GHO was initiated by Stani Kulechov, founder of the Aave Protocol, and developed by the Aave Labs team. Aave is one of the most established DeFi lending protocols, with a proven track record since its inception and a strong reputation in the decentralized finance space.

GHO launched via Aave V3 on Ethereum, initially through the Ethereum V3 pool as its first facilitator. By early 2026, its market cap surpassed $500 million with over 245% growth since early 2025. In July 2026, Aave approved its native deployment on Arbitrum and launched Stable Vaults for institutional savings.

GHO is an ERC-20 token deployed on Ethereum, operating through a facilitator model. Facilitators are smart contracts approved by Aave Governance, each with a governance-defined mint cap, responsible for minting and burning GHO. Assets used as collateral on Aave can back GHO.

GHO's supply is regulated through mint caps set by Aave Governance for each facilitator. Collateral backing GHO consists of wrapped tokens held in Aave, which continuously earn yield. Reserve yield and borrower interest together support the sustainability of the GHO ecosystem.

GHO's minting and burning are controlled by facilitators approved exclusively through Aave DAO governance proposals. Any changes to facilitator roles or mint caps require community voting, ensuring that no single entity can unilaterally alter GHO's supply.

GHO serves as a multi-functional stablecoin within the DeFi ecosystem, primarily used for lending, borrowing, and earning yield within the Aave protocol. It is also applied in trading, payments, and cross-border settlement. The July 2026 launch of Stable Vaults enables fintech platforms to offer GHO savings products to institutional users.