Aave’s community governs the protocol without controlling all of the legal assets around it. A proposed independent foundation would address that gap, with no board seat or appointment rights for Aave Labs.
Aave Labs has proposed a DAO-controlled foundation to hold the protocol’s brand and intellectual property. Submitted to the governance forum on October 2, the plan seeks to bring legal ownership of assets funded by the community into one structure. The first step is narrower: incorporating the entity and appointing its initial independent director and supervisor.
The problem it addresses is the gap between governing a protocol and legally owning the assets around it. According to Aave Labs, the trademark and primary domains currently sit outside DAO control. Rights to some code, tools and documentation paid for by governance remain with the service providers that produced them.
Holding the brand without running the protocol
The Aave Foundation proposal calls for a Cayman Islands foundation company without members or shareholders. It would hold, protect and license intellectual property transferred to it, providing a legal entity able to defend a trademark or own a domain.
Asset listings, parameters, budgets and service-provider selection for the Aave protocol would remain within existing governance. The foundation would have no vote, veto or advisory role in those decisions. AAVE holders would continue exercising their governance token rights through the current process.
No seat for Aave Labs
Although Aave Labs wrote the proposal, it would receive neither a director or supervisor seat nor appointment rights. The same restrictions would apply to DAO service providers and their affiliates. Following the initial appointments, directors could be appointed or removed only through an Aave Improvement Proposal, or AIP.
Founder Stani Kulechov presented the plan on October 2 as a way to strengthen AAVE’s position at the centre of the ecosystem:
“This strengthens Aave by unifying everything under one asset, $AAVE.”
Stani Kulechov’s post on the foundation proposal
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Holding AAVE would not make someone a foundation shareholder. The proposed entity would have no shareholders. Legal ownership of the brand is separate from giving tokenholders a direct income or dividend entitlement; this proposal does not establish such a payout. Our analysis of AAVE value capture likewise separates protocol growth from economic benefits reaching the token.
Formation comes first; transfers follow in separate phases
If the proposal gains community support, it would move to a Snapshot vote and then an AIP authorising incorporation and related costs. Transfers of the trademark, domains and codebase IP, as well as operational scope, would return to governance in later phases. The current document does not mean that all transfers have been approved or completed.
Phase one requests reasonable formation, legal and independent appointment costs, without a recurring operating budget. Quarterly reports would disclose the foundation’s assets, expenses and legal actions. For readers following DeFi developments, the next concrete step is whether the proposal moves from discussion to a formal vote.
