Aave Latest News: Aave V4 Sets the Tone, 100% of Product Revenue Goes to DAO

On February 13, 2026, the Aave community experienced the most significant governance milestone of the year in the DeFi lending sector. Yesterday, Aave Labs officially submitted the “Aave Will Win Framework” proposal, which completely abandons the revenue distribution practices of previous years and commits to directing 100% of all income from products under the Aave brand directly to the Aave DAO treasury.

As of February 13, according to the latest market data from Gate, AAVE is priced at $119.38, down 6.45% over the past 24 hours. The index price has fluctuated widely between $125 and $116, reflecting the market’s complex sentiment: the grand narrative of V4 and the $50.7 million funding request are clashing with governance concerns.

A Radical Transfer of Interests: From “Protocol Fees” to “Full Brand Revenue”

The core breakthrough of this proposal is not in technical parameters but in a complete overhaul of the business model.

According to the detailed rules published by Aave Labs on the governance forum, the 100% revenue transfer does not only refer to protocol fees from V3 or the upcoming V4 but encompasses the entire Aave brand matrix:

• On-chain protocol layer: all interest differentials and liquidation income from Aave V3, and the unreleased V4
• Front-end interaction layer: all front-end fees generated by aave.com
• Off-chain and innovation layer: Aave Card debit card business, AAVE ETF-related business lines, and any future incubated brand products

Aave founder Stani Kulechov emphasized on X platform that this move will expand the DAO’s income base from the traditional protocol fees established by AIP-1 to include non-protocol and off-chain income streams. AAVE tokens will no longer merely symbolize value captured from liquidation penalties but will serve as proof of cash flow ownership across the entire brand matrix.

However, this “sincerity” is not a free gift. Aave Labs is simultaneously requesting from the DAO:

• $25 million in stablecoins (main grant) + $17.5 million milestone grant
• 75,000 AAVE tokens (worth approximately $8.95 million at Gate’s current price)
• Five grants of $3 million each for the development and promotion of Aave App, Aave Pro, and Aave Card
• $2.5 million for the development of Aave Kit developer toolkit

The total funding request amounts to approximately $50.7 million, representing 31.5% of Aave DAO’s current treasury (which totals $160.9 million) and 42% of non-AAVE reserves ($100.6 million).

V4’s New Direction: From “Version Iteration” to “Technical Constitution”

Another key decision in the proposal is establishing Aave V4 as the “unified long-term technical foundation” of the protocol.

Compared to the incremental improvements of V3, V4’s architecture aims at “trillions-level on-chain finance”:

• Native integration of RWA: real-world assets collateralization no longer requires complex wrapping layers
• Hub-and-Spoke liquidity model: unified cross-chain liquidity pools to address fragmentation across multiple chains
• Institutional-grade risk control engine: tailored to meet compliance and capital efficiency needs of traditional financial tech firms

Kulechov describes this architecture as “the on-chain pillar of global finance.” Once implemented, Aave will evolve from a purely crypto-native lending protocol into a credit infrastructure connecting TradFi and DeFi.

But controversy follows. The proposal explicitly suggests: after V4 launches, gradually adjust V3 parameters over 8-12 months to guide migration, and temporarily delay new V3 features development.

Marc Zeller, founder of Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), strongly opposed this. He pointed out that V3 currently generates over $100 million annually in protocol revenue, making it one of the most stable cash flow engines in DeFi, and V4 has not yet completed all audits, with mainnet deployment still distant. “Bundling a testnet version that hasn’t generated revenue with a mature revenue source for voting is extremely risky governance bundling.”

Governance Challenges: The Fate of 75,000 AAVE and Revenue Definition

Beneath the surface of interest transfer, deeper governance tensions emerge.

The transfer of 75,000 AAVE tokens has been called “invisible dilution of governance power” by Zeller. Based on current token distribution, this transfer accounts for about 13.6% of DAO’s current AAVE holdings (~550,000 tokens). “Before accepting these tokens, DAO must be clear on how much voting power the recipient already controls. Without mandatory wallet disclosures, this is a governance cash-out under information asymmetry.”

Austin Barack, founder of Relayer Capital, believes that “the uncertainty about the value proportion of AAVE tokens has disappeared, and after rationalizing investments, token price revaluation should occur.” Data from Gate’s perpetual contract market shows that despite price pressure, AAVE holdings remain above 550,000 tokens, with intense long-short battles.

A larger systemic vulnerability lies in the definition of “100% revenue.”

Zeller dissected the proposal details and found that Aave Labs unilaterally retains discretion over “revenue” deductions—such as partner revenue sharing, user subsidies, market rebates, and even some funds directly converted into user incentives—all decided solely by Labs, with no independent audit, DAO prior approval, or deduction cap. “Without a verifiable definition, ‘100%’ is just a pretty slogan.”

Compromise and Persistence: The Community’s “Four-Step Governance”

Faced with a single request for $50.7 million, the community did not outright reject the direction but proposed a rigorous corrective path.

ACI recommends completing the following governance patches during the Temp Check phase:

1. Split votes: align revenue, confirm V4, establish foundation, and fund requests into four separate proposals to test consensus levels
2. Independent foundation entity: a new foundation holding all Aave trademarks and IP must establish legal entity before fund transfer, with an independent board structure separate from any single service provider
3. Wallet disclosure: any entity receiving DAO funds or AAVE tokens must disclose all directly or indirectly controlled on-chain addresses
4. Third-party revenue audit: an independent auditor to define “revenue,” with deduction items set with DAO approval limits

DeFi researcher Ignas commented: “Labs has made important concessions, token holders should acknowledge that. But questions about who truly controls the foundation still remain, especially since those 75,000 tokens must not be used for voting.”

Price and Sentiment: Market Data from Gate

On February 13, Gate spot market shows buy orders concentrated between $118 and $120, with sell pressure above $125. The 24-hour volatility is 11.7%, with implied volatility at recent highs.

Technical indicators show the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) at $125.06 acting as a dynamic resistance, with RSI at 36, still above oversold territory. If subsequent split votes pass, AAVE may recover the $125 level; if governance deadlock persists, a retest of $97 support is possible.

Notably, Gate perpetual contract funding rates remain at a slight positive of 0.000286, indicating that longs have not exited en masse and are extending positions ahead of governance resolution.

Summary

This round of disputes in Aave began in December 2025, when an independent agent questioned revenue attribution. Two months later, Labs proposed the framework of 100% revenue transfer. Zeller concluded in a lengthy article: “This is a demonstration of governance effectiveness and a stage victory for Aave DAO. But direction does not equal execution, slogans do not equal systems.”

V4 is destined to be the most noteworthy DeFi upgrade of 2026. But beyond code, what matters more is how DAO can establish a truly verifiable, checks-and-balances, sustainable governance paradigm. Every quote on the Gate market is a vote for the evolution of this paradigm.