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The Complete Guide to GHO Stablecoin

What the GHO stablecoin is, how Aave mints it, what it costs to borrow and what sGHO pays today, and how GHO compares with DAI, USDS, USDe, crvUSD and USDC on supply, backing and savings rate.

Updated Published 16 min read

Updated November 2026 Stablecoins

GHO is Aave's decentralized dollar stablecoin. This guide explains how it is minted, what it cost to borrow and what its savings version paid on November 10, 2026, how it compares with DAI, USDS, USDe, crvUSD and USDC, and where the risks are.

GHO vs USDC

Key takeaways

  • On November 10, 2026, $698 million of GHO was in circulation, up from $438 million a year earlier, per DefiLlama. That is far less than USDS ($5.38 billion) or DAI ($4.68 billion).
  • Its savings version, sGHO, paid 4.50% that day, above the Sky Savings Rate (3.80%) and below Ethena's sUSDe (5.01%). Both GHO rates are set by Aave governance, not by the market.
  • Borrowing GHO on Aave V3 Ethereum Core cost 4.50% APR after the October 2026 steward update. The native stkAAVE discount was removed in Aave v3.4.
  • GHO traded at $0.998 on November 10, 2026 (CoinGecko) and spent most of September 2026 below $0.999. Its USDC stability module was reported depleted in October.

¿Qué es GHO?

GHO is a decentralized, over-collateralized stablecoin soft-pegged to the US dollar. It was created by the Aave Protocol, the largest lending protocol in DeFi with $16.2 billion in total value locked on November 10, 2026 (DefiLlama). According to the Aave governance forum, GHO went live on Ethereum mainnet in July 2023.

Unlike centralized stablecoins such as USDC or USDT, GHO is not backed by cash reserves held by a company. It is minted by facilitators approved by Aave governance. Most GHO is created when users borrow it against crypto collateral deposited in Aave V3 on Ethereum; GHO Stability Modules also mint it in exchange for USDC or USDT. The Aave DAO governs GHO, so no single company controls its issuance.

GHO is an ERC-20 token. All GHO originates on Ethereum mainnet and is moved to other networks through cross-chain infrastructure, per the Aave docs. On November 10, 2026, DefiLlama counted $698 million of GHO on 10 networks: $643 million on Ethereum, $33 million on Arbitrum and $11 million on Plasma. Supply grew by 59% over the previous year. Compare it with other dollar tokens in our stablecoin yield guide.

Sobrecolateralizado

GHO borrowed on Aave is backed by more than $1 of crypto collateral when it is minted, as for any Aave loan.

Gobernado por DAO

The borrow rate, the savings rate, facilitator caps and stability module limits are decided by Aave governance and, within set limits, by its stewards.

Multicolateral

Mint GHO against collateral accepted by Aave V3 on Ethereum, such as ETH or WBTC (see the Aave app for the current list), or swap USDC or USDT for it in a stability module.

Cómo funciona GHO

GHO uses a facilitator model. Facilitators are contracts approved by Aave governance to mint and burn GHO. Each one has a capacity, called a bucket, that caps how much GHO it can create, per the Aave docs.

1

Suministrar colateral

Deposit supported crypto assets into Aave V3 on Ethereum. Your collateral backs your GHO debt, and assets that are lent out on Aave also earn supply interest while they do.

2

Emitir GHO

Borrow GHO against your collateral. Because GHO is created rather than borrowed from suppliers, its rate does not follow pool utilization on Ethereum Core: it is set by governance and the GHO Stewards. It stood at 4.50% APR after the October 2026 update, per the Aave governance forum.

3

Control del Facilitador

Each facilitator has a bucket capacity. The Aave V3 Ethereum market is the main facilitator. The GHO Stability Modules (GSMs) are others: they swap GHO for USDC or USDT at a fixed 1:1 price, up to an exposure cap set by governance, and send any conversion fee to the Aave DAO treasury.

4

Interés & Ingresos

Interest paid on GHO borrowing goes to the Aave DAO, not to suppliers as for other Aave assets. The DAO in turn funds the savings rate paid to sGHO holders. When the borrow rate is below the savings rate, the DAO pays the difference: the October 2026 update noted that borrowers paid 4.25% while sGHO paid 4.50%, and closed that gap.

Características clave de GHO

Qué hace que GHO sea diferente de otras stablecoins en el mercado.

