The Aave community has voted in favor of the 'Aave Will Win' proposal, a framework that consolidates economic rights under the AAVE token and redirects 100% of revenue from Aave-branded products back to the DAO. This move marks a significant shift, with the DAO now responsible for funding Aave Labs' activities, including a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation.
The proposal resolves a dispute that began when swap fees were redirected away from the community treasury, exposing a deeper tension over control of the protocol's valuable assets. With this decision, 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 proposal aims to prevent 'value leakage' and promote a token-centric model, with service providers required to build exclusively for Aave and meet measurable goals. Aave's technical roadmap includes the introduction of Aave V4's reinvestment feature, 'Spokes' to expand collateral options, and investments in agentic AI infrastructure for developers.
As the largest lending protocol in DeFi, with $25 billion in total value locked, Aave aims to scale to $1 trillion, positioning itself as a financial network for fintech, banks, and asset managers.