Mantle Network has advanced its proposal to lend up to 30,000 ETH to Aave’s DeFi United recovery initiative, now moving to a governance vote on Snapshot. MNT holders must delegate their voting power to participate in the decision.
This strategic credit facility, known as MIP-34, aims to address the shortfalls caused by the April 18 rsETH bridge exploit, providing a structured way to manage bad debt and collateral gaps. If approved, Mantle’s treasury will supply the ETH to Aave DAO, specifically for the DeFi United rescue plan.
The loan is structured with a 36-month term and a floating yield based on Lido’s stETH staking return plus a 1% spread, transforming idle treasury assets into a yield-bearing position. Aave DAO would back the facility with 5% of its protocol revenue and at least $11 million in AAVE tokens, while granting Mantle delegated governance rights over roughly 130,000 AAVE to align incentives.
Collateral will be held in a multisig wallet, with early repayment options and default protections to limit Mantle’s risk. Aave founder Stani Kulechov has praised the DeFi United effort as the largest DAO coordination he has participated in, with parallel governance processes at Arbitrum, Aave, EtherFi, Lido, Compound, and Mantle.
The rescue fund under DeFi United has now accumulated 1,137,714.633 ETH, worth approximately $314.57 million, from contributions by multiple DAOs and protocols. Major pledges include Arbitrum DAO’s 30,765 ETH, Mantle’s planned 30,000 ETH loan, AaveDAO’s 25,000 ETH, EtherFi’s 5,000 ETH, Lido’s 2,500 stETH, and personal commitments from Stani and the Golem Foundation.
The goal is to cover an estimated 68,900 to 118,000 ETH shortfall in rsETH’s backing after the KelpDAO bridge exploit, ensuring healthier collateralization across Aave and other lending markets. Legal experts view this as a landmark case of on-chain interventions coordinated across DAOs, with the Mantle-Aave loan testing structured credit facilities in large DeFi rescues.
For affected users, the combination of direct ETH contributions, governance-approved credit lines, and protocol fixes provides more options to exit or restructure positions, avoiding a simple liquidation process.