The Aave community has approved the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a framework that redirects all revenue from Aave-branded products back to the DAO, consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. This move means the DAO will now fund Aave Labs' activities, with a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation approved. The proposal resolves a dispute that began when swap fees were redirected away from the DAO treasury, and it decisively favors token holders. The Aave protocol has accumulated significant revenue, with $140 million in 2025, and is expected to match this in 2026.
The application layer will generate additional revenue, with Aave App targeting mainstream users and swaps on Aave.com and Aave Pro already generating $10 to $20 million in revenue. The proposal also takes a hard line against 'value leakage,' with service providers required to build exclusively for Aave.
Aave V4's reinvestment feature will create an additional revenue stream, and the team plans to invest in agentic AI infrastructure for developers building on Aave. With roughly $25 billion in total value locked, Aave is the largest lending protocol in DeFi, and the founder's 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.