The Aave decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has ratified a major funding proposal, approving a $25 million stablecoin grant and a 75,000 AAVE token allocation (worth approximately $6.8 million) to development firm Aave Labs. This vote represents the first binding approval of founder Stani Kulechov's "Aave Will Win" strategic framework.
The Aave Improvement Proposal (AIP), titled "Aave Will Win Framework: Primary Funding Request," concluded with 522,780 votes in favor and 175,310 against, securing roughly 75% support. This marks a significant increase from a contentious temperature check in early March, which passed with only 52.58% support amid allegations of vote manipulation by Aave Labs-linked addresses.
The funding package is structured as follows: an immediate 5 million aEthLidoGHO (a yield-bearing stablecoin) allowance, a 5 million aEthLidoGHO stream over six months, and a 15 million aEthLidoGHO stream over 12 months, all drawn from the DAO's Collector Contract. The 75,000 AAVE token allocation will be streamed from the Ecosystem Reserve over 48 months, doubling the original 24-month vesting schedule proposed in the temperature check.
The vote revealed significant governance divisions. The Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), a leading governance service provider founded by Marc Zeller, cast the largest single dissenting vote of 166,200 AAVE. ACI had previously announced it would not renew its DAO engagement and would exit by July, citing concerns over Aave Labs' growing influence over governance outcomes.
Major supporting votes came from an address reportedly belonging to ParaFi Capital (190,000 AAVE), delegate "luggis.eth" (123,580 AAVE), governance firm Areta (75,775 AAVE), and treasury service provider Token Logic (73,386 AAVE), which was consulted on the proposal's specification.
Founder Stani Kulechov declared victory in a post on X, calling the outcome "the most important proposal in Aave's history" and outlining a multi-year strategy. This includes developing consumer products, pursuing fintech integrations via Aave Kit, and securing additional global regulatory licenses to support fiat onboarding. Kulechov also took aim at departed service providers, stating the DAO would "oppose any vendor lock-ins or service providers that build products for themselves at the expense of token holders" and declaring that "payments for posting governance proposals are over."
The "Aave Will Win" framework, introduced in January, is Kulechov's response to a prolonged dispute between Aave Labs and DAO contributors over revenue sharing, brand ownership, and governance authority. Under the broader agreement, all revenue from Aave-branded products—including aave.com swaps, Aave Pro, the Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit—would flow to the DAO treasury, in exchange for the DAO funding Aave Labs' product development. Sunday's vote covers only the initial funding component; subsequent proposals will handle growth and development grants tied to specific product launches.
The vote occurs during a period of turbulence for Aave's contributor ecosystem. BGD Labs, the protocol's long-time technical contributor, ended its engagement on April 1, citing centralization concerns. Risk service provider Chaos Labs announced its exit last week, with co-founder Omer Goldberg stating its $3 million 2025 budget was insufficient compared to the estimated $8 million needed to oversee both V3 and V4. Aave V4 went live on Ethereum mainnet in late March following a separate AIP that passed with about 60% support.
Aave remains the largest decentralized lending protocol by total value locked. Following the vote's passage, the price of AAVE showed a slight rebound after having fallen nearly 5% over the preceding 24 hours.
