Aave, the dominant decentralized lending protocol with approximately $47 billion in total deposits and a 60% market share in DeFi lending, has officially launched on X Layer, the Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 blockchain developed by cryptocurrency exchange OKX. The announcement was made by both companies on March 30, 2026.
The deployment utilizes Aave v3.6, the protocol's most capital-efficient version. At launch, it supports a range of assets including USDT0, USDG, GHO, xBTC, xETH, xSOL, and various liquid staking derivatives. A key feature is Aave's efficiency mode, which allows users to borrow at loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of up to 88% on certain liquid staking pairs, significantly higher than the standard 70% threshold.
This integration fundamentally simplifies the user journey for OKX's customer base. Previously, an OKX user seeking DeFi lending services would need to withdraw funds, set up a separate wallet, bridge assets to a supported chain, and navigate Aave's interface independently. Now, OKX Wallet users can supply assets, borrow against collateral, and earn yield directly within the X Layer network without any external bridging or interface. Furthermore, tokenized supply positions (aTokens) are tradeable directly on OKX's DEX, eliminating the need to manually unwind positions first.
X Layer, built using Polygon's Chain Development Kit (CDK) and connected to Polygon's AggLayer, launched its public mainnet in April 2024 as OKX's initiative to bring its centralized exchange users onchain. The network underwent a major upgrade in August 2025, boosting throughput to 5,000 transactions per second and burning 65 million OKB tokens to cap its supply at 21 million. OKB serves as the network's native gas token. The ecosystem received a significant institutional endorsement in March 2026 when Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent of the NYSE, made a strategic investment in OKX valuing the company at $25 billion.
The timing of Aave's deployment is seen as strategic, following the recent passage of the Digital Asset Market Structure Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, which provides a clearer regulatory framework for DeFi protocols. Aave Labs founder Stani Kulechov stated the deployment extends Aave's liquidity to "a growing ecosystem of users and applications" and hinted at further integration across OKX's product suite. The integration marks a major milestone for X Layer, which currently holds about $25 million in Total Value Locked (TVL), compared to Aave's $23.5 billion.
