Aave DAO passed AIP 469 on April 12, 2026, with 74.89% of participating votes in favor, granting Aave Labs $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE tokens, and formalizing the 'Aave Will Win' framework that funnels 100% of protocol and product revenue to the DAO treasury.
Proposal Details
The proposal, championed by founder Stani Kulechov, saw 522,780 AAVE tokens cast in favor against 175,310 against. The grant consists of $25 million in aEthLidoGHO, a yield-bearing stablecoin drawn from the Aave V3 Ethereum Lido market, plus 75,000 AAVE tokens vesting linearly over 48 months. At prevailing prices near $90–$91 per AAVE, the token portion was valued at approximately $6.8 million. The recipient address is Aave Labs at 0x488c053F07391dC78b12Da7107eb22aF77A255a1.
Protocol Snapshot
According to DefiLlama data, Aave currently holds $25.08 billion in total value locked (TVL), with annualized fees of $549.16 million and annualized revenue of $73.4 million. Outstanding borrowings stand at $17.508 billion, treasury balance at $83.49 million, and annual operational expenses at $18.07 million.
'Aave Will Win' Framework Background
The framework originated in a January 2, 2026 governance forum post by Stani Kulechov, who argued the protocol had become too insular and needed to expand into real-world assets (RWA), consumer products, and institutional finance, targeting $500 trillion in addressable assets. It moved through a temperature check, a narrowly passed ARFC in March, and finally this binding funding vote. A late-2025 dispute over swap fees collected by Aave Labs via a Cowswap integration—which were not sent to the DAO treasury—created urgency. Under the new model, 100% of revenue from Aave-branded products and the protocol itself flows to the DAO treasury. Aave Labs receives grants and operates exclusively on Aave-related work.
Kulechov called the passage 'the most important proposal in Aave\'s history,' stating: 'If you own AAVE, you own not just the economic rights of the protocol, but the brand, the users, and the integrations.' The framework targets additional revenue streams of $10–20 million annually from products such as Aave App, Aave Pro, Aave Card, Aave Kit, and Horizon (the RWA expansion vehicle). Each product carries milestone-based grant structures totaling up to $17.5 million in future disbursements not included in this vote.
Aave V4 and Roadmap
Aave V4 sits at the center of the technical roadmap, featuring modular architecture, GHO stablecoin integrations, and a 'Spokes' model for new collateral types. Aave Labs also absorbed operations from BGD Labs, whose technical contributor role ended on April 1, 2026. On the regulatory front, the framework calls for a MiCA CASP license in Ireland, a UK EMI license, and global policy advocacy.
Grant Structure and Market Reaction
The stablecoin disbursement is structured as $5 million available immediately, $5 million streamed over six months, and $15 million streamed over 12 months. Any unspent portion must return to the treasury after 12 months. The AAVE token allocation carries no voting rights during the vesting period.
Following the vote, AAVE price rose 5% to 6%, and was still up more than 3% as of 8:30 a.m. Eastern on April 13, trading at $93.79 with a market cap of $1.423 billion and $311.86 million in 24-hour volume. Approximately 19.88% of the market cap is staked. Kulechov posted on X: 'This is the direction we are committing to, a multi-year journey. The foundation is set. Now it’s time to build. Aave will win.'