The Aave community has voted in favor of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a framework that consolidates economic rights under the AAVE token and redirects 100% of revenue from Aave-branded products back to the DAO. This shift puts the DAO in charge of funding Aave Labs' activities, with a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation approved. The proposal resolves a governance dispute that began when swap fees were redirected away from the DAO treasury, exposing a deeper tension over control of the protocol's user-facing products and revenue. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal decisively favors token holders, supplementing protocol revenue with application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit.
The proposal takes a hard line against 'value leakage,' requiring service providers to build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and governance process improvements planned. Aave V4's reinvestment feature and new 'Spokes' will create additional revenue streams, with the team investing in agentic AI infrastructure for developers building on Aave. With roughly $25 billion in total value locked, Aave aims to scale from $40 billion to $1 trillion, positioning itself as a financial network for fintech, banks, and asset managers.