The Aave community has voted in favor of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, ending a months-long dispute over protocol revenue control. The proposal, deemed the most important in Aave's history, establishes a framework that redirects all revenue from Aave-branded products back to the DAO, consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token. This shift means the DAO will now fund Aave Labs' activities.
The proposal also includes a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation to Aave Labs. The Aave DAO, a community-run decision-making body, manages the Aave lending protocol, allowing token holders to vote on decisions such as upgrades, fees, and treasury use.
The 'Aave Will Win' proposal resolves a controversy that arose in December when delegates discovered that swap-related fees had been quietly shifted away from the community treasury. 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 expected to generate significant revenue, with Aave App targeting mainstream users with a 'fintech-like experience' and a card that will launch later, generating fees for the treasury.
The proposal also takes a hard line against 'value leakage,' ensuring that service providers build exclusively for Aave, with measurable goals and no tolerance for relationship gating or products built at the expense of token holders. The Aave team plans to invest in agentic AI infrastructure for developers building on Aave and expand collateral options with new 'Spokes.' With roughly $25 billion in total value locked across multiple chains, Aave aims to scale from $40 billion to $1 trillion, positioning itself as a financial network that any fintech, bank, or asset manager can plug into.