Aave Labs has unveiled a landmark governance proposal, the "Aave Will Win Framework," signaling a profound strategic shift that extends far beyond internal operations. This initiative, poised to direct 100% of Aave-branded product revenue to its DAO treasury and formalize brand protection, reflects a growing confidence within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector regarding the evolving U.S. regulatory environment. The move is not just about Aave's future; it's a bellwether for a broader regime change in DeFi, where protocols are increasingly empowered to pursue value accrual to tokenholders as legitimate, on-chain businesses.
A Strategic Pivot Towards Institutional On-Chain Business
The "Aave Will Win Framework" proposes to transform the Aave DAO into a robust, institutionally-aligned entity. By funneling all product revenues from Aave's diverse ecosystem – including its interface fees, mobile app, card products, and various ventures like Aave Pro and Aave Horizon – directly into the DAO treasury, Aave aims to solidify its financial foundation. This comprehensive operating model goes beyond mere tokenomics, envisioning the DAO not just as a governance wrapper but as a steward of a powerful brand, an allocator of capital, and an entity capable of pursuing regulated product ambitions. It represents a bold step towards operating as a competitive, on-chain business, with tokenholders at its core.
The Thawing Regulatory Landscape
At the heart of Aave's bold proposal is an explicit acknowledgment of "regulatory clarity emerging in certain markets," particularly within the U.S. This assessment is underpinned by significant shifts in the enforcement posture of key regulatory bodies. Data reveals a dramatic 60% decline in SEC crypto enforcement actions in 2025 compared to 2024, with monetary penalties plummeting to less than 3% of previous levels. Further reinforcing this trend, the SEC's 2026 exam priorities de-emphasized crypto, and the agency voluntarily dismissed its Binance lawsuit. Concurrently, the Department of Justice has signaled a softer approach, scaling back certain crypto-platform enforcement and disbanding its national crypto enforcement team. These developments collectively suggest a multi-year window where enforcement risk is lower, allowing DeFi protocols to activate value-accrual mechanisms without immediately triggering securities-related concerns.
Value Accrual Reborn Across DeFi
Aave is not alone in this strategic shift. Other prominent DeFi protocols are pursuing similar playbooks, with Uniswap's "UNIfication" proposal aiming to activate protocol fees and initiate UNI token burns. Measurable value accrual mechanisms are becoming normalized across DeFi, with data infrastructure now enabling clear tracking of fees, revenue, and tokenholder-directed flows. This transformation from "governance token with unclear value" to "token with measurable capture" makes the DeFi ecosystem more legible and attractive to institutional participants. The pattern is clear: protocols that previously avoided fee switches and direct value routing during periods of intense enforcement are now confidently re-engaging these levers, betting that the risk profile has fundamentally changed, paving the way for a new era of on-chain business and legitimacy alongside decentralization.
