The Aave community has successfully passed the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a landmark vote that marks a significant shift in the protocol's revenue management. This move redirects 100% of revenue from all Aave-branded products back to the DAO, effectively 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. The proposal aims to make Aave fully token-centric, with a single asset and model.
This development resolves a dispute that arose in December when delegates discovered that swap-related fees had been quietly shifted away from the community treasury. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal decisively favors token holders, ensuring that protocol revenue, which reached $140 million in 2025, will be supplemented by application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit. The proposal also takes a hard line against 'value leakage,' requiring service providers to build exclusively for Aave and meet measurable goals.
With this move, Aave is poised to scale from $40 billion to $1 trillion, positioning itself as a financial network that any fintech, bank, or asset manager can plug into.