Aave DAO and Labs Clash Over Brand Asset Ownership Rights

The governance organization behind the decentralized finance platform Aave DAO is pushing for official ownership of the platform’s brand assets. This move follows a dispute with the development company behind Aave’s main interface, Aave Labs, regarding monetization of features on the front-end platform. The discussion is taking place in the Aave governance forum as of December 2025.

Aave currently generates annual revenue exceeding $100 million, making brand control highly valuable for upcoming projects. Ernesto Boado, a longtime contributor from BGD Labs, submitted a proposal requesting formal transfer of domains, social media accounts, and naming rights to a DAO-controlled entity designed with protections against capture by any one group. Boado emphasized the need to clarify ownership explicitly as the current situation rests on an “implicit expectation of alignment” between service providers and the DAO. The proposal was posted here: Aave governance forum.

Community responses to the proposal have generally been supportive. Among them, EzR3aL, who authored the open letter that began the debate, highlighted the need to safeguard the DAO by implementing legal wrapper conditions such as avoiding new governance tokens and restricting non-compete clauses for service providers. Marc Zeller of the Aave Chan Initiative argued that the DAO’s community-funded activities have paid for the brand assets multiple times—starting from the initial 2017 ICO of the legacy LEND token, token allocations to the founding team, liquidity mining rewards to build user loyalty, and fees paid to service providers. Zeller noted this debate could have significant implications for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) at large.

“Aave Labs’ equity-holder incentives and AAVE token-holder incentives are divided,” said Aave co-founder and former COO Jordan Lazaro Gustave, pointing out selective amplification of pro-Labs content on official channels. He warned that in a potential buyout scenario, the DAO that funded Aave in its early days risks being marginalized. This concern echoes wider industry trends, such as Circle’s recent acquisition of the Axelar team, highlighting the risk of core developer groups leaving DAOs.

While Aave Labs has not formally responded in the forum, founder Stani Kulechov shared a detailed post discussing the project’s nearly ten-year development journey. He referred to 2026’s protocol upgrades, including the launch of version 4 and the RWA-focused Horizon features, as foundational pillars for Aave’s future. Kulechov stated “alignment isn’t declared but shown by doing the work,” and that governance debates are a healthy part of the process. However, he did not address Boado’s ownership proposal directly. Kulechov also recently disclosed buying $10 million worth of AAVE tokens and referenced the resolution of an SEC investigation in an August letter.

Frustration from the Labs side was expressed by Emilio Frangella of Aave Labs’ parent company, Avara, who commented on the difficulty of navigating the industry’s challenges. Official social media accounts for Aave have echoed Kulechov’s positive messaging, focusing on growth themes rather than the governance discussions.

Messaging from Aave Labs has evolved recently. Early encouragements of “DeFi will win” now emphasize “Aave will win” as the rallying phrase. The exact meaning of “Aave” in this new context remains unclear and part of the ongoing discussion.

For further reading, visit the governance proposal here: Aave Token Alignment Phase 1 Ownership.

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