The Aave community has voted in favor of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a landmark decision that marks the end of a prolonged governance dispute. This proposal, deemed the most significant in Aave's history by its founder, Stani Kulechov, establishes a framework where 100% of the revenue from all Aave-branded products is redirected back to the DAO, consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. As a result, the DAO is now responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities, with the recent approval of a $25 million stablecoin grant and a 5,000 AAVE token allocation.
The Aave DAO, a community-run decision-making body for the protocol, oversees the Aave lending protocol, allowing token holders to vote on key decisions. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal resolves a dispute that arose in December when it was discovered that swap fees had been quietly redirected away from the community treasury. This controversy highlighted a deeper issue regarding control over the protocol's most valuable assets.
The proposal decisively favors token holders, with protocol revenue, which reached $140 million in 2025, now being supplemented by application-layer revenue from various Aave products. The ambition lies in the application layer, with Aave App aiming to provide a 'fintech-like experience' for mainstream users, complete with $1 million account protection per user and a card that generates fees for the treasury.
The proposal also addresses 'value leakage' by requiring service providers to build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and governance process improvements planned to reduce friction. Technically, Aave V4's reinvestment feature and 'Spokes' expand collateral options and address DeFi liquidity demands. With roughly $25 billion in total value locked, 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 with nine-figure income.
The target is to scale from $40 billion to $1 trillion, with Aave aiming to become a financial network that any fintech, bank, or asset manager can plug into.