> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.aeralend.app/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.aeralend.app/security/risks.md).

# Risks

There is no Terms of Use and no formal Risk Disclosure, because there is no operating legal entity to be a party to one. This page is not a contract and it is not advice. It is a plain account of what can go wrong.

## If you borrow

**You can be liquidated.** If the bCOOK rate falls, or your interest accrues far enough, anyone may repay part of your debt and take your collateral plus an 8% bonus. No grace period, no notification, nobody to appeal to.

**Health falls on its own.** Interest accrues every slot. A position opened comfortably and never touched will eventually reach the liquidation line with no action from you and no move in the rate.

**Borrowing at the maximum leaves almost no room.** 55% LTV is health 1.18 — a 15% fall in bCOOK reaches the line.

**The only ways out are repaying or being liquidated.** A loan cannot be cancelled, reversed or refinanced by anyone.

## If you lend

**You are exposed to the loans the pool has made.** Your COOK is lent out. If liquidations fail to cover a position — because the rate gapped, or nobody liquidated in time — the pool absorbs the shortfall, and lenders absorb it with it.

**Withdrawal depends on liquidity.** You can only withdraw what is *available*. If borrowers hold most of the pool, you wait. The interest curve is designed to make that resolve quickly; it is not a guarantee that it will.

**In an emergency, withdrawals pause.** If the oracle stops trusting the bCOOK rate, withdrawing lent COOK is held along with new borrowing. Repaying and lending stay open.

## Everyone

**Aera has not been audited.** See [Audit status](/security/audit-status.md).

**The stake pool is a dependency you cannot opt out of.** Collateral is valued from a program Aera does not control and somebody else can upgrade. Aera detects a replacement; it cannot prevent one.

**Rates are not promises.** Every rate shown is the annualised figure implied by utilization at the moment the page read the chain.

**Administrative parameters can change.** Caps, and fees within their ceilings, are set by an administrator. The ceilings are compiled into the program and cannot be exceeded; the values below them can move.

**Smart contract risk.** The program is software, and this one has not been independently reviewed.

**Cookie Chain risk.** Halts, reorganisations or congestion affect everything here — including whether a liquidation can be prevented in time.

## What Aera cannot do to you

* It cannot move your funds without a transaction you sign.
* It cannot unstake your bCOOK. Locked collateral keeps earning at BakeYourStake.
* It cannot take more than the 8% bonus in a liquidation, and the protocol's share comes out of that 8% rather than on top.
* It cannot stop you repaying. Every restricted state leaves that open.

## Before you use it

Borrow well under the limit. Watch the health factor rather than the LTV. Keep enough COOK to repay with. Assume the rate can move faster than you can react, because occasionally it will.


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.aeralend.app/security/risks.md?ask=<question>&goal=<endgoal>
```

`ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
`goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal.

The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.