[TEMP CHECK] Aave Service Provider & Orbit Delegate Revenue Alignment Framework

[TEMP CHECK] Aave Service Provider & Orbit Delegate Revenue Alignment Framework

Authors: ApuMallku & Phenk53

Date: 2026-02-04

Simple Summary

This proposal seeks to establish the “Aave Revenue Alignment & Governance Integrity Framework”. It codifies the fiduciary duties of all entities receiving financial compensation or governance incentives from the Aave DAO.

The Framework mandates that actively engaged Service Providers (SPs) and Orbit Delegates are prohibited from operating proprietary, revenue-generating ventures — like web front-ends, mobile applications, and infrastructure tools — built on Aave while receiving DAO funding, unless a formal revenue-sharing agreement is ratified and approved by the DAO, as its seen as fair for tokenholder.

This proposal is inspired by Arbitrums watchdog for grants misuse and the general idea is, if you work for the DAO, you work for its revenue. If you want to start your own ventures, you have to leave the DAO or share with it.

Motivation

Currently, the Aave DAO subsidizes the operational overhead of various entities to maintain and expand the protocol. However, a systemic misalignment has emerged:

1. Revenue Leakage: SPs leverage DAO-funded research, infrastructure, and non-public information to launch private, fee-collecting products that bypass the DAOs treasury.

2. Brand Dilution: The “Aave” identity is being utilized by private entities to provide a veneer of officiality to ventures that do not return value to the DAOs treasury.

3. Governance Capture: Orbit Delegates, who hold significant political power, may face conflicts of interest when voting on parameters that affect their private commercial ventures.

To protect the $AAVE tokenholders and ensure the long-term sustainability of the DAO, all value generated through the protocol’s infrastructure must be centralized within the DAO’s treasury.

Specification

Any product (Web, Mobile, or Infrastructure) developed or operated by an active SP or Orbit Delegate that interfaces with the Aave Protocol is classified as a “Derivative Venture.”

Default Prohibition:
Private monetization of Derivative Ventures is prohibited while the entity is actively engaged with the DAO and receives compensation.

The 70/30 Revenue Rule:
To authorize a monetized venture, the entity must commit to a revenue-share model where a minimum of 70% of gross revenue is streamed to the Aave DAOs treasury. Additionally, it has to be approved by the DAO in a separate proposal.

Aave Governance Integrity Council (AGIC):
To ensure this framework is not merely “social consensus”, the DAO will elect the AGIC, a member oversight committee.

Powers:
The AGIC is authorized to audit SP activity, maintain a “Disclosure Registry,” and investigate “shadow” applications or hidden fees.

Enforcement:
The AGIC holds the power to initiate an emergency vote to terminate the payment streams of any entity found in violation of this framework.

Composition:
It should consist of 1 person of each actively engaged SP and an Orbit delegate.

Selection Process:
The members of the AGIC will be selected through a separate and dedicated governance proposal. Team members of each SP and orbit delegates can run for election. The DAO will vote on who they want to have in the AGIC via Snapshot.

Incentives:
Drawing inspiration from Arbitrums watchdog, AGIC members are entitled to a compensation/bounty for successful investigations and findings that lead to the protection of the DAOs treasury.

To give the DAO an example we can take the recent findings from Orbit delegate @EzR3aL from his post in December about the cowswap integration by Aave Labs.
This finding and the current revenue amount of roughly 5m$ would lead to a bounty for him.
The exact amount can be defined together with the DAO, but we propose a bounty of 5-10%.

Rationale:

Fiduciary Duty:
SPs are working towards the DAO and its tokenholders. In no other industry is a contractor allowed to build a competing private business using their “employer’s” tools and brand to generate revenue for themselves.

Token Value:
By recapturing “lost” revenue from these privatized ventures, the DAO increases the fundamental value backing the $AAVE ecosystem and giving back confidence to $AAVE tokenholder.

Ecosystem Scalability:
The DAO must transition toward a model where intellectual property (IP) and branding are fully controlled by the DAO itself, rather than centralized entities. The current status quo, where off-chain assets remain siloed, creates a “glass ceiling” for innovation. A clear example is the recent abandonment of “Project E” by BGD Labs, where legal and branding complexities hindered a high-potential initiative. For AAVE to truly expand, it must empower third-party projects to build on top of the protocol without fear of “gatekeeping” or legal ambiguity, ensuring the DAO is an enabler of growth, not a bottleneck.

Innovation:
This proposal does not intend to stop innovation. It’s about securing these innovations within the DAOs treasury and even wants to push for it. If any SP or orbit delegate has a great product idea that increases the DAOs revenue, this entity should propose it to the DAO and receive a fair compensation for it.
One example is GHO, which has been created for free for the DAO and Aave Labs should have received a fair compensation for it.

Next Steps

1. Gather feedback from the community.

2. If consensus is reached on this TEMP CHECK, escalate this proposal to the Snapshot stage.

3. If Snapshot outcome is YAE, prepare different proposals to vote on AGIC and decide other parameters.

Disclaimer

The authors of this proposal are not acting on behalf of any third party and are not and have never been compensated for creating this TEMP CHECK proposal.

ApuMallku has been a DAO member for nearly 3 years and is holding either AAVE, aAAVE or stkAAVE as well as GHO or sGHO token.

Phenk53 has been an Aave delegate for almost a year and is holding either AAVE, aAAVE or stkAAVE as well as GHO or sGHO token.

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).