Aave’s decentralized stablecoin $GHO reached a market capitalization of over $500 million, reaching a new milestone in adoption. According to data from CoinGecko, circulating supply has remained above half a billion in early February and has grown by more than 245% since the start of 2025.
$GHOmarket capitalization since 2025. Source: CoinGecko
This is evident from data from analysis company Token Terminal $GHOThe company’s number of holders also grew over the past year and is now close to 23,000, an increase of approximately 300% since January 2025.
The number $GHO holders. Source: Token terminal
The increase in stablecoin supply also reflects Aave’s drive to expand $GHO‘s use. The Savings protocol was rolled out in July $GHO (sGHO), a revenue-bearing version of $GHO which allows users to deposit the stablecoin into a vault to earn interest on their stablecoin savings.
Later, sGHO was integrated into Arbitrum, Base and Gnosis, with various liquidity programs and incentive schemes on partner platforms such as Bybit and Bitget.
Stablecoins and delivery APY on Aave. Source: Ave
Moreover, Aave stimulates $GHO directly by offering a relatively higher return on sGHO than for most other stablecoins on its platform.
$GHO holders can currently earn 5.52% APY on their deposits, while, for comparison, Circle’s lending APY $USDC is 3.7%, and for Tether’s $USDT amounts to 2.65%. To expand $USDC or $USDT via Aave offers higher returns, but the betting interest for $GHO is slightly higher.
Other DeFi Stablecoins
Aave is the largest protocol in DeFi by total value locked (TVL), currently with over $30 billion on the protocol across 18 chains.
$GHOIts 2025 growth puts it ahead of other DeFi protocol-linked stablecoins like Curve’s crvUSD and Hyperliquid’s $USDH. Curve launched its own stablecoin in 2023 and its current supply is approximately $307.5 million.
Hyperfluid $USDH was launched in late September, after a heated competition to become the developer and issuer of the native stablecoin for the largest perpetuals DEX by volume. $USDHThe company’s offering has remained around $20-25 million since then.
Aave’s native token, AAVE, is up 2.4% today, but is down more than 50% from the year before.