Aave is simpler with a supply checklist from market selection to withdrawal

Approval and gas prompts determine the entry cost

A standard ERC-20 supply requires one mandatory on-chain transaction after an allowance exists. First use adds one approval transaction, while a supported signature route replaces that approval transaction with an off-chain wallet signature. The wallet therefore presents either one paid transaction or two. The signature itself consumes no blockchain gas.

On Ethereum, an EIP-1559 gas quote contains two main pricing components: the base fee and priority fee. Rollups also account for data posted to Ethereum. Keep some of the chain's native asset outside the supply amount, since USDC, USDT, WBTC, and WETH do not pay EVM gas. One ETH contains 10 ¹⁸ wei, and the wallet converts its gas estimate into that native unit.

The protocol does not deduct a fixed entry percentage from the amount in a normal supply action. Network gas is the immediate cost shown by the wallet. With that cost understood, market selection becomes the next binding choice.

Version and chain selection fix the market

Market selection fixes the contracts, fee asset, accounting system, and withdrawal destination. V3 deployments use independent liquidity pools. V4 uses Liquidity Hubs and Spokes, surfaced through Aave Pro. A V3 balance in one market does not become a V4 share balance, even when both positions use the same token symbol.

Chain IDs provide a durable wallet check. Ethereum uses chain ID 1, Avalanche C-Chain uses 43114, Arbitrum One uses 42161, Base uses 8453, and Optimism uses 10. Compare the wallet's chain ID with the selected deployment before approving anything.

The table describes the transaction boundary, not a rate ranking. Supply rates, remaining capacity, and available liquidity are live market values. Once a deployment is selected, the connected wallet and token balance must belong to that same chain.

Wallet and token alignment makes the balance available

Wallet and token alignment determines whether the interface can see spendable funds. MetaMask and Rabby expose browser accounts, while WalletConnect links compatible mobile and desktop wallets. Ledger and Trezor devices sign through a compatible connection without changing the on-chain address that owns the position.

An EVM address is 20 bytes, displayed as 40 hexadecimal characters or 42 characters when the 0x prefix is included. The same visible address can exist across several EVM networks, but each network maintains a separate token balance and transaction history. Holding USDC on Base does not fund an Ethereum supply.

Match the connected address, selected chain, token contract, wallet balance, and native gas balance. Token symbols repeat across chains, so the contract and network together identify the asset. Only after those fields agree should the reserve row guide the next action.

Reserve status decides whether supply can settle

The reserve row shows whether a specific asset-market pair accepts new liquidity. In the V3 interface, the Assets to Supply view exposes the wallet balance and reserve details. The V4 Deposit Markets view adds the Hub, Spoke, deposit capacity, remaining capacity, and available liquidity for each route.

V3 applies one supply cap to each reserve. V4 applies one add cap to every asset-and-Spoke pair. The displayed remaining capacity equals the configured cap minus accepted supply, so a request above that remainder fails validation. An active reserve accepts eligible deposits. A frozen reserve rejects new supply while preserving withdrawals, whereas a paused reserve blocks the affected actions until its status changes.

Read the asset ticker, version, market name, rate, remaining capacity, and reserve status together. A high displayed rate does not override a full cap or frozen state. The chosen row then determines which contract needs permission to move the token.

The approval path decides whether the wallet asks once or twice

ERC-20 approval and supply are separate contract calls unless the selected route supports a typed signature. A conventional allowance belongs to one token contract, one owner address, and one spender address. Changing any member of that three-part relationship requires a different allowance.

A first conventional supply therefore creates two paid transactions: approve, then supply. A compatible permit route creates one off-chain signature and one paid supply transaction. An EIP-2612 permit signs five action fields: owner, spender, value, nonce, and deadline. Token support and interface routing decide whether that option appears.

An exact allowance covers the entered amount. A larger allowance leaves unused permission after the supply, and an approval remains active until it is consumed, replaced, or revoked. Review the token, spender, chain, amount, and deadline shown by the wallet. With permission settled, decimal precision becomes the final amount check (see also Aave liquidation ).

