Aave DAO Approves $25M Grant and 75,000 AAVE to Labs

Aave’s decentralized autonomous organization approved a funding package that gives Aave Labs $25 million in stablecoins paid in installments over 12 months and allocates 75,000 AAVE tokens that will vest linearly over four years. The proposal passed on April 5 with roughly 75% of votes in favor.

The package is part of a framework called “Aave Will Win,” which aims to shift Aave Labs to a DAO-funded operating model. Under the framework, revenue from Aave product lines, including the institutional offering Aave Pro, will flow to the DAO treasury instead of being retained by Aave Labs. The proposal also ratified Aave V4 as the protocol’s long-term technical foundation and called for the creation of a new foundation to steward the Aave brand.

Aave Labs will focus on Aave-related products, with the stated goal of streamlining operations and accelerating product development. Other elements linked to growth and development, such as grants tied to specific product launches and milestone targets, were not included in this vote and will be proposed to the DAO separately.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov wrote on social media that the framework is the “most important proposal in Aave’s history” and that it “just passed with a landslide,” adding that AAVE holders own “not just the economic rights of the protocol, but the brand, the users, and the integrations.” Aave Labs wrote in its governance materials that fintech firms and institutions are moving on-chain and that regulatory clarity in some markets creates opportunities to reach consumers directly.

The proposal drew criticism from some community members who questioned the size of the funding package, the inclusion of 75,000 AAVE tokens that carry voting power, and how the proposal defines revenue. The Aave Chan Initiative, a notable governance delegate, announced it would wind down its involvement with the DAO, citing concerns about governance standards and voting dynamics during the process. An earlier proposal in January to transfer control of Aave’s brand assets and intellectual property to the DAO failed.

Aave remains one of the largest decentralized finance protocols, with total value locked above $25 billion. The approved framework reallocates funding authority to the DAO and sets a multi-year plan for funding development, managing the technical roadmap and organizing brand stewardship.