A significant governance decision has been made, marking the end of a prolonged dispute that began when Aave Labs redirected swap fees away from the DAO treasury. The Aave community has voted in favor of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a framework that redirects 100% of revenue from all 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 a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation approved.
This shift signifies a major milestone in Aave's history, with the protocol set to become fully token-centric, and resolves a controversy that exposed deeper tensions over control of the protocol's valuable assets. The proposal supplements protocol revenue with application-layer revenue from various Aave products, generating an additional $10 to $20 million in revenue. Aave App aims to target mainstream users with a 'fintech-like experience', offering $1 million account protection per user and a card that generates fees for the treasury. The proposal also takes a hard line against 'value leakage', ensuring service providers build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and governance process improvements.
Technical advancements, including Aave V4's reinvestment feature and new 'Spokes', will expand collateral options and create additional revenue streams. With roughly $25 billion in total value locked, Aave is poised for significant growth, targeting a scale of $1 trillion and positioning itself as a financial network for fintech, banks, and asset managers.