The Aave community has put an end to a months-long governance dispute with the passage of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a landmark vote that redirects 100% of revenue from all Aave-branded products back to the DAO and consolidates economic rights under the AAVE token. This move signifies a major shift in the protocol's governance structure, with the DAO now responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities.
The proposal also approved a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation to Aave Labs. The Aave DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, manages the Aave lending protocol and allows token holders to vote on key decisions such as upgrades, fees, and treasury use. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal aims to make Aave fully token-centric, with a single asset and model. The vote resolves a controversy that arose in December when delegates discovered that swap-related fees had been quietly shifted away from the community treasury.
The proposal decisively favors token holders, with protocol revenue now supplemented by application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit. The application layer is expected to drive growth, with Aave App targeting mainstream users and generating fees for the treasury. The proposal also takes a hard line against 'value leakage,' with service providers required to build exclusively for Aave and meet measurable goals. Governance process improvements are planned to reduce friction and politics.
On the technical side, Aave V4's reinvestment feature and new 'Spokes' expand collateral options and address DeFi liquidity demands. With roughly $25 billion in total value locked, Aave is the largest lending protocol in DeFi, and the $140 million annual revenue figure puts it alongside Uniswap and Lido as one of the few protocols generating nine-figure income.