Aave Faces Internal Conflict Over $10 Million Revenue

A dispute over revenue sharing has erupted between the community governing DeFi lender Aave and its primary development firm, Aave Labs.

The conflict centers on Aave Labs’ recent decision to integrate CoW Swap as the underlying infrastructure for trading on the protocol’s primary website. The switch replaced ParaSwap, a previous integration that generated referral fees for the Aave DAO treasury.

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DAO Members Question Economic Fallout From Interface Update

Governance delegates say the change has cut off a revenue stream of about $200,000 per week. On an annualized basis, they estimate the impact at roughly $10 million, shifting value away from token holders.

Marc Zeller, founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, criticized the move, calling it a “stealth privatization” of brand assets.

Zeller argued that Aave Labs unilaterally altered the economic arrangement without seeking approval from the DAO, which governs the underlying smart contracts.

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Zeller warned that the lack of communication raises concerns about how future upgrades will be handled.

He pointed specifically to the upcoming V4 upgrade and questioned whether other “accessory features” could also be ring-fenced from the DAO.

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Aave Labs Defend Moves

In a detailed response, Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, defended the integration, rejecting the characterization of the lost funds as stolen revenue.

Kulechov argued that the previous fees from ParaSwap were a “discretionary surplus” rather than a mandated protocol fee.

He also drew a sharp line between the Aave protocol, the DAO-governed decentralized smart contracts, and the front-end interface. He described the interface as a private product funded and maintained by Aave Labs.

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Kulechov said Aave Labs bears the costs of engineering and security for the website. He added that the DAO does not subsidize ongoing product development expenses.

Consequently, the firm asserts the right to monetize the interface to ensure its sustainability.

The development firm also restated Kulechov’s position, acknowledging a failure to communicate the change effectively.

The firm said it switched to CoW Swap to deliver better execution prices and stronger protection against MEV (maximum extractable value), rather than to generate additional revenue.