The prolonged governance battle that commenced when Aave Labs diverted swap fees from the DAO treasury has come to an end, with the community voting in favor of the proposal. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal, deemed the most crucial in Aave's history by its founder, has been passed, establishing a framework that redirects 100% of revenue from all Aave-branded products back to the DAO and consolidates economic rights under the AAVE token.

This significant shift implies that the DAO will now be responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities, with the proposal approving a $25 million stablecoin grant and a 5,000 AAVE token allocation to Aave Labs. The Aave DAO, a governance system that oversees the Aave lending protocol, enables token holders to vote on key decisions such as upgrades, fees, and treasury utilization. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal has put an end to the controversy that arose in December when delegates discovered that the integration of CoWSwap into Aave's interface had discreetly shifted swap-related fees away from the community treasury. This proposal decisively resolves the dispute in favor of token holders, with protocol revenue now being supplemented by application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit.

The application layer is where the ambition lies, with Aave App aiming to provide a 'fintech-like experience' for mainstream users, complete with $1 million account protection per user and a card that generates fees for the treasury. The proposal takes a firm stance against 'value leakage,' with service providers required to build exclusively for Aave, and measurable goals set for every service provider. On the technical front, Aave V4's reinvestment feature transforms idle float capital in lending pools into yield-generating positions, creating an additional revenue stream. New 'Spokes' expand collateral options and address the demand side of DeFi liquidity, while the team plans to invest in agentic AI infrastructure for developers building on Aave.

With roughly $25 billion in total value locked across multiple chains, Aave is the largest lending protocol in DeFi, and the $140 million annual revenue figure positions it alongside Uniswap and Lido as one of the few protocols generating nine-figure income. The stated target is to scale from $40 billion to $1 trillion, positioning Aave as a financial network that any fintech, bank, or asset manager can plug into.