The Aave governance dispute escalates, ACI releases the "Aave Labs Audit" report, and tensions rise ahead of the $51 million grant proposal

The Aave community governance conflict has escalated again. The Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) and its founder Marc Zeller released an "audit" report targeting Aave Labs on the eve of a vote for a $51 million proposal known as "the largest funding request in Aave's history," sparking widespread discussion.

ACI stated on social media that before the "$51M Aave Will Win" proposal enters Snapshot voting, the community should examine Aave Labs' past performance and its cumulative use of approximately $86 million in funds. Zeller mentioned that ACI has already released its own transparency report and evaluated Aave Labs using the framework of "what was delivered, how much it cost, and what the returns were." The report pointed out that Aave Labs has a cumulative "total capitalization" of about $86 million, which includes: $16.2 million from the 2017 ICO financing, $32.5 million from VC funding rounds, $31.93 million from direct DAO grants, and approximately $5.5 million categorized as "unapproved" swap fees.

Zeller also noted that the founding team once held 23% of the initial supply of LEND (which later migrated to AAVE), but the current AAVE holdings have not been publicly disclosed. The report questions why Aave Labs has not released an "accountability report" that includes cost-output ratios, financial disclosures, and wallet transparency, arguing that information disclosure remains insufficient in the context of receiving large amounts of funding over the long term.