Aave DAO Revenue Hits $140M as Governance Dispute Intensifies

• Aave DAO posts $140M revenue in 2025, surpassing its prior three years combined.
• Kulechov addressed controversy over his personal $15M purchase of AAVE tokens, clarifying that they were not used to vote on the recent governance proposal.
• Reports suggest the founder bought around $10M of AAVE just before a major vote, raising concerns about too much control held by a single person.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov announced on X that the company’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) generated $140 million in revenue this year, exceeding the combined total of the previous three years of DAO income. This is a major step forward for one of the biggest DeFi lending protocols.

Kulechov emphasized that AAVE token holders control the DAO’s funds and admitted that the company hadn’t done a good enough job explaining how its products generate revenue. He promised to be clearer about this in the future.

The founder also addressed controversy over his personal $15 million purchase of AAVE tokens, clarifying that they were not used to vote on the recent governance proposal. He described this as a show of his personal belief and long-term support for the Aave project.

In the end, Kulechov said that the Aave network is big enough for many different service companies to thrive and that his team will keep helping and partnering with those building on the platform.

However, some in the community and analysts questioned the timing of the buy, arguing it could have swayed a heated DAO vote about who owns the Aave brand and how revenue is distributed. Reports suggest Kulechov bought around $10 million of AAVE just before a major vote, raising worries about too much control being held by one person.

The Root of the DAO Dispute

At the heart of the controversy is a dispute over how Aave’s revenue is allocated and who truly owns various parts of the protocol.

Earlier in December, members raised alarms after discovering that swap fees generated via a new CoW Swap integration on Aave’s website were being routed to an address controlled by Aave Labs rather than the DAO treasury. Critics argued this move diverted over $10 million per year from the community and was done without a proper vote.

The conflict grew into a formal vote to move control of key brand properties like domain names and social media to the DAO. Though the proposal didn’t pass, the discussion highlighted the ongoing tension between Aave Labs as the original development company and the community of token holders who vote on the protocol’s rules.

Related: Wintermute Founder Opposes Aave Proposal Over Token Value Concerns