Following months of debate, the Aave community has passed a pivotal proposal, known as Aave Will Win, which marks a significant shift in the protocol's revenue distribution. The proposal, deemed the most important in Aave's history by founder Stani Kulechov, ensures that 100% of revenue generated from all Aave-branded products is redirected back to the DAO and consolidated under the AAVE token. This change positions the DAO as the primary funding source for Aave Labs' activities, with a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation approved to support the labs' initiatives. The Aave DAO, a community-driven decision-making body, oversees the Aave lending protocol, enabling token holders to vote on key decisions such as upgrades, fees, and treasury utilization.
The Aave Will Win proposal resolves a controversy that emerged in December when it was discovered that swap fees had been quietly redirected away from the community treasury. This landmark vote decisively favors token holders, providing them with control over the protocol's most valuable assets, including user-facing products and the revenue they generate.
With protocol revenue projected to match the $140 million earned in 2025, the Aave community is poised for significant growth, driven by the ambition to create a fully token-centric model. The proposal outlines a master plan, which includes the development of Aave App, targeting mainstream users with a fintech-like experience, and the launch of a card that will generate fees for the treasury. Additionally, the proposal addresses the issue of value leakage, ensuring that service providers build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and zero tolerance for relationship gating or products built at the expense of token holders. The Aave team also plans to invest in agentic AI infrastructure for developers building on the protocol and expand collateral options through new Spokes, addressing the demand side of DeFi liquidity.
With approximately $25 billion in total value locked across multiple chains, Aave is the largest lending protocol in DeFi, and the $140 million annual revenue figure positions it alongside Uniswap and Lido as one of the few protocols generating nine-figure income. Kulechov's stated target is to scale Aave from $40 billion to $1 trillion, establishing it as a financial network that any fintech, bank, or asset manager can plug into, rather than a traditional bank.