Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov has pushed back against claims that he bought $15 million worth of AAVE tokens to sway a recent governance vote that ultimately failed. The controversy followed a DAO proposal that aimed to move control of Aave’s brand assets under the DAO, which was decisively rejected as most voters either voted against it or chose to abstain.
The situation intensified after an anonymous DAO member known as EzR3aL accused Aave Labs of redirecting fees from a new integration with DEX aggregator CoW Swap to a wallet allegedly controlled by Aave Labs, without first getting approval from the DAO. This sparked strong criticism and reopened debates around governance transparency and ownership of intellectual property within the ecosystem.
In response, Kulechov said that disagreement and debate are normal in decentralized governance systems. He admitted that Aave Labs had not done a good enough job explaining how it is economically aligned with AAVE token holders. He also pointed out that the DAO generated around $140 million in revenue this year alone—more than the total of the previous three years combined—and emphasized that the treasury remains fully under token holder control.
Regarding his $AAVE purchase, Kulechov clarified that the tokens were not used for voting purposes and described the buy as a personal, long-term investment reflecting his belief in the project. He added that the Aave ecosystem is strong enough to support multiple service providers and reaffirmed his commitment to working collaboratively toward a more transparent and better-aligned future.
Adding another layer to the controversy, former Aave Labs CTO Ernesto Boado claimed that the proposal was submitted without his awareness or approval, further fueling concerns that standard DAO governance processes may have been bypassed.
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