Tasa controlada por la gobernanza

The GHO borrow rate on Ethereum Core is static between updates, not based on utilization, and changeable by governance and stewards, per the Aave v3.4 proposal. Stewards move it in small steps: the October 2026 change was 0.25 percentage points, within the per-update limit of the steward contract.

No Native stkAAVE Discount

GHO used to offer a lower borrow rate to users who staked AAVE (stkAAVE). The Aave v3.4 upgrade removed that native discount; the BGD Labs proposal notes that the same effect can be achieved with rewards, such as an "anti-GHO" token for stkAAVE holders that can repay GHO debt.

Respaldo multicolateral

GHO can be minted against the assets accepted as collateral by Aave V3 on Ethereum, or against USDC and USDT through the stability modules. This spreads the backing across several assets.

Ingresos para DAO

GHO borrow interest goes to the Aave DAO treasury rather than to suppliers, which makes GHO a revenue source for the protocol and funds the sGHO savings rate.

Préstamos flash

GHO can be flash-borrowed within a single transaction for arbitrage, liquidations and peg trades. Aave v3.4 enabled standard GHO flash loans on the Aave pool, which made the separate FlashMinter facilitator largely unnecessary, per the BGD Labs proposal.

Cross-Chain Availability

GHO is available beyond Ethereum: DefiLlama listed it on 10 networks on November 10, 2026, including Arbitrum, Plasma and Monad. Over 90% of the supply was still on Ethereum.

GHO vs otras stablecoins

GHO competes with other crypto-backed dollars: DAI and USDS from Sky (formerly MakerDAO), Ethena's USDe and Curve's crvUSD, and with fiat-backed USDC. The table compares their circulating supply, backing, the savings product each offers and its rate on November 10, 2026, and the number of networks each is on. Supply, prices and networks come from DefiLlama's stablecoin dataset; savings rates come from DefiLlama Yields. All rates are a dated snapshot.

Stablecoin Supply on November 10, 2026 Respaldo Savings product: APY on November 10, 2026 30-day average Savings rate set by Networks / price
GHO (Aave) $698 million Crypto collateral on Aave, plus USDC/USDT in stability modules sGHO: 4.50% 4.50% Aave governance and stewards 10 / $0.9980
USDS (Sky) $5.38 billion Crypto collateral, real-world assets and stablecoins sUSDS: 3.80% 3.80% Sky governance (Sky Savings Rate) 8 / $0.9997
DAI (Sky) $4.68 billion Same system as USDS sDAI: 1.25% 1.25% Sky governance (Dai Savings Rate) 50 / $1.0001
USDe (Ethena) $4.96 billion Crypto hedged with short perpetual futures (synthetic dollar) sUSDe: 5.01% 5.01% Variable: Ethena's funding and staking income 34 / $0.9996
crvUSD (Curve) $205 million Crypto collateral with soft liquidation scrvUSD: 5.41% 3.54% Variable: share of crvUSD borrow interest 12 / $0.9971
USDC (Circle) $70.3 billion Cash and short-term US Treasuries held by Circle No native savings rate; Aave V3 supply: 3.73% 4.21% Market (lending utilization) 161 / $0.9997

What the Comparison Shows

  • GHO is a mid-sized crypto-backed dollar: about 8 times smaller than USDS, but 3.4 times larger than crvUSD.
  • sGHO paid 0.70 points more than the Sky Savings Rate on November 10, 2026. Both are set by governance and change only when a vote or steward update changes them; sUSDe and scrvUSD move with market income.
  • Apart from crvUSD ($0.9971), GHO traded furthest below $1 of the coins in the table that day ($0.9980 on DefiLlama).
  • USDC has no built-in savings rate: holders earn only by lending it out, for example on Aave or through a product such as Coinstancy. See our GHO vs USDC and DAI vs USDC comparisons.

Dónde usar GHO

GHO is integrated across several parts of the DeFi ecosystem, but most of its activity is on Aave itself.

Intercambios descentralizados

Trade GHO on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Liquidity is thin compared with USDC: on November 10, 2026, the largest GHO pool in the DefiLlama Yields dataset was Fluid's GHO-USDC pool ($19 million), followed by a Uniswap V4 GHO-USDC pool ($3 million). Check pool depth before a large swap, or use a stability module.

Protocolos de préstamo

Supply GHO to lending markets to earn interest from borrowers. On November 10, 2026, the Aave V3 Prime instance paid 1.96% on $22 million of GHO and Fluid paid 4.75% on $23 million, per DefiLlama.

