to ZKsync include lower transaction fees, an increased market for Aave's GHO stablecoin, and increased scalability and interoperability with other networks, according to the proposal. 

Aave received an allocation of 8.3 million ZKsync's native ZK tokens following the protocol's recent airdrop, ZKsync's records show, the highest of any "native project," despite the fact that it has yet to deploy on the chain. When an X user questioned the large allocation, Aave Chan Initiative founder Marc Zeller responded that the large allocation is "Because we’ll be #1 on zksync."

The 8.3 million ZK tokens Aave received are worth about $1.4 million at current prices; ZKsync's token is down about 5% over the past 24 hours according to The Block's ZK Price Page. "Governance is currently discussing redistributing 100% of the airdrop to Aave users," Zeller recently announced on X.

Not every proposal to expand Aave to new networks receives support; a recent AFRC vote to deploy Aave on Ethereum Layer 2 network Mode failed with 90% voting against.