Aave’s decentralized governance community has approved an emergency measure to pause GHO minting on Ethereum after a flash-loan exploit hit the protocol’s liquidity pools and drained about $2.3 million.

The decision is intended to limit further risk while developers and governance participants assess the damage and review the technical issue behind the attack. The move reflects a rapid response from the Aave DAO as the project works to stabilize one of its core assets.

GHO is Aave’s native stablecoin, and minting pauses can affect how the token is issued on-chain. For now, the priority is containment: stopping additional losses, protecting liquidity, and restoring confidence among users and lenders.

The incident adds to a growing list of DeFi security failures that continue to test decentralized finance platforms, where smart-contract vulnerabilities and complex liquidity mechanics can lead to fast-moving losses when exploited.