The Aave community has voted in favor of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a framework that redirects 100% of revenue from Aave-branded products back to the DAO, consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. This move marks the end of a governance fight that began when Aave Labs redirected swap fees away from the DAO treasury. The proposal, deemed the most important in Aave's history by founder Stani Kulechov, approves a $25 million stablecoin grant and a 5,000 AAVE token allocation to Aave Labs, with the DAO now responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities.
The Aave DAO, a community-run decision-making body, manages the Aave lending protocol, allowing token holders to vote on key decisions such as upgrades, fees, and treasury use. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal resolves a dispute that exposed a deeper tension over whether Aave Labs or the DAO controlled the protocol's most valuable asset: its user-facing products and the revenue they generate.
The proposal supplements protocol revenue, which reached $140 million in 2025, with application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit, generating an additional $10 to $20 million in revenue. Aave App aims to provide a 'fintech-like experience' with $1 million account protection per user and a card that generates fees for the treasury.
The proposal takes a hard line against 'value leakage,' with service providers required to build exclusively for Aave, and measurable goals and governance process improvements planned to reduce 'politics and friction.' Technical developments include Aave V4's reinvestment feature, which turns idle float capital in lending pools into yield-generating positions, and the expansion of collateral options through 'Spokes.' The team also 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, 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 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.