Aave Labs posted a governance proposal on Feb. 12 asking tokenholders to endorse a strategic bundle that might direct 100% of Aave-branded product income to the DAO treasury, formalize model safety, and middle the roadmap on Aave V4.
The initiative was named the “Aave Will Win Framework.”
The proposal hasn’t been carried out but, as an early governance temperature examine. But, the general public framing is unambiguous: “We consider there is no higher time to align behind a token-centric imaginative and prescient and place Aave to win over the following decade.”
That timing language is the true story.
Aave is not simply restructuring its economics. As an alternative, it’s constructing as if the US enforcement overhang that outlined 2022 by way of 2024 is shrinking, and worth accrual to tokenholders is protected to pursue once more.
The proposal explicitly references “regulatory readability rising in sure markets,” and the numbers counsel that evaluation is not simply vibes.
SEC crypto enforcement fell 60% in 2025 in contrast with 2024, dropping from 33 actions to 13, per Cornerstone Analysis. That decline coincides with the primary yr beneath SEC Chair Paul Atkins.
Moreover, the SEC’s 2026 examination priorities positioned much less emphasis on crypto than in prior years, and the company voluntarily dismissed its Binance lawsuit with prejudice, a transfer that explicitly hyperlinks to the President Donald Trump administration’s coverage stance.
The DOJ additionally signaled a softer posture, with a memo that scaled again sure crypto-platform enforcement and disbanded the nationwide crypto enforcement crew.
Aave’s transfer reads like pricing in a multi-year window, when enforcement threat is decrease, and protocols can compete like companies once more with out instantly triggering securities-tripwire fears. This contains budgets, model safety, and product income funnels.
That is greater than one proposal. It is a regime-shift thesis taking part in out throughout DeFi.
Constructing like a enterprise, however on-chain
The Aave framework goes past tokenomics. It defines a complete working mannequin.
If authorised, the DAO would obtain product revenues from aave.com interface charges, the cell app, card merchandise, Aave Professional, Aave Equipment, Aave Horizon, and even an AAVE exchange-traded product line merchandise.
Aave claims the swap integration on aave.com generates roughly $10 million in annualized income that might move to the DAO beneath the framework. It additionally states that Aave V3 generates over $100 million in annualized income.
These numbers place the DAO as greater than a governance wrapper, because it’s being set as much as steward a model, allocate capital, and pursue regulated product ambitions.
The proposal bundles worth seize with model and IP safety, operational funding, and a sooner execution path than governance by committee would permit.
Aave says it has been self-funding product growth and authorized work, together with SEC protection, and now needs to align behind a token-centric mannequin.
The framing is express: construct the DAO to perform as an entity that may compete institutionally, not simply in a decentralized method.
That shift issues as a result of, when enforcement is intense, protocols keep away from something that seems to be revenue distribution.
When enforcement cools, the chance value of governance-only tokens turns into tougher to defend, particularly with establishments looming as customers. Aave is betting the enforcement window has opened large sufficient to make worth accrual a characteristic, not a legal responsibility.
Worth accrual is again
Aave is not alone. Uniswap is pursuing an analogous playbook.
The UNIfication proposal goals to activate protocol charges and burn UNI, amongst different ecosystem adjustments.
DefiLlama’s Uniswap V2 methodology exhibits that since Dec. 28, 2025, 17% of Ethereum charges have been allotted to UNI buybacks and burns. Tokenholder worth accrual is embedded immediately into the protocol’s reside design and operations.
Uniswap can also be pursuing a broader fee-and-burn roadmap throughout variations over time.
Different protocols already present measurable worth accrual. DefiLlama tracks “holders income” throughout protocols reminiscent of Pendle, illustrating that value-capture mechanisms are normalized throughout components of DeFi.
The info infrastructure exists to measure charges, income, and tokenholder-directed flows, which makes the shift from “governance token with unclear worth” to “token with measurable seize” legible to establishments.
The sample is evident: protocols that prevented payment switches or worth routing in the course of the enforcement-heavy years are reopening these levers. The calculus modified as a result of the danger profile modified.
What the regime shift alerts
Again to constructing like a enterprise, however on-chain. Aave’s proposal does not learn like a DAO governance train. It reads like an organization outlining its income mannequin, model technique, and institutional roadmap.
The distinction is that the “firm” is on-chain, the price range flows to a treasury ruled by tokenholders, and the distribution mechanism runs by way of sensible contracts. Nevertheless, the operational logic is acquainted: seize worth, allocate sources, defend IP, and compete for market share.
That sort of readability was radioactive when the SEC was treating most tokens as unregistered securities. Now it is being pitched as a aggressive benefit.
Regime shift triggers value-accrual experiments. When the enforcement posture shifts, the chance set for protocol design shifts as effectively.
The underlying expertise did not change. The regulatory surroundings did, and that unlocks design area.
