WHO OWNS 'AAVE': AAVE LABS VS AAVE DAO

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Aave Labs replaced Paraswap with CowSwap on the Aave website, redirecting 15-25 bps swap fees from DAO treasury to Labs-controlled addresses, leading to an estimated $10 million in annual DAO losses as the protocol-versus-product boundary collapsed. Aave Labs may have a fiduciary duty since the Aave brand was economically paid for through DAO governance, risk absorption, and treasury spending over years, while Labs claims the frontend operation sits outside protocol governance and monetization is justified. The tension escalated with Horizon generating $100k revenue versus $500k DAO incentives plus GHO opportunity costs, Labs bypassing ACI's MegaETH proposal to secure 30 million points directly, and ERC-4626 Aave Vaults positioning Labs-owned products as default Aave V4 UX, capturing fees built on DAO reputation.