Aave passes landmark vote ending months-long fight over protocol revenue control
The proposal directs 100% of application and product revenue back to AAVE token holders, resolving a governance dispute that began when swap fees were quietly redirected away from the DAO treasury in late 2025.
What to know:
- Aave governance approved the “Aave Will Win” proposal, redirecting 100% of revenue from all Aave-branded products to the DAO and consolidating economic rights under the AAVE token.
- The vote ends a months-long dispute over fee redirection and firmly establishes token holders, rather than Aave Labs, as the ultimate beneficiaries of the protocol’s brand, users and revenue.
- Under the new framework, Aave will focus on a token-centric, application-layer strategy—including Aave App, Aave Pro and Aave V4 upgrades—to grow revenue and scale the network toward a $1 trillion target.
This shift means the DAO is now responsible for funding Aave Labs’ activities. And the proposal passed Sunday approved a $25 million stablecoin grant and 5,000 AAVE token allocation (approximately $6.8 million) to Aave Labs.
Aave DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization, is a governance system that manages the Aave lending protocol, allowing token holders to vote on decisions such as upgrades, fees, and treasury use. It effectively acts as the community-run decision-making body for the protocol.
Aave Will Win, the most important proposal in Aave’s history just passed with a landslide.
Here’s the master plan going forward:
General Direction
– Aave becomes fully token-centric: one asset, one model: $AAVE
– To date, protocol revenue per AIP-1 has accumulated to the Aave…
— Stani (@StaniKulechov) April 12, 2026
