Aave vs ether.fi

Aave V3 is the third iteration of the Aave liquidity market protocol, introducing Portals for cross‑chain liquidity, High‑Efficiency (E‑Mode) lending and Isolation Mode markets to compartmentalise risk. The refactor cuts gas costs by up to 25 % and adds real‑time supply/borrow caps that can be tuned by AAVE token governance. V3 is live on Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Polygon, Metis and Base, collectively holding several billion dollars in deposits secured by the Safety Module.

Ether.fi offers non‑custodial liquid staking where users mint eETH while retaining full control of validator withdrawal credentials via a smart‑contract escrow. Validators are run by a professional operator marketplace, and any user can migrate their keys or exit to the beacon chain 1:1. Launched in March 2023, ether.fi holds over 800 k ETH and shares validator bribe rewards with stakers through the ETHfi governance token.