Aave Tutorial 2026: How to Lend and Borrow in DeFi

Learn how lending and borrowing works in DeFi using Aave in 2026, including how to supply assets as collateral, how to borrow against collateral, how Aave markets and interest rates work, how to read liquidation thresholds and health factor, how to supply and withdraw, how to borrow and repay, and why liquidation risk must be understood before using DeFi lending protocols. Official links used in this tutorial: Aave: https://aave.com Aave App: https://app.aave.com Phantom Wallet: https://phantom.com/ This tutorial is part of The Freedom System, our step-by-step financial education app for people who do not just want more finance content, but a real system for what to do next. Inside The Freedom System, you learn how money, markets, investing, digital assets, DeFi, risk management, and financial automation fit together. You build your own Personal Financial Statement, calculate your Freedom Number, and follow a daily AI-guided path designed to move you from financial confusion to a structure you understand, control, and maintain. This Aave lending and borrowing tutorial supports the DeFi section of the curriculum. The goal is not to chase yield or maximize leverage. The goal is to understand how DeFi lending works, what risks it carries (liquidation, collateral, smart contract, oracle, interest rate, regulatory), and how it fits into a broader financial system with discipline and risk control. Freedom Capital: The Freedom System: https://studio.com/the-freedom-system/freedom-system?c=6Pc9gaY2 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreedomCapitalDA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freedomcapitalda/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freedomcapitalda Chapters: 00:00 How DeFi lending and borrowing works 01:09 Opening Aave and verifying the official URL 01:36 Connecting a wallet and reading the dashboard 02:10 Aave markets, networks and available assets 03:23 Base market example and supply/borrow rates 04:25 Borrow rates, liquidity and asset details 06:13 Supply APY, utilization and variable rates 07:44 Collateral usage and liquidation threshold 08:39 Supplying USDC into Aave 10:35 Confirming the supply transaction 11:21 Borrowing against supplied collateral 12:15 Health factor and liquidation risk 13:29 Adjusting borrow size to reduce risk 14:04 Confirming the borrow transaction 14:36 Reviewing the borrowed position and dashboard 15:13 Repaying debt and withdrawing supplied assets Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Digital assets, DeFi, lending protocols, borrowing against collateral, stablecoins, wrapped assets, and smart contracts involve risk, including volatility, liquidation risk, collateral risk, interest rate risk, borrow rate volatility, oracle risk, smart contract risk, governance risk, liquidity risk, regulatory risk, counterparty risk, gas or fee risk, slippage, phishing risk, third-party platform risk, and potential loss of capital including supplied collateral. Yield, borrow rates, collateral factors, liquidation thresholds, and health factor can change over time. Always verify official URLs, understand the risks, and do your own research before connecting a wallet, supplying assets, borrowing, repaying, withdrawing, holding, or interacting with any DeFi protocol.