A months-long struggle within the Aave community has come to an end with the approval of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, dubbed the most significant proposal in Aave's history by founder Stani Kulechov. This proposal establishes a framework where 100% of revenue generated from Aave-branded products is redirected back to the DAO, consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. Consequently, the DAO will now be responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities, with the approved proposal including a $25 million stablecoin grant and an allocation of 5,000 AAVE tokens, valued at approximately $6.8 million, to Aave Labs. The Aave DAO functions as a decentralized autonomous organization, governing the Aave lending protocol and enabling token holders to participate in decision-making processes such as upgrades, fees, and treasury utilization.
The 'Aave Will Win' proposal marks a significant milestone, as it resolves a dispute that began in December when it was discovered that swap fees had been quietly redirected away from the community treasury. This proposal decisively favors token holders, ensuring that protocol revenue, which reached $140 million in 2025, will be supplemented by revenue from various application layers, including Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit.
The application layer is poised to drive growth, 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 will generate fees for the treasury. The proposal also addresses 'value leakage' by requiring service providers to build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and zero tolerance for relationship gating or self-serving products.
Furthermore, the governance process will undergo improvements to reduce friction and politics. Technically, Aave V4's reinvestment feature will convert idle capital in lending pools into yield-generating positions, creating an additional revenue stream. The introduction of new 'Spokes' will expand collateral options and address DeFi liquidity demands. Additionally, 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, generating $140 million in annual revenue. 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 integrate with.