Aave Governance Rift Escalates: New Proposal Seeks DAO Control of Brand Assets

A new Aave governance push aims to move the protocol’s “soft power” — domains, social handles, and naming rights — under direct tokenholder control via a DAO‑controlled legal wrapper with strong anti‑capture protections. The debate goes to the heart of what decentralization should look like when brand and user gateways matter as much as code. Forum post. (governance.aave.com)

TL;DR

• Aave core contributor Ernesto Boado (BGD Labs) published “[ARFC] $AAVE token alignment — Phase 1: Ownership” on December 16, 2025 (UTC), proposing that AAVE holders gain control over Aave’s brand assets through a DAO‑controlled vehicle. The discussion accelerated across community channels on December 17. Aave governance forum. (governance.aave.com)
• The move follows months of friction over product direction, fee flows, and who steers the public-facing “Aave” brand. Independent media characterized the new ownership bid as a landmark test of tokenholder rights. Coverage. (thedefiant.io)

What happened

Ernesto Boado’s proposal asks that AAVE token holders “receive control of Aave’s brand assets (domains, social handles, naming rights, etc.) on a DAO‑controlled vehicle … with strong anti‑capture protections.” It explicitly requests that any current controller — regardless of identity — transfer control “in ethos and in practice” to the DAO. In other words, the Aave brand should be governed the same way liquidity and parameters are: by tokenholders. Forum post. (governance.aave.com)

Concretely, the assets listed include the Aave domain (e.g., aave.com), official accounts on X/Discord/Instagram, and naming rights such as “Aave App,” “Aave Web App,” or titles that could suggest centralized control (for example, “CEO of Aave”). The post frames these as “soft assets” that meaningfully influence user trust, contributor incentives, and market access. Primary discussion. (governance.aave.com)

Why this matters for DeFi governance

Brand and distribution are the front doors to a protocol. If a single team controls the domain, app gateway, or social channels, they can effectively set the narrative and steer user flows — even when on‑chain parameters are controlled by the DAO. The Defiant reports that early delegate reactions are broadly supportive, noting the proposal could become a template for aligning “soft power” with tokenholder rights across DAOs. Analysis. (thedefiant.io)

The backdrop: months of mounting tensions

Recent community threads questioned whether changes to Aave’s front‑end integrations and fee routing were sufficiently aligned with the DAO, including a widely read post scrutinizing the CoW Swap integration and associated partner fees. The discussion reignited concerns around “stealth privatization” of public‑facing assets and business lines tied to the Aave brand. Community Q&A on the forum and reporting. (governance.aave.com)

The brand‑ownership push also lands in a year of sweeping economic and product debates: from the DAO’s “Aavenomics update” — profit‑sharing, buybacks, and new risk modules — to contentious discussion of the “Horizon” initiative for RWAs, where Aave’s founder later clarified that no new token would be issued given DAO consensus. These episodes sharpened focus on what AAVE should represent and who should benefit from protocol scale. CoinDesk on value‑accrual plans and The Block on Horizon token stance. (coindesk.com)

What the proposal envisions

• Transfer of brand assets into a DAO‑controlled legal entity, to be defined at a later stage, with “anti‑capture” protections that reduce the risk of any single vendor or service provider asserting control.
• DAO primacy over naming rights for products and organizations that use “Aave,” preventing ambiguity about what is genuinely DAO‑sanctioned versus third‑party.
• Unified control of official communication channels to avoid fragmented messaging and user confusion during upgrades or security incidents.
  Full scope and rationale are discussed in the proposal thread. (governance.aave.com)

How this intersects with protocol upgrade roadmaps

As Aave steers toward its next major protocol_upgrade with V4 — pitched as a “hub‑and‑spoke” liquidity architecture that could serve as DeFi’s operating system — the surface area of brand risk expands. Multiple “spoke” markets and institutional integrations will rely on consistent, trusted user gateways and naming. Tokenholder control of brand assets could help ensure neutrality as contributors ship new features and markets atop shared liquidity. V4 overview. (thedefiant.io)

What comes next in Aave governance

Aave’s process typically follows: forum discussion → Snapshot temperature checks → ARFC review/vote → on‑chain AIP vote and execution, with defined quorum and timelock rules. Even for brand/IP matters, community sentiment is gauged on Snapshot before any formal on‑chain action. Builders and delegates should watch for a potential Temp Check and then an AIP specifying the legal wrapper, assignment of IP, and operational controls. Refer to the official Governance docs and the community’s governance process document for timelines and thresholds. (aave.com)

Implications for tokenholders, builders, and users

• Alignment: Codifying DAO control over the brand would align “soft assets” with on‑chain authority, making it clearer that AAVE — not any single company — is the coordination primitive of the ecosystem. Forum rationale. (governance.aave.com)
• Neutral access: With V4 and new product lines on the horizon, neutral branding and distribution reduce the risk of preferential funnels and increase confidence for integrators choosing where to build. V4 context. (thedefiant.io)
• Security and UX: During transitions of domains or social handles, phishing risk can spike. Users should verify official channels and interfaces announced in governance spaces before interacting with contracts. For critical actions like voting, staking, or supplying collateral, prefer hardware‑secured signing.

品牌过渡期间的实用安全提示

• 始终通过官方的 Aave 治理论坛 跟进提案链接，不要点击未经请求的私信或搜索广告中的链接。(governance.aave.com)
• 在信任一个「新官方」域名或应用链接之前，请在论坛、Snapshot 及权威媒体间交叉核实相关公告。治理流程。(aave.com)
• 对于委托人和大额存款用户，请使用支持硬件的钱包进行签名操作，并设置自定义支出限额，以降低授权风险。

OneKey 提示

如果你计划更积极地参与治理——无论是委托 AAVE、对 ARFC 或 AIP 投票，还是与新的部署进行交互——使用硬件钱包都是提升安全底线的简单方式。OneKey 设备提供离线密钥存储、设备上的交易验证以及多链支持，有助于你避免在品牌或界面变更期间出现的盲目授权或伪造前端攻击。这一点在提案涉及对 Aave 品牌相关的官方域名或应用入口的控制权问题时尤为重要。

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Aave 的品牌所有权争论是 DAO 合法性的一次分水岭：如果代码、金库和风险参数能在链上治理，那么用户所依赖的名称、域名和社交渠道也应当如此。无论此次投票结果如何，其影响都将不仅仅决定 Aave 的未来走向，更将影响整个行业如何看待去中心化系统中「软权力」的治理问题。