Provisión de liquidez

Provide liquidity in GHO pools on Curve, Balancer, Uniswap or Fluid to earn trading fees, plus incentives when governance votes them. The pools are small, so a single large trade or withdrawal can move their yield a lot.

Pagos

Use GHO as a medium of exchange for peer-to-peer payments on supported networks. Fewer wallets, exchanges and merchants support it than USDC or USDT.

Agregadores de Rendimiento

Some aggregators auto-compound GHO pools. For example, Beefy runs a vault on the Curve GHO-crvUSD pool. Aggregators add their own contracts and fees on top of the underlying pool.

DeFi entre cadenas

Move GHO to supported networks such as Arbitrum for lower gas fees. See our guide on how to bridge crypto.

Cómo crear GHO

A step-by-step guide to minting GHO by borrowing on Aave V3. You can also get GHO by swapping USDC or USDT in a stability module, when it has capacity, or by buying it on a DEX.

1

Conecta tu billetera

Go to app.aave.com and connect a Web3 wallet such as MetaMask, Rabby or Coinbase Wallet. Make sure you are on the Ethereum network. Our guide on how to use MetaMask covers the setup.

2

Suministrar colateral

Deposit supported assets into the Aave V3 Ethereum market. Your collateral must exceed the value of GHO you want to mint, based on the asset's loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.

3

Pedir GHO

Open the GHO borrow section and enter the amount you want to mint. Review the current borrow rate (4.50% APR on Core after the October 2026 update) and your health factor, then confirm the transaction.

4

Usa tu GHO

GHO appears in your wallet once the transaction is confirmed. Deposit it in sGHO, use it in DeFi protocols or hold it. Note that if you borrow GHO at 4.50% and deposit it in sGHO at 4.50%, the two cancel out: there is no spread to capture at current rates.

5

Reembolsar & Recuperar Garantía

When ready, repay your GHO debt plus accrued interest on Aave. Once repaid, you can withdraw your collateral. The repaid GHO is burned, reducing the total supply. If your health factor falls below 1 first, your position can be liquidated like any Aave loan, per the Aave docs.

Oportunidades de rendimiento GHO

Where to earn yield on GHO on November 10, 2026, with the APY and 30-day average from DefiLlama Yields. We also list Coinstancy Dollar Savings, which pays on USDC rather than GHO.

How We Compared

Each option is described on the same criteria: rate and how it is set, size, custody and withdrawal terms. Third-party figures come from DefiLlama on November 10, 2026; product facts come from each project's documentation (see Sources). Coinstancy publishes this guide and is listed first because it is our product, not because of an independent ranking.

Option Depósitos APY on November 10, 2026 30-day average Rate source Custody / withdrawal
Coinstancy Dollar Savings, USDC (our product) No aplicable 7.50% 7.50% Fixed rate set by Coinstancy, currently in force, may be revised Custodial (Coinstancy multisig); no lock-up, normally settled within 48 calendar hours; $10 minimum
sGHO (Aave, Ethereum) $221 million 4.50% 4.50% Aave Savings Rate, set by governance Self-custody; instant, no cooldown (Aave docs)
Fluid lending, GHO (Ethereum) $23 million 4.75% 6.69% Utilization, incl. 1.67% rewards Self-custody; subject to free liquidity
Aave V3 Prime, GHO supply (Ethereum) $22 million 1.96% 2.45% Utilization Self-custody; subject to free liquidity
Uniswap V4, GHO-USDC 0.05% (Ethereum) $3 million 4.48% 1.41% Trading fees Self-custody; impermanent loss risk
Curve, GHO-crvUSD (Ethereum) $1 million 3.58% 4.02% Trading fees and CRV Self-custody; impermanent loss risk

Pool yields swing more than savings rates: the Uniswap pool paid 4.48% on November 10, 2026 against a 30-day average of 1.41%. Check the live rate at the source. Our impermanent loss guide explains the risk of liquidity pools.

sGHO

Deposit GHO in sGHO on app.aave.com to earn the Aave Savings Rate. It is the simplest and largest GHO yield option. The rate is set by governance stewards and the DAO funds it, so it can be lowered if GHO demand or DAO revenue changes. A legacy sGHO contract based on Merit rewards still exists; per the Aave docs, holders must withdraw from it and deposit into the new vault to earn the current rate.

