The Aave community has put an end to a months-long governance dispute with the approval of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a landmark decision that redirects 100% of revenue from all Aave-branded products back to the DAO and consolidates economic rights under the AAVE token. This shift in control means the DAO will now be responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities, with a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation approved to support Aave Labs. 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 proposal's approval marks a significant milestone in Aave's history, with founder Stani Kulechov describing it as 'the most important proposal' to date. The decision resolves a controversy that emerged 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, supplementing protocol revenue with application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit. Swaps on Aave.com and Aave Pro are already generating $10 to $20 million in additional revenue on top of existing protocol fees. 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 takes a hard line against 'value leakage,' ensuring that service providers build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and governance process improvements planned to reduce 'politics and friction.' Aave V4's reinvestment feature will turn idle float capital in lending pools into yield-generating positions, creating an additional revenue stream. New 'Spokes' will expand collateral options and address the demand side of DeFi liquidity, with the team planning 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 community'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.