The Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), a prominent governance delegate and service provider within the Aave ecosystem, announced it will cease operations and not renew its engagement with the Aave DAO, planning a wind-down over the next four months. This decision marks a significant development for one of decentralized finance’s (DeFi) largest protocols, highlighting internal governance tensions as a major funding proposal advances.
Understanding the Governance Transition
The announcement follows a contentious period centered on Aave’s “Aave Will Win” proposal. This initiative seeks to allocate up to $42.5 million in stablecoins and 75,000 Aave (AAVE) tokens—which carry substantial voting power—to Aave Labs, the protocol’s primary development team, under a new DAO-funded development model.
The Contested “Aave Will Win” Proposal
The proposal underwent a “Temp Check,” an initial off-chain sentiment gauge using the Snapshot platform. That vote concluded on Sunday with
