Aave, the largest lending platform in DeFi with nearly $12 billion in total value locked (TVL), is now live on ZKsync Era, an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) network powered by zero-knowledge technology. The move introduces Aave V3 on the L2 solution, which boasts over $850 million in TVL, and looks to bring liquidity and yield opportunities to ZKsync’s nascent DeFi ecosystem. Price feeds will be provided via Chainlink, ensuring accurate and consistent data across Aave’s multi-chain deployments. The protocol’s AAVE token is up nearly 50% in the past 30 days even as broader crypto markets have floundered. The launch sets the stage for privacy-focused DeFi, combining ZKsync’s enhanced privacy with Aave’s flexible and competitive money market. By marrying a premier DeFi protocol with a zero-knowledge proof-based network, the deployment is expected to unlock new institutional use cases from “private networks to networks tailored for specific asset classes, risk profiles, and user segments.” Aave Labs founder and CEO Stani Kulechov said, “By combining ZK-proofs and the unified Elastic Chain ecosystem, Aave can unlock unprecedented scalability, privacy, and security, expanding the DeFi user base and new institutional use cases.”. The Aave DAO has approved USDC, USDT, WETH, and wstETH as the first supported assets on ZKsync Era, and the DAO has stated that it is committed to redistributing any airdrops received from the ZKsync ecosystem via liquidity mining to Aave users. “ZKsync is the most advanced and future-proof scaling solution powered by ZK-proof technology, and with the deployment of Aave on Era, a greater audience will be able to leverage ZKsync to its fullest potential,” said Alex Gluchowski, a co-inventor of ZKsync.