Aave Labs faces backlash as CowSwap deal allegedly costs Aave DAO over $10 million per year

Aave Labs is under scrutiny from Aave's governance community after a CowSwap integration reportedly redirected swap revenue away from the DAO treasury. One delegate estimated the DAO could lose more than $10 million in annual fee income under the new structure, intensifying debate over who owns the protocol's brand, interfaces, and revenues. While critics accuse Aave Labs of privatizing value that should accrue to tokenholders, the firm argues its long-term development work and products like Aave V4 and GHO still channel revenue back to the DAO.