The Aave community has put an end to a months-long governance dispute by voting in favor of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal. This proposal, deemed the most crucial in Aave's history by founder Stani Kulechov, establishes a framework that redirects all revenue from Aave-branded products back to the DAO, consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. As a result, 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 community-run decision-making body, 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 resolves a controversy that emerged in December when delegates discovered that the integration of CoWSwap into Aave's interface had quietly shifted swap-related fees away from the community treasury. This move answers the question of whether Aave Labs or the DAO controls the protocol's most valuable assets, decisively in favor of token holders. With protocol revenue reaching $140 million in 2025 and expected to match that in 2026, the proposal supplements this income with application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit.
Swaps on Aave.com and Aave Pro are generating an additional $10 to $20 million in revenue on top of existing protocol fees. The application layer is where the ambition lies, with Aave App targeting mainstream users with a 'fintech-like experience' and a card launching later that will generate fees for the treasury. The proposal 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 'politics and friction.' On the technical side, Aave V4's reinvestment feature turns 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, with 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, generating nine-figure income alongside Uniswap and Lido.
The 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.