Savings Rate

Curve and Other DEX Pools

GHO stableswap pools on Curve, and GHO pools on Balancer, Uniswap and Fluid, pay trading fees and sometimes CRV or other incentives. On November 10, 2026, each held a few million dollars or less, per DefiLlama.

Tarifas de operación

Mercados de préstamo

Supply GHO to lending markets such as Fluid or the Aave V3 Prime instance to earn interest from borrowers. Rates follow utilization and change continuously. Curated lending vaults, such as those on Morpho, work the same way for other stablecoins; check whether a GHO market exists and how large it is before depositing.

Interés de préstamo

Ahorros Coinstancy

If you hold dollars and want a fixed rate rather than GHO exposure, Coinstancy Dollar Savings pays a fixed 7.50% APY on USDC, the rate currently in force, which may be revised. Coinstancy is custodial: your USDC first enters a multisignature wallet operated by Coinstancy, then is deployed into on-chain strategies. Interest accrues every second and is automatically reinvested. There is no lock-up; withdrawal requests are normally settled within 48 calendar hours. Your capital remains at risk.

Fixed Rate on USDC

Riesgos y Consideraciones

Riesgos importantes a comprender antes de usar GHO.

Riesgo de despegue

GHO can trade below $1 if demand weakens or confidence drops. Over-collateralization supports the value of the debt, but it does not force the market price to $1. GHO traded below its peg for several months after launch, and again for most of September 2026, when it stayed under $0.999, per the Aave governance forum. It was at $0.998 on November 10, 2026 (CoinGecko).

Stability Module Reserves

The stability modules help the peg only while they hold reserves. In early October 2026, the USDC module was reported depleted, leaving about 22.5 million USDT in the USDT module. When reserves run out, holders who want to exit at $1 depend on DEX liquidity, which is thin.

Riesgo de contrato inteligente

GHO relies on Aave V3 and its own token, stability module and savings contracts. Aave publishes its audit reports, but no code is immune to vulnerabilities or exploits.

Riesgo de Gobernanza

Aave governance and its stewards control GHO's parameters, including both the borrow rate and the savings rate. A badly set rate or a risky facilitator could weaken GHO stability, and the sGHO rate depends on decisions by the DAO, which funds it.

Aviso legal: Esta guía tiene fines únicamente educativos y no constituye asesoramiento financiero. Las stablecoins y los protocolos DeFi conllevan riesgos inherentes. Realice siempre su propia investigación e invierta únicamente lo que pueda permitirse perder.

Preguntas frecuentes

¿Qué es GHO?
GHO is a decentralized, over-collateralized stablecoin soft-pegged to the US dollar and native to the Aave Protocol. It is minted by facilitators approved by Aave governance: mainly Aave V3 on Ethereum, where users borrow GHO against their collateral, and the GHO Stability Modules, which swap USDC or USDT for GHO. On November 10, 2026, $698 million of GHO was in circulation, per DefiLlama, up from $438 million a year earlier.
¿Cómo se acuña GHO?
There are two routes. You can supply collateral such as ETH or WBTC to Aave V3 on Ethereum and borrow GHO against it; the GHO is created when you borrow and burned when you repay. Or you can swap USDC or USDT for GHO in a GHO Stability Module (GSM), within the limits governance sets for each module. In early October 2026, the Aave governance forum reported that the USDC module's reserves were depleted while the USDT module held about 22.5 million USDT.
What is the GHO borrow rate today?
On Aave V3 Ethereum Core, the GHO borrow rate does not follow utilization: it is set by Aave governance and, within set limits, by the GHO Stewards. A steward update proposed on October 2, 2026 raised it from 4.25% to 4.50% APR, matching the sGHO savings rate. On the Ethereum Prime instance, the base rate went to 3.00%, for about 4.25% at optimal utilization. Check app.aave.com for the current rate before borrowing.
Do stkAAVE holders still get a discount on GHO?
Not natively. The Aave v3.4 upgrade, proposed by BGD Labs in March 2025, removed the built-in stkAAVE discount on GHO borrowing. The proposal notes that a similar benefit can be delivered through rewards instead, such as the "anti-GHO" mechanism described in the Aavenomics proposal, which stkAAVE holders could use to repay GHO debt. Older guides that describe a native discount are out of date.
What is sGHO and how much does it pay?
sGHO (Savings GHO) is an ERC-4626 vault on Ethereum: you deposit GHO and your shares grow at the Aave Savings Rate. Per the Aave docs, deposits and withdrawals are instant, with no cooldown, no slashing and no rehypothecation of the deposited GHO. On November 10, 2026, sGHO paid 4.50% (30-day average 4.50%) and held $221 million, per DefiLlama, against 3.80% for the Sky Savings Rate on USDS and 5.01% for Ethena's sUSDe.
Is GHO bigger than DAI or USDS?
No. On November 10, 2026, DefiLlama counted $698 million of GHO, against $5.38 billion of USDS, $4.68 billion of DAI and $4.96 billion of USDe, but more than the $205 million of Curve's crvUSD. USDC, a fiat-backed stablecoin, had $70.3 billion in circulation. Most GHO ($643 million) sits on Ethereum.
¿Es GHO seguro de usar?
GHO is over-collateralized and runs on audited Aave contracts, but it still carries real risks. It has traded below $1 several times: after its 2023 launch, and again in September 2026, when it stayed below $0.999 for most of the month, per the Aave governance forum. It traded at $0.998 on November 10, 2026 (CoinGecko). Other risks are smart contract bugs, liquidation if you borrow GHO and your collateral falls, depleted stability modules and governance decisions. Only use funds you can afford to lose.
¿Dónde puedo obtener rendimiento en GHO?
The largest option is sGHO, which paid 4.50% on November 10, 2026. Fluid lending paid 4.75% on GHO, of which 1.67% in rewards, and supplying GHO to the Aave V3 Prime instance paid 1.96%, per DefiLlama. GHO liquidity pools on Curve, Balancer and Uniswap were small that day, under $3 million each, so check depth and rates at the source. Rates change daily.

