A long-standing governance dispute within the Aave community has come to an end, with the recent passing of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal. This landmark vote marks a significant milestone in Aave's history, as it establishes a framework that redirects all revenue from Aave-branded products back to the DAO, consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. As a result, the DAO will now be responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities, with the proposal approving a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation to Aave Labs.
The Aave DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, serves as the community-driven decision-making body for the protocol. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal has been hailed as a crucial step forward, as it resolves a dispute that emerged in December when delegates discovered that the integration of CoWSwap into Aave's interface had quietly shifted swap-related fees away from the community treasury.
This controversy highlighted a deeper tension between Aave Labs and the DAO over control of the protocol's most valuable assets. The proposal decisively favors token holders, ensuring that protocol revenue, which reached $140 million in 2025, will be supplemented by application-layer revenue from Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit. The application layer is poised to drive growth, with Aave App targeting mainstream users with a 'fintech-like experience' and a card launch that will generate fees for the treasury. The proposal also takes a strong stance against 'value leakage,' ensuring that service providers must build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and governance process improvements planned to reduce friction.
Technically, 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, addressing the demand side of DeFi liquidity, while the team 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, generating $140 million in annual revenue.
The 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.