# AAVE Token

The AAVE token is the native governance token of the Aave Protocol. It empowers holders to participate in decision-making through protocol governance. AAVE is an ERC-20 token deployed on the Ethereum blockchain and is widely accessible across various centralized and decentralized exchanges.

## Governance

AAVE token holders have the ability to influence the future of the Aave Protocol through governance. Both AAVE and safety module staked AAVE (stkAAVE) holders can vote on proposals or delegate their voting power to others. By participating in governance votes, holders contribute to decisions on protocol deployments, parameter adjustments, features, and more.

## AAVE Buyback Program

The Aave DAO operates a buyback program that uses protocol revenue to acquire AAVE tokens on the open market. The program was approved by governance in August 2024 as part of the Aavenomics update and began execution in April 2025.

The program has a $50 million annual budget. Weekly purchases range from $250,000 to $1.75 million, with volume adjusted based on market conditions, liquidity, and price volatility. The _Aave Finance Committee (AFC)_ executes the buybacks, as set out in the [Aavenomics implementation ARFC](https://governance.aave.com/t/arfc-aavenomics-implementation-part-one/21248).

The AFC is a four-member multisig composed of Chaos Labs, TokenLogic, LlamaRisk, and ACI, operating with a 3-of-4 signature threshold.

Acquired tokens are sent to the Aave DAO [Ecosystem Reserve](https://github.com/aave/aavenomics), a treasury of AAVE tokens used for staking rewards, grants, and service provider payments. The tokens are used through governance-approved programs rather than burned.

The DAO can adjust the annual budget through governance votes. Buybacks can be tracked on the [TokenLogic dashboard](https://aave.tokenlogic.xyz/buybacks).

## Staking and Supplying

AAVE can be supplied to Aave markets as collateral to borrow other assets, or to external pools such as decentralized exchanges to earn yield.

Holders can stake AAVE in the Aave Safety Module, which provides a backstop in case of insolvency, and earn rewards in return.

## Cross-Chain

AAVE is bridged to several networks through canonical network messaging bridges. Bridging to and from Ethereum depends on each bridge being available.

AAVE is deployed on:

- [Ethereum Mainnet](https://etherscan.io/address/0x7Fc66500c84A76Ad7e9c93437bFc5Ac33E2DDaE9)
- [Arbitrum](https://arbiscan.io/address/0xba5DdD1f9d7F570dc94a51479a000E3BCE967196)
- [Base](https://basescan.org/address/0x63706e401c06ac8513145b7687a14804d17f814b)
- [Optimism](https://optimistic.etherscan.io/address/0x76FB31fb4af56892A25e32cFC43De717950c9278)
- [Polygon](https://polygonscan.com/address/0xD6DF932A45C0f255f85145f286eA0b292B21C90B)