AAVE Surges 6% as Aave DAO Approves $25 Million Aave Labs Funding Grant

TL;DR

• AAVE is up 6% in the last 24 hours and is now trading at $96 per coin.

• The rally comes after Aave DAO approved funding for the first piece of the “Aave Will Win” framework.

Aave DAO Approves “Aave Will Win” Funding 

The Aave DAO on Sunday approved the proposal for the first binding piece of founder Stani Kulechov's "Aave Will Win" framework, ratifying a $25 million stablecoin grant and 75,000 AAVE (worth about $6.8 million) token allocation to development firm Aave Labs.

The proposal, dubbed "Aave Will Win Framework: Primary Funding Request," closed with 522,780 votes in favor and 175,310 against, according to data from the Aave governance dashboard.

This implies that 75% of the voters support the proposal, an increase from the 52.58% the proposal garnered early last month.

The grant consists of an immediate 5 million aEthLidoGHO allowance (a yield-bearing stablecoin), a 5 million aEthLidoGHO stream over six months, and a 15 million aEthLidoGHO stream over 12 months from the DAO's Collector Contract. The 75,000 AAVE allocation will stream from the Ecosystem Reserve over 48 months, double the 24-month vesting schedule outlined in the original temp check.

Onchain data reveals that the top supporting votes came from an address reportedly belonging to ParaFi Capital holding 190,000 AAVE, delegate "luggis.eth" with 123,580 AAVE, governance firm Areta with 75,775 AAVE, and Token Logic with 73,386 AAVE. 

The approval covers only the funding component of the broader "Aave Will Win" framework. Growth and development grants, including the milestone-based payments tied to the launches of the Aave App, Aave Pro, Aave Card, and Aave Kit, as outlined in the original framework, will be handled through separate governance proposals.

Kulechove pointed out on Sunday that the approval was the most important proposal in Aave’s history. The exec laid out a multi-year strategy that includes consumer products, fintech integrations through Aave Kit, and the pursuit of additional regulatory licenses globally to support fiat onboarding.

Aave Will Win, the most important proposal in Aave's history just passed with a landslide.

Here's the master plan going forward:

General Direction

- Aave becomes fully token-centric: one asset, one model: $AAVE

- To date, protocol revenue per AIP-1 has accumulated to the Aave…

— Stani (@StaniKulechov) April 12, 2026

The "Aave Will Win" framework first emerged in January this year as Kulechov's response to a months-long dispute between Aave Labs and DAO contributors over revenue sharing, brand ownership, and governance authority. 

The framework proposes that all revenue from Aave-branded products, including aave.com swaps, Aave Pro, the Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit, would flow to the DAO treasury in exchange for the DAO funding Aave Labs' product development.

Aave V4 went live on the Ethereum mainnet in late March following a separate AIP that passed with roughly 60% support. 

AAVE is up 6% in the last 24 hours and is now trading at $96 per coin.