Aave, a major decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol, is embroiled in a governance feud after the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) and their lab issued conflicting reports on protocol revenue, development and funding accountability.
The dispute arises just in time for the key vote on a proposed $50 million funding package for them, which has ignited heated discussion among tokenholders over accountability, revenue attribution, and the maintenance of core infrastructure.
Background of the Dispute
The dispute is about the “Aave Will Win” framework,a proposal to the token holders for the approval of up to $42.5 million in stablecoins a.nd 75,000 AAVE tokens. In return, they would allocate 100% of the revenue from the lab, branded products to their DAO treasury.
Marc Zeller, the founder of ACI, released a transparency report on their historical funding, using an investment return framework on past DAO grants.
Zeller’s report indicated that it has been given approximately $86 million in total funding, including ICO proceeds, venture funds, and DAO payments.
They have responded with their own statement of contributions and emphasised their role in designing and developing V1, V2, and V3, as well as highlighting features that form the basis of the protocol’s current revenue model.
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Competing Views
Under the current plan, they will transition to a DAO-supported operating model, with product-level revenue being turned over to the DAO.
The proposal also asks for the ratification of Aave V4 as the protocol’s long-term technical basis and describes the establishment of a new foundation to manage their brand.
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What Tokenholders Are Voting On
On the one hand, Zeller thought that future DAO grants should be filtered by quantified revenue contribution, while at the same time placing greater emphasis on transparent disclosure standards.
He also criticized governance votes in his example, where he suggested that maybe the funding bit should be separated from revenue alignment and V4 ratification.
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