Aave Founder Outlines Strategy After Governance Vote Rejects IP Transfer
Stani Kulechov, the founder of Aave, has sought to restart the discussion within the Aave community after a contentious governance vote rejected a proposal to transfer control of the protocol’s brand assets and intellectual property to its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This move has sparked a debate over the long-term direction of Aave and how value should be shared between token holders and major contributors.
Aave’s Future Direction and Value Sharing
Kulechov argued that Aave should expand beyond its core DeFi lending business into areas such as real-world assets, institutional lending, and consumer-focused financial products. This expansion is necessary, he believes, as the growth of decentralized finance lending alone may not be enough to sustain the next phase of Aave’s development. The Aave ecosystem is “at a crossroads,” and the community needs to think beyond short-term governance disputes.
A key element of the roadmap is a plan by Aave Labs to distribute non-protocol revenue to holders of the AAVE token. This move would mark a change in how the token captures value and expand its role beyond governance voting. Kulechov also announced that a revised proposal on intellectual property and trademark rights would be presented after strong opposition to the original plan.
Aave Governance Dispute and Regulatory Environment
The governance dispute itself revolved around fees generated by token swaps routed through services like CoW Swap, which allow users to trade directly from Aave. Some community members argued that these revenues should go to the DAO, while others preferred to keep them under the control of Aave Labs to fund development. Tensions were heightened by Kulechov’s recent purchase of about $15 million worth of AAVE tokens, which some critics suspected was intended to influence the vote.
Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially closed its multi-year investigation into the Aave protocol without recommending any enforcement action. This move ends nearly four years of regulatory uncertainty surrounding one of the most widely used lending platforms in decentralized finance. For more information, visit https://cryptonews.com/news/aave-founder-lays-out-strategy-after-governance-vote-rejects-ip-transfer/
