A significant governance decision has been made by the Aave community, marking the end of a prolonged dispute over protocol revenue control. The 'Aave Will Win' proposal, deemed the most crucial in Aave's history by its founder Stani Kulechov, has been approved, establishing a framework that channels 100% of revenue from all Aave-branded products back to the DAO and consolidates economic rights under the AAVE token. This move signifies a shift in responsibility, with the DAO now tasked with funding Aave Labs' activities, including a $25 million stablecoin grant and a 5,000 AAVE token allocation. The Aave DAO, a community-run decision-making body, manages the Aave lending protocol, enabling token holders to vote on key decisions such as upgrades, fees, and treasury use.
The 'Aave Will Win' proposal resolves a controversy that emerged in December when it was discovered that swap fees had been quietly redirected away from the community treasury. The approved 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 improved governance processes to reduce friction.
Technically, Aave V4's reinvestment feature and new 'Spokes' are set to 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 approved proposal positions it for further growth, with a target of scaling from $40 billion to $1 trillion and becoming a financial network that any fintech, bank, or asset manager can plug into.