Aave founder Stani Kulechov said decentralized finance has moved beyond its experimental phase and into a wider financial ecosystem. At the same time, Aave Labs introduced a new governance proposal that would send all product revenue to the AAVE DAO treasury while requesting $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE for operations, a structure that quickly drew criticism inside the community.
Kulechov points to stablecoins, fintech integration, and regulation
Kulechov said DeFi’s progress can be seen in the scale of on-chain stablecoins, now above $300 billion, and in protocols that generate verifiable revenue. That shift, in his view, shows the sector is no longer defined only by experimentation. It is building out into a broader financial system with clearer products and business models.
He also cited interest-bearing stablecoins, embedded wallets, and growing participation from fintech firms as signs of that development. The examples he referenced included PyUSD, SoFi, Western Union, MoneyGram, Stripe, Tempo, and Whop. On the institutional side, he said major banks and asset managers such as Fidelity and BlackRock have established digital asset teams. He also pointed to regulatory progress, including the GENIUS Act, the proposed CLARITY Act, Europe’s MiCA framework, and ongoing work in the United Kingdom.
Aave Labs asks for funding while offering all product revenue to the DAO
The proposal submitted on Thursday is a non-binding governance temperature check titled “Aave Will Win Framework.” Under the plan, all product revenue would be routed to the AAVE DAO treasury. In exchange, Aave Labs asked for $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE tokens to support operations.
The framework also includes an additional $17.5 million in grants tied to future product deployments. According to the proposal, the requested funding would support work and activities that Aave Labs had previously financed outside core protocol development.
Marc Zeller challenges the size of the request and DAO authority
Marc Zeller, founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, pushed back soon after the proposal was published. He argued that the request was too large and said it had been presented without earlier consultation with the DAO. His criticism centered not only on the amount, but also on the way the proposal was structured.
Zeller said proposals of this kind can start with outsized demands and later shift into negotiation positions. He also questioned whether governance still holds meaningful authority if outcomes can be shaped in advance. That disagreement has put the focus on treasury control, oversight, and the balance of power between protocol contributors and the DAO.
Kulechov, for his part, said the sector’s growth has been driven by continuous building and long-term participation, while broader adoption will take time.