The new Aave app

Good morning/evening
 
I am going to give you a quick recap on my DeFi activities beforeI take a look at the new Aave app. We have to go back to 2022 and yes looking at those articles now make me cringe but hey ho it is all a learning curve. With hindsight I shall not call these DeFi protocols that I dabbled in as investments, more like a gamble, so some of these protocols I was initially in were things like Grape Finance, Frozen Walrus and Horde to name a few. As much as I would like to deny being this stupid, it is all documented! It was not all doom and gloom and we did make money on some of them, but these were the sort of projects where you were up at 3am just to see if they were still there. The result was that it put me off of DeFi for a long time, the plus side was that they were all so shady that I made my 'All I want is Bitcoin' declaration to my husband and by the end of 2022 I had my first 6 months of DCA'd Bitcoin on the ledger and we were out of all the shady rug pull stuff.
 
As for DeFi I was out......For a long time until I had some good conversations with another blogger about Kamino Finance and even then I was skeptical to say the least, he gave me some tips on finding a good DeFi protocol, Liquidity and TVL, audits from reputable firms, sustainable tokenomics (not 1000s of percent APY lol) amongst other things. Then after more research and watching I finally put some funds into Kamino, then more, and eventually tried different things within the protocol and loved it.
 
I then also started doing a few things on Aave, I borrowed stablecoins to buy Bitcoin, I doubled my OP tokens earned on Pub0x and hold stablecoins on there earning yield, I was back in DeFi, just better DeFi which brings me to now and the new Aave app.
 
 
What is the Aave app
 
Aave App is a high yield savings app designed to grow your savings by up to 6.00% per year with balance protection up to $1M per account and optional recovery features.(Full details are not available yet, as with most insurances expect many things to not be included) Additional ways to earn more will be added in the future, allowing you to earn up to 6.50% per year by inviting friends and setting up automated deposits.
 
 
The Aave app is essentially a streamlined gateway into DeFi lending without needing to understand smart contracts, wallets, or gas fees. Using the app, you can deposit funds (usually stablecoins or fiat that gets converted into crypto) and earn variable interest generated by borrowers on the Aave protocol. Your balance grows automatically as interest accrues, and you can monitor yields in real time through a familiar app interface rather than a complex DeFi dashboard. Depending on the version and your region, the app may also let you withdraw back to your bank, move funds to a wallet, or borrow against your deposits, all without manually interacting with blockchain infrastructure. In short, it turns Aave’s on chain lending markets into something that feels more like a high yield savings app, while still being powered by decentralized finance.
When you use the Aave app, you are not manually choosing borrowers or strategies. Once you deposit funds, the app routes your money into Aave’s lending pools, where smart contracts automatically allocate liquidity based on predefined rules. These contracts match lenders and borrowers, set interest rates dynamically based on supply and demand, and enforce collateral and liquidation rules.
 
KYC
One of the biggest questions for me and probably for others is whether using the app means giving up privacy.
I could not find anything about KYC on the site, because I would rather not if I have a choice lol so I sent an email and got this reply-

Thank you for reaching out and for your interest in the Aave app.
Details regarding identity verification and any KYC requirements will be shared more fully closer to launch. In general, KYC is expected to be required only for certain features, such as linking a bank account.
More information will be provided at launch, once the full experience is available.
Thank you for your interest, and please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
 

Which version might suit you best the standard Aave or the app?

 
I do use the standard version but am interested in what the app has to offer so I am on the early access waiting list, and to also find out more.
 
THERE ARE RISKS
 
As usual this is DeFi so there are risks involved and you must always do your research, we all have different risk tolerances so what suits one, may not suit another. Using Aave means stepping outside the safety nets of traditional finance and trusting code, markets, and incentives to behave as expected. The biggest risk is smart contract failure, if a bug or exploit occurs, funds can be lost with little to no recourse. On top of that, crypto markets are volatile by nature, which means collateral values can drop quickly and trigger liquidations, sometimes during sharp market moves when prices are less favorable. There’s also liquidity risk during periods of stress, where exiting positions may be harder or more expensive than anticipated. DeFi protocols offer no real insurance, and regulatory changes could affect access or functionality without much warning. Aave is one of the more established protocols in the space, but that does not mean risk free.
 
To conclude
 
I am interested in what the Aave app has to offer but will need to wait until there is more information available, as I am already using Aave without any issues I will continue to do so and then see if the app is more convenient when it is available. Would you consider using a DeFi protocol to earn yield? Do you consider this as high risk? What are your thoughts? As always, thank you for reading and feel free to comment.
The link to the Aave website where you can find the white paper as well as more information and also to join the waitlist if you wish to is below.
https://aave.com/app