Aave Founder Reveals New Strategy After Governance Vote Rejects IP Transfer

Aave's community just slammed the door on an intellectual property transfer—and the founder is already mapping the detour.

The Backlash

The governance vote didn't just fail; it sent a clear message. Token holders pushed back against centralizing control of the protocol's IP, a move that would've handed significant legal and strategic power to a newly proposed foundation. Now, the team's pivoting—fast.

The Pivot Play

Forget the original plan. The new strategy leans into decentralization, hard. Expect a focus on strengthening existing community governance tools and perhaps new, permissionless development frameworks. The goal? Keep building without the legal baggage that traditional finance loves to saddle on innovation.

Why It Matters

This isn't just internal politics. It's a stress test for decentralized governance. Can a major DeFi protocol adapt when its community says 'no' to leadership? Aave's next moves will set a precedent—showing whether decentralized autonomous organizations can steer through real-world legal and strategic hurdles without a traditional corporate rudder.

The Road Ahead

The founder's revised blueprint likely bypasses the need for a single legal entity, instead distributing development and ownership across the existing ecosystem. It's a more chaotic path, but one that arguably stays truer to crypto's ethos. After all, what's a little chaos compared to the soul-crushing efficiency of a boardroom?

The vote proves one thing: in DeFi, the 'shareholders' can actually rebel—and the CEO has to listen. Try that on Wall Street.

Aave Founder Says DeFi Is at a Crossroads

Kulechov argued that Aave should expand beyond its core DeFi lending business into areas such as real-world assets, institutional credit and consumer-facing financial products.

Without that broader push, he warned, DeFi risks stalling as competition intensifies and market conditions shift.

He described the ecosystem as being “at a crossroads,” urging the community to think beyond near-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.

The move WOULD mark a shift in how the token captures value, extending its role beyond governance voting.

Kulechov also said a revised proposal addressing intellectual property and brand rights will be brought forward, following strong resistance to the initial plan.

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The strategy pitch appears aimed at unifying a community that has grown divided over questions of control and revenue ownership.

Kulechov singled out real-world assets as a major growth avenue, citing estimates that put the value of global financial assets at roughly $500 trillion, a pool he believes on-chain finance can increasingly tap.

Aave remains one of the largest DeFi protocols by scale. Industry data showed the platform’s total value locked surpassed $45 billion in October, underscoring its influence even as the broader sector grapples with slower growth and regulatory uncertainty.

Aave Governance Dispute Centers on Swap Fees and Revenue Control

The governance dispute itself centered on fees generated by token swaps routed through services such as CoW Swap, which allow users to trade directly from Aave.

Some community members argued those revenues should accrue to the DAO, while others favored keeping them under the control of Aave Labs to fund development.

Tensions were heightened by Kulechov’s recent purchase of roughly $15 million worth of AAVE tokens.

Critics suggested the MOVE was intended to sway the vote, a claim Kulechov rejected, saying the purchase reflected personal conviction rather than an attempt to influence governance.

Last month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission formally concluded its multi-year investigation into the Aave Protocol without recommending any enforcement action.

The action ends nearly four years of regulatory uncertainty surrounding one of decentralized finance’s most widely used lending platforms.