BlockBeats News, February 25 — Marc Zeller, founder of the Aave ecosystem contribution organization ACI, released an open report revealing that since 2017, Aave Labs has received approximately $86 million in capital support, including ICO, VC funding, and direct DAO grants. The founding team retained 23% of the LEND tokens during the 2017 ICO (later migrated 100:1 to AAVE). The report states that before receiving DAO funds, Labs had a capital base of about $48.7 million, and later received approximately $37.4 million in grants from the DAO. Currently, they are applying for an additional $51 million through the “Aave Will Win” proposal.
The report mainly questions Labs’ past product performance, stating that apart from the core protocol, six independent products launched have all failed or not achieved profitability. Among them, the RWA project Horizon claimed to have surpassed $1 billion in scale, but the actual RWA collateral was about $135 million, heavily concentrated in a single asset. Since its launch in August 2025, Horizon has generated about $216,000 in total revenue for the DAO, while incentives and related costs amounted to approximately $5.25 million, resulting in a return on investment of about 24:1.
The report also notes that early core developers of Aave V1, V2, and V3.0 left Labs between 2021 and 2022. V3.0 is considered the last major protocol version led by Labs, with subsequent versions mainly driven by DAO service providers. In related governance votes, a single large delegated address played a key role in passing the Horizon proposal, sparking community discussions about governance power concentration and fund utilization efficiency.
These controversies come at a time when a new $17.5 million product growth funding proposal is under review, further fueling discussions within the Aave community about fund allocation, performance disclosure, and governance transparency.
Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third parties and does not represent the views or opinions of Gate. The content displayed on this page is for reference only and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Gate does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information and shall not be liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. Virtual asset investments carry high risks and are subject to significant price volatility. You may lose all of your invested principal. Please fully understand the relevant risks and make prudent decisions based on your own financial situation and risk tolerance. For details, please refer to
Disclaimer.
Related Articles
Jack Dorsey Teases the Legendary Bitcoin Day Faucet to Restart on April 6
Jack Dorsey posts to announce that he will restart the Bitcoin tap activity on April 6, 2026, paying tribute to early developers and reigniting the spirit of the community. This event comes against the backdrop of a Bitcoin market pullback, and the Bitcoin held by Block, the company led by Dorsey, still remains profitable.
ChainNewsAbmedia2h ago
Ethereum Foundation stakes another $93 million ether, reaching its 70,000 ETH target
The Ethereum Foundation staked $93 million in ether, reaching nearly $143 million in total staked ETH, almost fulfilling its 70,000 ETH target. This shift to staking generates yield for funding operations without selling assets, although some ETH remains unstaked.
CoinDesk7h ago
Hyperliquid ecosystem platform Based launches the Launchpool feature
Gate News message, April 4, Hyperliquid ecosystem crypto trading and consumer platform Based recently announced the launch of the Launchpool feature. Based token holders can stake their tokens to earn points, and thereby participate in Launchpool activities. It is reported that the first project to go live on the platform’s Launchpool is Pull Fun.
GateNews8h ago
Ripple Engineer Explains XRPL Update Pace, Focus Turns to Bug Fixes and Reliability - U.Today
RippleX engineer Mayukha Vadari addressed developer concerns as the XRP Ledger undergoes significant improvements. Key areas of focus include telemetry, nomenclature, type safety, refactoring, logging, and documentation to enhance stability and bug fixing, making the platform more robust and accessible for developers.
UToday8h ago