Token decimals decide the amount the contract receives

Token decimals translate the human-readable amount into the integer submitted to the contract. USDC and USDT use 6 decimal places, WBTC uses 8, and WETH uses 18. AAVE and GHO also use 18 decimals. The interface performs this conversion, while the wallet confirmation shows the amount it intends to authorize or transfer.

Precision does not determine market value. It only sets the smallest transferable unit recorded by the token contract. Native ETH and WETH also remain separate wallet balances: 1 WETH is redeemable for 1 ETH through the wrapper, yet WETH cannot pay Ethereum gas. Enter an amount that preserves enough native currency for both confirmation and the later withdrawal.

The receipt confirms where the supply settled

The transaction receipt is the durable confirmation of a completed supply. An EVM transaction hash is 32 bytes, represented by 64 hexadecimal characters or 66 characters with its 0x prefix. A successful receipt should identify the expected chain, called contract, transferred amount, block, and emitted supply records.

After success, the underlying wallet balance falls and the selected market position rises. A delayed dashboard update does not reverse a settled transaction; reconnecting the wallet or refreshing indexed data normally exposes the new state. Do not submit the same action again until the original hash has a definite success or failure status. The resulting position will then reflect either V3 or V4 accounting.

V3 aTokens and V4 shares change what the position looks like

Position accounting explains what the supplier sees after confirmation. A V3 supply mints the matching aToken at a one-to-one unit relationship with the deposited underlying. The aToken follows ERC-20 behavior, uses the reserve's decimal precision, and displays principal plus accrued interest through its growing balance.

V4 records supplied shares in the chosen Spoke while the Liquidity Hub holds and accounts for the asset. The share count remains fixed after entry, while the Hub liquidity index changes the underlying amount represented by those shares. The dashboard converts shares back into asset units, so a supplier should not expect a V4 position to resemble a growing V3 aToken balance.

Confirm the token, chain, market or Spoke, supplied asset units, and transaction hash. Those fields provide a cleaner position check than a fiat-value snapshot, which also moves with the token's market price.

Utilization changes the accrual you see

Supply accrual follows the selected reserve's live supply rate. Utilization rises when a larger share of available liquidity is in use, and the interest-rate strategy translates that utilization into a rate. Governance parameters also shape the curve. The displayed APY therefore updates as the market changes; it is not locked when the supply settles.

V3 exposes accrual through an increasing aToken balance. V4 holds the number of shares steady and raises their underlying asset value through the liquidity index. Compare asset-denominated position values rather than dollar conversions. V3 contract math annualizes rates over 365 days, equal to 31,536,000 seconds. Exit readiness, however, depends on available liquidity rather than elapsed time.

Available liquidity sets the full-exit ceiling

Available liquidity determines how much underlying can leave the pool at that moment. A full exit requires the position claim and enough uncommitted underlying in the selected market or Hub. The executable withdrawal is bounded by the smaller of those two amounts. Supply capacity and available liquidity are different readings: one controls entry, while the other controls exit.

A reached supply cap blocks additional supply but does not block an ordinary withdrawal. Frozen reserves also keep the withdrawal route open. A protocol pause has a wider effect and can stop withdrawal until activity resumes. For V3 contract integrations, 2^256 - 1 is the sentinel amount that requests the entire aToken balance.

A debt-free supply position has no collateral constraint on withdrawal. If the connected address also carries debt, the position must retain enough collateral for that separate obligation. Once the interface shows the intended amount as withdrawable, the final transaction is straightforward.

The withdrawal receipt closes the loop

Withdrawal returns the selected underlying asset and reduces the matching supply position. Open the same chain, version, and market used at entry, select the position, enter the amount, and confirm the wallet request. Withdrawing the same ERC-20 underlying from V3 needs no new token approval and normally uses one on-chain transaction.

A native-asset output follows a wrapper route. For example, a V3 WETH-to-ETH withdrawal uses the WrappedTokenGateway to redeem WETH and return ETH in one transaction. V4 routes the request through the position's Spoke, removes liquidity from its Hub, and reduces the recorded shares.

Finish by matching four observable changes: the receipt succeeds, the underlying wallet balance rises, the supply position falls by the requested amount, and the gas balance reflects the network charge. A full exit leaves a zero position or a negligible rounding remainder. The original ERC-20 allowance is independent of withdrawal and remains unchanged until a separate approval update modifies it.