Aave vs WBTC

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.

Wrapped BTC (WBTC) is a Bitcoin‑backed ERC‑20 minted by BitGo under a multi‑sig controlled by merchants and custodians. Each token is 1:1 redeemable for BTC, with reserves published every 24 hours and verifiable on chain. WBTC accounts for more than 70 % of tokenised bitcoin on Ethereum and serves as core collateral for Aave, Maker and Compound.