The Aave community has voted in favor of a landmark proposal, known as 'Aave Will Win', which redirects 100% of revenue from all Aave-branded products back to the DAO, effectively consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. This move marks the end of a months-long governance dispute that began when swap fees were redirected away from the DAO treasury. The proposal, deemed the most important in Aave's history by founder Stani Kulechov, has passed with a landslide vote.
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 Aave DAO, a community-run decision-making body, will oversee the protocol's upgrades, fees, and treasury use. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal aims to make Aave fully token-centric, with a single asset and model.
The vote resolves a controversy that emerged in December when delegates discovered that swap-related fees had been quietly shifted away from the community treasury. The proposal decisively favors token holders, with protocol revenue now supplemented by application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit. The application layer is expected to generate significant revenue, with Aave App targeting mainstream users and offering a 'fintech-like experience' with $1 million account protection per user.
The proposal also takes a hard line against 'value leakage', ensuring that service providers build exclusively for Aave and do not gate relationships or build products at the expense of token holders. Technical improvements, including Aave V4's reinvestment feature and new 'Spokes', are planned to expand collateral options and address DeFi liquidity demand.
With roughly $25 billion in total value locked, 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.