[ARFC] Endorse the Asset Classification Framework (AAcA)

[LlamaRisk]

Title: [ARFC] Endorse the Asset Classification Framework (AAcA)

Author: LlamaRisk

Date: 2025-09-11

Summary

Following a community discussion, a formalization proposal by @bgdlabs, and an ARFC that passed the snapshot vote, we proposed this document to establish the Aave Asset Class Allowlist (AAcA). This framework is intended to be a collaborative tool maintained by Aave’s Service Providers to streamline and standardize the asset onboarding process. We’re opening this draft for the DAO’s feedback, as we have already started circulating it amongst SPs.

Motivation

The core principle of the AAcA is to group assets into logical categories based on their shared characteristics and collective risk profiles. This structured approach provides several key benefits:

• Clarity and Consistency: It creates a shared language for all stakeholders, from community members to risk service providers.

• Systematic Risk Assessment: By grouping similar assets, risks can be evaluated more systematically, allowing consistent risk parameters across a class.

• Deliberate Governance: It forces the DAO to make a conscious and deliberate decision before onboarding a new asset class, ensuring strategic alignment and risk awareness.

The framework is organized into six primary groups: Stablecoins, Wrapped Assets, Staking & Restaking Derivatives, Protocol Tokens, Tokenized Financial Instruments, and Uncategorized Assets. Each class within these groups is defined with a clear description, its current approval status, and examples of assets that fit the category.

• Approved classes are those that have been formalized based on currently or previously onboarded assets. Approved assets are still subject to analysis to determine if they are individually eligible for onboarding.

• Not Approved classes are those that have already been reviewed and have been explicitly not approved due to factors such as technical considerations and/or legal implications, among others.

• Not Analyzed classes are new categories introduced by recently proposed assets, suggested for future consideration, but not yet formally part of the Aave allowlist. These require assessment, community discussion and formal approval (via ARFC) before onboarding an asset of that class.

Specification

Aave Asset Class Framework

1. Stablecoins

This group includes all assets designed to maintain a stable value relative to a fiat currency, subdivided by their stabilization mechanism and yield properties.

2. Wrapped Assets

This group includes tokens representing another underlying asset on a 1:1 basis, differentiated by their utility.

3. Staking & Restaking Derivatives

This group includes all liquid tokens derived from Proof-of-Stake (PoS) staking or restaking activities.

4. Protocol Tokens

This group includes tokens integral to a protocol’s function, governance, or utility.

5. Tokenized Financial Instruments

This group includes tokenized derivatives and representations of traditional financial assets, including Real-World Assets (RWAs).

6. Uncategorized Assets

This group is for unique asset types that do not fit into the other categories.

Disclaimer

LlamaRisk is not presenting this ARFC on behalf of any third party and is not compensated for creating this ARFC.

Next Steps

1. If consensus is reached on this ARFC, escalate this proposal to the Snapshot stage.

2. If the Snapshot outcome is YAE, this proposal will be considered canon, and the guidelines will be adopted.

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.

[JosueMpia]

Really great work here, especially for us DAO members. The AAcA framework does a solid job of defining asset categories (e.g.Stablecoins, Wrapped Assets, LSTs / LRTs / Leveraged LSTs) and their onboarding statuses (Approved, Not Approved, etc.).

One small suggestion that could add extra clarity for DAO members: maybe including a short, high-level summary of key risk for each class? Perhaps as a column or tag in each table.

Since, as you noted, even approved classes still require individual asset analysis, a quick view of typical risk factors could make the framework even more useful, especially for people who don’t go deep into technical due diligence.

For example:

• Reserve-Backed Stablecoins → depeg risk, reserve audit & transparency risk

• Leveraged LSTs → slashing risk, validator concentration, volatile yield, liquidity risk

• Wrapped or Bridged Assets → bridge/oracle dependency, smart contract complexity

Adding this kind of risk overview might help signal what to look out for across classes. Also, I’m assuming that when Aave v4 Spokes start coming out, assets that are not on this list may not be supported right away??? So, Spokes developers will love this list too.

Just my 2 cents, thanks again for the hard work on this!

[ChaosLabs]

Chaos Labs supports the proposed AAcA Framework and believes its introduction will improve the efficiency of the asset onboarding process.

In particular, we emphasize that assets within an approved class must still undergo considerable analysis to determine their individual eligibility for onboarding. Some approved categories, such as yield-bearing stablecoins and bridging assets, often feature assets with unique or non-standardized risks and operating mechanisms. These assets should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, even if they fall within an approved class or share overlapping mechanisms with previously approved assets. This requirement ensures that each asset’s distinct risk profile is preliminarily assessed to determine its onboarding potential and whether it warrants further review by the risk service provider.

[ACI]

The current proposal has been escalated under Skywards, to ARFC Snapshot.

Vote will start tomorrow, we encourage everyone to participate.

[ACI]

After Snapshot monitoring, the current ARFC Snapshot ended recently, reaching out both Quorum and YAE as winning option, with 561.1K votes.

Therefore [ARFC] Endorse the Asset Classification Framework (AAcA) has PASSED and it has been considered canon @LlamaRisk