Aave Labs, the core development team behind Aave, was granted $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE tokens by the protocol’s DAO under the “Aave Will Win” framework.
The governance vote passed Saturday with nearly 75% in favor. The stablecoin allocation will be paid in installments over 12 months, while the 75,000 AAVE tokens will vest linearly over four years, according to the governance dashboard.
The Aave Will Win framework aims to accelerate the protocol’s growth by having the DAO fund development while Aave Labs focuses on building and scaling. The stablecoins will directly fund Aave Labs’ operations, and the token allocation is intended as an incentive for developers to help grow the protocol. Other elements of the framework, including growth and development grants tied to specific product launches and milestones, will be brought forward as separate governance proposals.
Aave is one of the largest DeFi protocols, with total value locked exceeding $25 billion, per DefiLlama. The framework represents a major shift in funding allocation and operational structure.
Following the vote, Aave founder Stani Kulechov called Aave Will Win the “most important proposal in Aave’s history,” saying it “just passed with a landslide.” He emphasized that AAVE ownership represents not just economic rights but also ownership of the brand, users, and integrations, and framed the proposal as the start of a multi-year building effort.
Under the framework, which passed on April 5, Aave Labs will shift to a DAO-funded operating model. Revenue generated by Aave products, such as Aave Pro, will flow to the DAO treasury rather than being retained by Aave Labs. The proposal also sought ratification of Aave V4 as the protocol’s long-term technical foundation and outlined plans to create a new foundation to steward the Aave brand. Aave Labs would narrow its focus to Aave-related products to streamline operations, accelerate development, and build more competitive offerings.
Some community members raised concerns before the vote about the size of the funding package, the inclusion of 75,000 AAVE tokens (which carry voting power), and how “revenue” is defined. The framework passed a temperature check on March 1, and shortly thereafter a major governance delegate, the Aave Chan Initiative, announced it would wind down its involvement with the DAO citing concerns about governance standards and voting dynamics. In January, a separate proposal to transfer control of Aave’s brand assets and intellectual property to the DAO failed, prompting earlier debate over long-term direction and governance structure.