The voting on the proposal Aave Will Win has concluded a prolonged conflict between Aave Labs and the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) regarding control over the Aave protocol and the distribution of financial flows. As a result of the vote, Aave Labs has secured funding, and revenues from ecosystem products will be directed to the DAO treasury.
This is reported by Finway
Details of the Standoff Between Aave Labs and DAO
The standoff between Aave Labs and the DAO intensified in late 2025 due to accusations of “power usurpation” by the studio, as well as its desire for increased funding. In December 2025, delegate EzR3aL approached Aave Labs regarding the recipient of additional fees from CoW Swap trades, emphasizing that profits were going to the studio rather than the DAO.
Later, Aave Labs proposed to transfer control over brand products to AAVE token holders; however, the vote on this proposal failed — part of the community accused the studio of “quiet privatization” of the project. In early 2026, Aave Labs initiated a proposal to redirect revenues from off-protocol fees to AAVE holders, and by February, it presented the Aave Will Win proposal, which aimed to transfer DAO revenues in exchange for funding for the studio. However, some community members considered the requested amount to be excessive.
The situation became more complicated after contributor BGD Labs exited the project, as well as a statement from the Aave Chan Initiative group announcing their withdrawal due to disagreement with the voting results, in which, according to community member Mark Zeller, Aave Labs used its own tokens to promote the initiative.
In early April 2026, a similar decision to withdraw was made by Chaos Labs, citing increased workload and the departure of other contributors.
Voting Results and a New Phase for Aave
On April 8, 2026, an updated version of the Aave Will Win proposal was presented to the community. On April 12, it was supported by a significant majority, despite opposition from the Aave Chan Initiative.
“Aave Will Win, the most important proposal in Aave’s history just passed with a landslide.”
From now on, the Aave project will be fully focused on the AAVE token: all revenues from products and applications generated outside the protocol — such as Aave Pro, Aave.com, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit — will be directed to the DAO. Aave Labs, in turn, will focus solely on ecosystem development, while token holders will gain rights to the brand, integrations, and economic flows.
According to project founder Stani Kulechov, this decision will allow the team to focus on growing the market capitalization from $40 billion to $1 trillion. Aave Labs will receive funding of $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE tokens in the form of vesting over four years (approximately $7.1 million at the current rate).
Mark Zeller had not commented on the voting results at the time of this report, but his reaction to the exit of Chaos Labs suggests that he remains firm in his position.
In light of the news, the price of the AAVE token rose by 5.8%:
It is worth noting that the fourth version of the Aave protocol was launched at the end of March 2026.