Aave and LayerZero exit low-activity ghost chains to mitigate DeFi risks

Major decentralized finance (DeFi) players Aave and LayerZero are reducing their presence on low-activity networks, often referred to as ‘ghost chains,’ to mitigate security risks.

Aave is targeting the shutdown of V3 lending deployments across six networks, including Sonic, Scroll, and Aptos, following a new risk framework that emphasizes activity and revenue thresholds. Simultaneously, LayerZero has removed support for 32 chains, such as Arbitrum Nova and Gnosis Chain.

These moves follow significant industry losses. In the second half of 2026, DeFi exploits totaled $1.3 billion, with over 40% of those losses stemming from two major incidents: the KelpDAO hack ($292 million) and the Drift Protocol breach ($285 million). These attacks were linked to operational and infrastructure flaws rather than standard smart contract bugs. Specifically, the KelpDAO exploit was facilitated by a single-verifier configuration, a common setup in low-activity networks that increases vulnerability to cross-chain message spoofing.