Summary
Ketju does not approve Aera V3: its operator holds no regulatory registration, its tie to Gauntlet is unclear, and its shared vaults set no limit on how long redemptions take. Aera discloses more than Mellow Core, its closest comparison, which Ketju does not approve. Its Terms of Service name the operator as Aera Foundation under Cayman Islands law. Spearbit, OpenZeppelin and Cantina have audited it, and it runs a $500,000 Immunefi bug bounty. The Terms state that Aera Foundation is not registered in any capacity with the SEC, the CFTC or the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. That covers registration as an investment adviser, broker-dealer, commodity pool operator or virtual asset service provider. DefiLlama’s description says Aera was "built by the team at Gauntlet." No independent source confirmed whether Aera Foundation is now separate from Gauntlet; the claim comes only from Aera’s marketing. Vaults with many depositors pay redemptions through solvers, on no stated deadline.
Review triggers
- An independent source publishes whether Aera Foundation is fully independent of Gauntlet or still affiliated with it
- Aera publishes a maximum settlement time for redemptions from vaults with many depositors
- Aera obtains and publishes a regulatory registration relevant to the products it offers
- Aera moves its protocol-level fee, oracle and Guardian whitelist authority to a disclosed multisig with a meaningful timelock
Facts
- Verdict
- Not approved
- Type
- Other
- Chains examined
- Base, Ethereum, Morph
- Reviewed
- Last confirmed