Why is Aave down today?

Aave's 3.8% slide to $154.06 is mostly macro, not protocol-specific. September CPI came in at 3.7%, above forecasts, pushing Treasury yields higher and putting another Fed hike back in play — a combination that dragged crypto down alongside equities and knocked Bitcoin 1.9% lower to $81,722. High-beta DeFi names typically fall harder than BTC in those sessions, and AAVE's 10.7% weekly decline against Bitcoin's 2.1% fits that pattern.

Washington added to the uncertainty: Patrick Witt is leaving his White House crypto adviser role with the Clarity Act stalled, leaving the US regulatory timeline unresolved. Headlines on China moving to confiscate roughly $5 billion in BTC and other tokens, and the reported Istanbul arrest of HEX founder Richard Heart, kept overall sentiment defensive.

Aave's own news flow is constructive but hasn't offset the tape. Babylon is advancing a native Bitcoin collateral plan for Aave V4, with risk settings and further governance votes still pending, while Base has launched Earn & Borrow built on Aave and Morpho.