Aave Labs has proposed transferring 100% of its protocol revenue to the DAO in exchange for operating funds.

PANews reported on February 13th that, according to The Block, Aave Labs has submitted a framework proposal to transfer 100% of the revenue from all its Aave-branded products to the Aave DAO treasury, and to transfer related trademarks and intellectual property to the newly established Aave Foundation. The proposal also requests financial support from the DAO for its operations. According to the proposal, Aave Labs will relinquish all revenue from future business lines including Aave v3, v4 protocols, aave.com front-end revenue, Aave Card, and AAVE ETF. In exchange, it requests the DAO to commit $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE to cover operating expenses, and to apply for five grants of $3 million each for the development and marketing of the Aave App, Aave Pro, and Aave Card, as well as $2.5 million for the Aave Kit. Aave Labs stated that the v4 architecture will enable revenue models that were difficult to achieve in previous versions, and plans to gradually adjust v3 parameters to guide migration 8-12 months after the v4 launch. The proposal also requests the DAO to coordinate v4 development with Labs and to temporarily suspend the development of new v3 features.

Marc Zeller, founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, objected. Zeller called it a "cashing out attempt disguised as goodwill," saying Labs was trying to use radical proposals as bargaining chips and "attempt to impose an outcome regardless of the governance process." He estimated Labs' actual funding needs at around $50 million and questioned the legitimacy of its governance.