GHO
GHO#210GHO is Aave's dollar stablecoin, minted when users borrow against crypto collateral on the Aave protocol.
- Market cap
- $698.6M
- Volume 24h
- $2.68M
- All-time high
- $1.03
- −2.97% from ATH
- Circulating supply
- 699M
Fails our Shariah screening. Needs caution: nature of the asset. Fails: interest (riba), business model, and usage.
- 4 pass
- 1 caution
- 3 fail
Verdict history
- Not halalCurrent
First publication
Fundamentals, market picture and news will appear here.
Halal analysis
Can a Muslim hold GHO?8 Shariah criteria
4 pass · 1 caution · 3 failMost GHO is minted as an interest-bearing loan whose interest goes to the Aave DAO, and the protocol's own savings vault pays holders a set rate that the DAO funds out of interest income.
Riba means interest, or any fixed increase on a loan. GHO is not an ordinary token that happens to be lent out: the loan is how most GHO comes into existence. A user pledges crypto in Aave and borrows newly minted GHO at a rate set by governance (on the main Ethereum market, 3.75% before a 27 August 2026 update that set it to rise to 4.25% in two steps); on repayment the principal is burned and, in the words of the GHO Technical Paper, the interest repaid is transferred to the Aave DAO treasury. In August 2026 about 69% of circulating GHO had been created this way.
Holding plain GHO pays nothing. But since May 2026 the protocol has offered sGHO, a savings vault built for GHO: depositors earn a governance-set rate (4.25% at launch, set to rise to 4.50% under the August 2026 update). The deposits are not lent out; the launch proposal says the DAO funds the payouts from its treasury, and the stewards measure that cost against GHO borrow interest, lending yield on the stablecoin reserves (held as Aave aTokens) and module fees. aave.com likewise names borrower interest and reserve yield as the sources. Like DAI with its savings rate, GHO is a dollar token whose system is built on interest-bearing credit and pays holders an interest-like return. Holders earning lending yield is a fail; Liberandum applies the same rule to crypto dollars with a built-in savings rate.
GHO works as a dollar token backed by over-collateralised crypto loans and some stablecoin reserves, but it is mostly a product of debt and nobody is obliged to redeem it.
GHO has real use: it moves as a dollar-like token on several networks and is backed on-chain. Each GHO minted as debt is covered by more than a dollar of crypto collateral in Aave, and the GHO Stability Module lets holders swap GHO for USDC or USDT one-for-one while the module has reserves. Scholars who accept stablecoins as property generally rely on full backing and a redemption right against an issuer. GHO has neither an issuer nor a legal redemption right: most of it is the borrowers' debt, and holders rely on arbitrage and the module to reach US$1.
In August 2026 the USDC module was described as effectively empty and GHO had traded below par for several weeks before recovering to about US$0.9997. Whether such a debt-created token is itself a sound object of ownership is not settled, so this is caution.
GHO is built to hold a steady value of one dollar and is used for borrowing, saving and transfers, not betting.
Maysir means gambling, or gains that depend purely on chance; ordinary price movement is not maysir. GHO targets US$1 and has stayed within about US$0.92 to US$1.03 since launch according to CoinGecko. There is no lottery, betting or speculative game in the token. Borrowers can use GHO to take leveraged positions on their collateral, but that is a use of the loan, weighed under the other criteria.
The Aave DAO earns from GHO almost entirely through borrowers' interest, well above the 5% limit on impermissible income.
This criterion looks at how the protocol behind a token earns. If 5% or more of its income comes from clearly impermissible sources such as interest, it fails. Every GHO loan pays interest that goes directly to the Aave DAO treasury; the August 2026 stewards' update estimated DAO revenue from GHO at about US$2.2 million a year, rising to about US$3.0 million after the rate increases, and said the debt side carries about two thirds of GHO revenue. The rest comes mainly from module reserves held as Aave aTokens, which earn lending interest.
The Stability Module's fees are service fees, but minting through it is free and redeeming costs 10 basis points (August 2026), so they are small. There is no significant permissible income to set against the interest.
Supply, loans, reserves and code are all on-chain and audited, though governance multisigs can change rates, caps and minters.
Gharar means excessive uncertainty or lack of transparency in a deal. GHO is unusually transparent: total supply (699 million on 27 September 2026) and every mint and burn can be checked on Etherscan, collateral and module balances are on-chain, the contracts are open source and audited by OpenZeppelin, ABDK, Sigma Prime and Certora, and rate changes are published on the Aave governance forum.
The main uncertainties are about control and peg: governance can add facilitators and raise their minting limits, the GHO Stewards (a 3-of-4 multisig) and the Risk Council adjust rates, and the peg traded below par for several weeks in July and August 2026. These are disclosed, not hidden, so this is a low pass.
GHO exists to be borrowed at interest from Aave, and a large share of it is parked in the interest-paying savings vault.
This criterion fails when the main purpose is interest-based finance. GHO was created as Aave's own borrowing asset: most of it enters circulation as interest-bearing loans, and the stewards set borrow rates to manage its supply. In August 2026 158.6 million GHO sat in sGHO earning the savings rate, and the stewards said roughly three quarters of circulating GHO was held in savings products. GHO can also be used for transfers and trading like any dollar stablecoin, but its design and main use revolve around lending and saving at interest.
