Aave’s decentralized autonomous organization has approved a plan to advance the V4 protocol toward deployment on the Ethereum mainnet, signaling restored governance alignment after weeks of internal tension and contributor departures.
A Snapshot proposal to deploy Aave V4 on Ethereum passed with near-unanimous support on Monday. According to Snapshot data, the vote recorded more than 645,000 votes in favor, effectively no opposition and no abstentions. The result marks a turnaround from earlier divisions and indicates broad community agreement to move forward with the V4 rollout.
Founder Stani Kulechov said the Snapshot outcome is expected to progress to an Aave Improvement Proposal (AIP) — the binding on-chain vote that would authorize the protocol to deploy and activate V4 on Ethereum.
Aave V4, proposed by Aave Labs on March 19, introduces a modular architecture for on-chain credit markets that separates liquidity from market-specific risk. The design centers on shared liquidity “Hubs” and market-specific “Spokes.” Hubs supply capital, while Spokes create distinct borrowing environments with tailored risk parameters and exposure limits. According to Aave Labs, this structure preserves unified liquidity depth and capital efficiency while enabling more precise risk controls at the market level.
The modular approach is intended to support a broader set of financial use cases, including assets with different risk profiles, maturities, or off-chain dependencies. The proposal says V4 would make it easier to add new collateral types and structured credit markets while maintaining consolidated liquidity access.
The strong vote for V4 comes after a period of governance strain that prompted several core contributors to step back. On Feb. 20, long-time technical contributor BGD Labs announced it would end its four-year involvement with Aave, citing what it described as an “asymmetric organizational scenario” and an “adversarial position” toward its work on the protocol. Then on March 3, the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), a significant governance delegate and service provider, said it would exit following disputes over a proposed funding package; ACI founder Marc Zeller raised concerns about governance standards and voting dynamics and said the organization would wind down operations.
With the Snapshot approval, attention now turns to the AIP stage and the binding on-chain vote required to finalize V4’s activation on Ethereum. Observers will be watching whether the on-chain process sustains the consensus shown in the off-chain Snapshot vote.
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