Fuentes y lecturas adicionales

Las cifras y afirmaciones de esta página se basan en los documentos que aparecen a continuación. Las cifras sensibles al tiempo (tasas, rendimientos, comisiones, datos de mercado) cambian: verifica el valor en vivo en la fuente antes de actuar en consecuencia.

  1. Aave documentation, GHO Stablecoinaave.com

    The facilitator model, bucket capacities, minting through Aave V3 Ethereum, liquidation, the stability modules (1:1 price, exposure caps, fees) and cross-chain GHO.

  2. Aave documentation, Savings GHO (sGHO)aave.com

    How sGHO works: ERC-4626 vault, instant deposits and withdrawals, no cooldown or slashing, and the legacy sGHO contract.

  3. Aave governance forum, GHO Borrow Rate Update (October 2026)governance.aave.com

    GHO borrow rates on Ethereum Core and Prime, the Aave Savings Rate, GHO trading below $0.999 in September 2026 and the state of the USDC and USDT stability modules.

  4. Aave governance forum, BGD Labs Aave v3.4 proposalgovernance.aave.com

    Removal of the native stkAAVE discount on GHO, the static governance-set borrow rate and standard GHO flash loans.

  5. GHO documentationdocs.gho.xyz

    Background on GHO's design and its facilitators.

  6. Aave governance forumgovernance.aave.com

    GHO mainnet launch in July 2023, facilitator approvals and the post-launch discussions on GHO trading below $1.

  7. GHO core repository (GitHub)github.com

    Source code and audit reports of the GHO smart contracts.

  8. DefiLlama, Stablecoinsdefillama.com

    Circulating supply, networks and prices of GHO, USDS, DAI, USDe, crvUSD and USDC on November 10, 2026, and GHO supply a year earlier.

  9. DefiLlama, Yieldsdefillama.com

    APYs, 30-day averages and deposits of sGHO, sUSDS, sDAI, sUSDe, scrvUSD, Aave V3 USDC and the GHO lending and liquidity pools quoted on this page (snapshot of November 10, 2026).

  10. CoinGecko, GHOcoingecko.com

    GHO market price on November 10, 2026.

  11. Aave appapp.aave.com

    Live GHO borrow rate, sGHO rate and collateral options.

Last reviewed: November 2026. External links open in a new tab; Coinstancy is not responsible for their content.

Obtén rendimiento en stablecoins con Coinstancy

Coinstancy Dollar Savings pays a fixed 7.50% APY on USDC, the rate currently in force, which may be revised. Coinstancy is custodial: your USDC first enters a multisignature wallet operated by Coinstancy, then is deployed into on-chain strategies. Interest accrues every second and is automatically reinvested. No lock-up; withdrawal requests are normally settled within 48 calendar hours. Minimum deposit $10.

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