Aave Labs proposes Cayman foundation to hold Aave brand and IP for the DAO

Aave Labs wants to hand the keys to the Aave brand to someone else. Specifically, it wants them held by a new legal entity that answers to the Aave DAO, not to Aave Labs.

On October 2, 2026, the development firm submitted a governance proposal titled “[ARFC] The Aave Foundation, Phase 1.” It asks the DAO to approve a memberless foundation in the Cayman Islands. That foundation would eventually hold legal title to the Aave trademark, primary domains, protocol codebase IP and other intellectual property, all for the benefit of the Aave Protocol.

What Phase 1 actually does

Phase 1 covers only two things: incorporating the foundation and appointing an independent director and a supervisor.

No trademarks move. No domains change hands. The codebase IP stays exactly where it is for now.

Each of those asset transfers would need its own separate governance vote later, through Aave Improvement Proposals, or AIPs. The current filing is an ARFC, short for Aave Request for Comments.

Phase 1 funding is limited to incorporation, legal costs and the initial appointments. There is no recurring budget attached and no transfer of assets.

The entity would be set up under the Cayman Islands Foundation Companies Act as a memberless foundation. A memberless foundation has no members who own it. There is no shareholder sitting on top who can cash out or redirect it.

Who is in charge, and who is not

After the initial setup, directors would be appointed and removed solely through AIPs.

Aave Labs and its affiliates are explicitly barred from holding any roles within the foundation. The same exclusion applies to service providers, who cannot hold roles or rights in the entity either.

The foundation’s scope is limited to protecting and licensing intellectual property, while the DAO keeps authority over key protocol decisions.

The proposal calls for quarterly reports to the governance forum. Those reports would cover the foundation’s assets and its legal activities.

Why now: the Aave Will Win Framework

This proposal did not arrive out of nowhere. It follows commitments made in the February 2026 “Aave Will Win Framework,” which sought to create a secure, community-backed vehicle for stewarding the Aave brand and its IP.

The backdrop is a long-running tension between Aave Labs and the DAO. Disagreements have centered on revenue flows and on how brand assets are managed, with disputes becoming particularly pronounced in late 2025 over frontend swap fees and proposals advocating for increased DAO control over assets administered by Aave Labs.

What this means for AAVE holders and the DeFi crowd

If the trademark and codebase IP eventually move into the foundation, a single company would no longer be the legal owner of the protocol’s identity.

Because the foundation’s scope includes licensing IP, any future use of the Aave brand could eventually run through an entity the DAO controls. That would give governance a formal lever it has not clearly held before.

The quarterly reports may also prove useful, as the recurring disclosure schedule sets a baseline expectation for transparency.

Phase 1 creates a container with nothing in it yet. The meaningful decisions—transferring the trademark, domains and codebase IP—are all deferred to later AIPs. Each of those votes is a chance for the process to slow down or change shape.

What to watch next is straightforward: first, whether the DAO backs the ARFC and moves it toward a binding vote; second, the timing and wording of the follow-up AIPs that would actually transfer the brand and IP; third, the first quarterly report, which will show whether the foundation’s promised transparency holds up in practice.