StakeWise Asks Aave DAO to Split osETH Freeze Into Its Own Vote

StakeWise has asked Aave's governance forum to vote separately on freezing its liquid staking token osETH, rather than bundling the decision into a broader Aave V3 Core asset review. A poster signing as StakeWise's founder submitted the request on Nov. 11, according to the Aave DAO forum thread.

The ask targets a risk proposal published one day earlier. On Nov. 10, risk adviser LlamaRisk recommended that Aave freeze osETH, Lombard's yield-bearing Bitcoin token LBTC, and Rocket Pool's liquid staking token rETH, together with six smaller reserves. The same proposal names two additional tokens — Kelp DAO's restaked Ether token rsETH and Threshold Network's Bitcoin token tBTC — both of which are already frozen on Core.

How large is the exposure at stake?

The numbers explain StakeWise's push for a standalone vote. As of Nov. 9, the three proposed new freezes carried $538.6 million in collateral backing $364.1 million in debt across Aave V3 Core.

osETH dominates that exposure. The staked Ether token accounts for $279.4 million in collateral backing $256.6 million in wrapped Ether (WETH) debt — more than half of the total collateral and roughly 70% of the total debt in the group.

What would a freeze actually do?

A freeze would block new deposits of the affected asset and stop users from deploying it to support additional borrowing. The token's loan-to-value ratio, which governs how much users can borrow against their collateral, would drop to zero.

Existing positions would stay open under the proposal. Users holding osETH as collateral could keep their loans but could not add exposure or open new ones using the token.

For StakeWise, the operational consequence is direct: a freeze on osETH would close the largest single on-chain distribution channel for the token on Aave, even as existing positions remain live. Splitting the vote into a standalone ballot would let token holders and delegates judge the osETH question on its own risk profile rather than as one line item inside a multi-asset package.

What happens next on governance?

Nothing has been scheduled yet. As of Nov. 11, LlamaRisk's plan remained under discussion on Aave's governance forum, and no Snapshot vote had been posted by that date.

The broader proposal to change the assets accepted in Aave V3 Core, which frames the freeze package, was detailed in an earlier TokenPost report.

The immediate deadline to watch is the transition from forum discussion to a formal Snapshot vote. Once a ballot goes live, Aave token holders will decide whether osETH faces its own vote or rides through the package with LBTC, rETH and the six smaller reserves.