‘A hostile takeover attempt’: Aave Labs’ unilateral push to vote on brand-rights proposal sparks community outcry

Simmering governance tensions within the Aave DAO broke open again on Monday after Aave Labs unilaterally moved a proposal on brand-asset ownership to a Snapshot vote, prompting its author and prominent delegates to accuse the firm of bypassing community process and accelerating a decision that was still under active debate.

Aave Founder Stani Kulechov said that the move marks a step toward clarity, writing on X that the DAO’s alignment proposal had been advanced to Snapshot “after extensive discussion” and that the community was “ready to make a decision.” Voting opens Dec. 23.

The proposal in question, titled “ARFC $AAVE token alignment. Phase 1 – Ownership,” seeks to give AAVE token holders explicit control of the project’s brand assets, including domains, social handles, naming rights, GitHub organizations, NPM namespaces, and other channels currently stewarded by Aave Labs, BGD Labs, and other contributors. It also calls for anti-capture protections, DAO-controlled legal structures, and the ability to enforce recourse if brand assets are misused or withheld.

However, the attempt to advance the debate has instead deepened a governance rift already straining the Aave ecosystem.

DAO divided

Its original author, former Aave Labs CTO and BGD Labs co-founder Ernesto Boado, said the version pushed to Snapshot did not reflect his intent.

In a post on X, he said Aave Labs had “unilaterally submitted my proposal to vote in a rush, with my name on it, and without notifying me at all,” adding that he “would not have approved it” while community discussion was still active. He called the action “disgraceful,” saying it “breaks all codes of trust with the community,” and urged tokenholders either not to participate or to vote abstain to avoid legitimizing the escalation.

Aave Labs, in its forum post announcing the Snapshot submission, said five days of discussion demonstrated the need for a formal decision. The firm argued that significant engagement from token holders and delegates warranted moving forward to clarify next steps. “A vote will help bring resolution to this discussion,” it wrote, saying the community should refocus on building once the matter is settled.

Boado disagreed, replying directly on the forum that public governance requires open, sometimes difficult debate, not surprise escalation. He said the current vote was “nonexistent” in his view and that it disregarded basic procedural expectations.

The dispute quickly drew in prominent delegates such as Marc Zeller of the Aave Chan Initiative, who said Aave Labs had escalated the proposal “without resolving discussion, without clear consensus, and without consent” from Boado.
Zeller criticized the timing, noting the holiday period reduces coordination and turnout among large holders and institutions. He also pointed to a recent wave of new delegations with sizable voting power, saying the combination “adds to the perception of a rushed escalation optimized for outcome rather than legitimacy.”

In his forum post, Zeller characterized the move as a “hostile takeover attempt by Labs,” arguing that a measured, two-phase governance process could have avoided the conflict. “This did not have to escalate this way,” he wrote. “A truly sad outcome, and one that was entirely preventable.”

Amid the DAO fracas, the AAVE token slumped over 10% in the last 24 hours, according to The Block’s price page.

The Block has reached out to Aave Labs for comment on the latest debacle.

Aave in dispute

The renewed turmoil follows days of friction inside the Aave DAO.

Earlier this month, delegates began probing whether revenue from Aave’s CoW Swap integration had been diverted from the DAO treasury, triggering allegations of “stealth privatization” and leading to a direct standoff between community members and Aave Labs.

That debate produced a separate proposal — described by one holder as a “poison pill” — suggesting the DAO consider absorbing Aave Labs entirely if alignment could not be restored.

As tensions mounted, Kulechov published a long-term vision outlining how Aave could scale into a trillion-dollar ecosystem, which coincided with the Securities and Exchange Commission closing a four-year investigation into the project.

At the time, an Aave Labs spokesperson told The Block that the discussions reflected “a maturing ecosystem working through questions of structure, representation, and expectations as it scales.”

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