GHO can be bought outright, fully paid, by swapping USDC or USDT in the Stability Module or on exchanges, without borrowing.
This criterion asks only whether the token can be owned in a normal, fully paid way, not whether the asset itself is permissible. A holder does not have to borrow to own GHO: aave.com offers a one-for-one swap from USDC or USDT with no fee (September 2026), and GHO trades on decentralised and some centralised exchanges. The GHO received this way is fully owned and can be self-custodied. Exchanges of one dollar token for another should be equal and immediate, as in currency exchange (sarf), which the one-for-one swap satisfies.
GHO gives a transparent, non-custodial dollar token with no known link to fraud or sanctions evasion.
Maslahah means weighing public benefit against harm. GHO offers a dollar token that is not controlled by a single company, with on-chain backing anyone can check, available on several networks. No link to scams, exploits of the GHO contracts or sanctions evasion was found. The harm of its interest-based design is weighed under the interest, business model and usage criteria and is not counted again here, so this is a low pass.
How you can use it
Tap a card for the ruling and sourcesGHO can be bought fully paid, by swapping USDC or USDT one-for-one or on exchanges. Spot purchase is acceptable only for an asset rated HALAL or DOUBTFUL, so it fails here.
There is no exchange-traded fund that holds GHO. A fund holding GHO would be assessed like spot, which fails for this asset.
GHO can be sent as a dollar token on several networks, but it is rarely used for payments, and tier-1 bodies such as MUI prohibit cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
GHO has no staking for network validation. The product marketed for holders is the sGHO savings vault, whose return is a governance-set rate funded by the DAO out of interest income, not payment for network work.
Always fail: borrowing to trade with leverage, without full delivery.
Always fail: futures, perpetuals and options are deferred exchanges without delivery, with leverage.
Borrowing GHO from Aave or lending it in DeFi markets carries interest; this is how most GHO is created.
sGHO pays a governance-set rate (4.25% at launch, set to rise to 4.50% under the 27 August 2026 update) that the DAO funds out of GHO borrow interest and reserve lending yield; other GHO yield comes from lending or liquidity incentives.
Scholars quotes
Penggunaan cryptocurrency sebagai mata uang hukumnya haram, karena mengandung gharar (ketidakjelasan), dharar (bahaya) dan bertentangan dengan Undang-Undang nomor 7 tahun 2011 tentang Mata Uang dan Peraturan Bank Indonesia nomor 17 tahun 2015 tentang Kewajiban Penggunaan Rupiah di Wilayah Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.Sebagaimana mata wang yang lain, mata wang digital hendaklah tidak digunakan sebagai bayaran kepada barangan, perkhidmatan dan aktiviti tidak patuh Syariah seperti pembelian dadah, pelacuran, perjudian dan pendanaan aktiviti keganasan serta penggubahan wang haram.The SAC has also resolved that investment and trading of Digital Assets that fulfil the above requirements and which are traded on Digital Asset Exchange (DAX) registered with SC are permissible.Third: In light of the above and given the significant risks associated with this type of currencies and the instability of their transactions, the Council of the Academy recommends pursuing research and studies on issues affecting its ruling.Bitcoin is a digital currency that does not meet the legal and Sharia criteria that make it a currency subject to the rulings of dealing with official legal currencies recognized internationally.بناءً على ذلك: فلا يجوز شرعًا تداول عملة "البتكوين" والتعامل من خلالها بالبيعِ والشراءِ والإجارةِ وغيرها، بل يُمنع من الاشتراكِ فيها؛ لعدمِ اعتبارِها كوسيطٍ مقبولٍ للتبادلِ من الجهاتِ المخُتصَّةِ، ولِمَا تشتمل عليه من الضررِ الناشئ عن الغررِ والجهالةِ والغشِّ في مَصْرِفها ومِعْيارها وقِيمتها، فضلًا عما تؤدي إليه ممارستُها من مخاطرَ عاليةٍ على الأفراد والدول.According to research and opinion of experts so far, cryptocurrency is not considered ‘ maal ’ (wealth) in Sharia.Muhammadiyah memandang transaksi dan investasi kripto pada dasarnya mubah (boleh) tetapi dengan syarat tertentu.The opinion on this is the same as doing the same with any halal assets such as shares – 1) is permissible, 2) is more debatable and there are differing opinions on short-term trading.Our current position is 'tawaquf'; we can't say it is halal or haram, but we say it is better not to engage in itAs I mentioned at the beginning of this article it is not necessary to substantiate the permissibility of something as long as there are no prohibited factors involved in it or surrounding it.AI-assisted analysis checked against sources. Not a fatwa or investment advice.
Where it trades
2 exchanges from our coverage · no referral links
GateCentralized · GHO/USDTVolume 24h$8.55KReliability5.9Halal productNo halal product
BitgetCentralized · GHO/USDTVolume 24h$7.22KReliability5.0Halal productNo halal product
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Listings as of Sep 18, 2026
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