Protocols can now experiment with payment switches, treasury routing, buybacks, burns, and distribution mechanisms that had been too legally dangerous to implement when each token allocation was beneath scrutiny.
The following combat is legitimacy alongside decentralization. Aave bundles model and IP safety right into a single bundle alongside token-centric alignment. That’s a wager that the DAO should function as a legible entity able to stewarding a model and a product suite, functioning as a coherent group with accountable possession over its ecosystem.
The proposal positions the DAO to work together with regulated markets, reminiscent of exchange-traded merchandise, institutional custody, and compliance-wrapped interfaces. On the similar time, it maintains on-chain economics.
That pressure between decentralization and institutional legibility is the brand new frontier.
| Protocol | Mechanism (treasury routing / buyback+burn / staker distribution) | Standing (proposed vs energetic) + date | Quant hook (what you may cite) | Knowledge supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aave | Treasury routing — “100% of Aave-branded product income → Aave DAO treasury” (incl. aave.com charges, App, Card, Professional, Equipment, Horizon, AAVE ETP) | Proposed (governance TEMP CHECK) — Feb 12, 2026 | Swap integration on aave.com “~$10M annualized income”; “Aave V3 already generates over $100M in annualized income” | Aave governance temp examine. (Aave) |
| Uniswap V2 | Buyback+burn — DefiLlama methodology: protocol routes 17% of charges (Ethereum) to purchase again & burn UNI | Lively — since Dec 28, 2025 (per DefiLlama methodology observe) | “From 28 Dec 2025, 17% (0% earlier than) charges on Ethereum shared to purchase again and burn UNI” | DefiLlama Uniswap V2 methodology part. (DeFi Llama) |
| Uniswap (UNIfication roadmap) | Roadmap to protocol charges + UNI burn (broader rollout intent throughout variations over time) | Proposed / governance roadmap — Nov 2025 (UNIfication publish) | Explicitly proposes: activate protocol charges → burn UNI, plus a retroactive burn of 100M UNI; rollout begins with v2 + a set of v3 swimming pools representing ~80–95% of LP charges on Ethereum mainnet | Uniswap “UNIfication” publish. (Uniswap Labs) |
| Pendle | Tokenholder-directed worth (DefiLlama “Holders Income” — i.e., worth routed to tokenholders through burn/distribution mechanisms) | Lively (ongoing) | Holders Income 30d: $893,526; Holders Income (annualized): ~$10.9M | DefiLlama Pendle charges/income web page + “Holders Income” definition. (DeFi Llama) |
What might derail this
Aave’s framework stays a governance proposal awaiting implementation. Legislative optionality exists, however the coverage structure continues to be creating.
But, if enforcement resurges, protocols might pause worth accrual, route extra by way of foundations or offshore buildings, or restrict US publicity.
Technical and aggressive dangers additionally matter. If Aave’s product income projections do not materialize, or if opponents provide higher phrases by avoiding tokenholder routing, the framework’s attraction diminishes.
If the regulatory surroundings shifts once more and the SEC or DOJ treats fee-routing buildings as securities violations, all the value-accrual thesis collapses again into threat mitigation mode.
Three ahead situations
One potential situation shifting ahead is a “sturdy thaw.”
If the present posture persists, count on extra DAOs to flip payment switches, formalize budgets, and pursue US-compliant product wrappers. Key indicators to look at are the decline or flatlining of SEC crypto actions, incremental rulemaking, and extra protocols copying the “protocol utilization → token burn or treasury” mannequin.
One other situation is readability with out consolation. Legal guidelines transfer, however enforcement stays selective. Protocols engineer token-centric fashions to keep away from “dividend optics,” extra treasury routing, buybacks, and burns versus direct payouts.
Subjects to look at are progress or stalls on payments like CLARITY and company steering particulars.
Lastly, a whipsaw can also be a probable situation. Political or authorized backlash, or high-profile protocol failures, set off a resurgence in enforcement.
Protocols pause worth accrual, route extra by way of foundations or offshore, or restrict US publicity.
Even a friendlier SEC nonetheless says “fraud is fraud,” and a significant scandal might reset the tolerance for tokenholder-directed income.
What’s at stake
Aave’s proposal does not simply ask tokenholders to endorse a price range. It asks them to endorse a thesis on what the following decade will appear like: protocols competing as companies, worth accruing to tokens, and DAOs functioning as establishments.
That thesis depends upon the US regulatory surroundings remaining extra favorable than it was in 2022 by way of 2024.
The enforcement information, examination priorities, and dismissed instances counsel that the wager is rational right now. Whether or not it holds for a decade is the open query.
Protocols are repricing themselves in anticipation of a window they consider is open. How lengthy it stays open, and whether or not different jurisdictions comply with or diverge, will decide whether or not this wave of value-accrual experiments turns into the brand new regular or one other chapter in DeFi’s regulatory whiplash.
