Aave Labs

Aave Labs was founded by Stani Kulechov, the original author of the lending platform ETHLend in 2017 and of the Aave Protocol in 2020. Aave Labs describes itself as the original author and contributor to the Aave Protocol; the protocol launched in 2020, emerging from the team that had previously developed ETHLend.⁠[1][2][2]

On June 6, 2023, Aave Labs proposed on the Aave governance forum (as an ARFC) launching GHO, an Aave native stablecoin, on Ethereum mainnet, with the Aave V3 Ethereum pool and FlashMinter as initial facilitators and 100% of the interest paid on GHO borrows going to the Aave DAO treasury.⁠[3][3]

On August 26, 2025, Aave Labs launched Aave Horizon, a lending market on Ethereum built on Aave Protocol version 3.3, where institutions or other qualified users borrow stablecoins against real-world assets (RWAs), while anyone can supply RLUSD, USDC, or GHO for institutions to borrow.⁠[4][4][4]

On October 23, 2025, Aave Labs announced the acquisition of Stable Finance, a San Francisco-based fintech company, to develop more consumer-focused decentralized finance products. Stable Finance founder Mario Baxter Cabrera became Aave Labs’ Director of Product and its engineering team joined in full; the existing Stable app is being phased out, with its technology used in future Aave Labs products.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

On November 13, 2025, Aave Labs announced that its subsidiary Push Virtual Assets Ireland Limited had secured Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization from the Central Bank of Ireland under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), applying solely to Push’s fiat-to-stablecoin on- and off-ramp services; Aave Labs plans to use Push to offer zero-fee on- and off-ramping for GHO and other stablecoins across the European Economic Area.⁠[5][5][5]

On November 19, 2025, Aave Labs announced that the Aave V4 testnet was live and its code available for public review; V4 uses a “Hub and Spoke” architecture. On March 30, 2026, Aave Labs announced that V4 had launched on Ethereum mainnet, with its product Aave Pro serving as the dedicated interface surfacing all Hubs and Spokes.⁠[6][7][7]

On December 4, 2025, Aave Labs announced a partnership with CoW Swap under which every swap feature on aave.com runs through CoW Protocol. On December 11, an Orbit delegate and AAVE holder published an open letter to Aave Labs on the Aave governance forum, questioning extra fees of 15 to 25 basis points introduced with the new integration and saying these fees no longer flowed to the Aave DAO treasury.⁠[8][8][9][9][9]

On February 12, 2026, Aave Labs proposed the “Aave Will Win” framework on the governance forum: directing 100% of Aave-branded product revenue to the Aave DAO treasury while shifting responsibility for funding Aave Labs’ activities to the DAO, requesting $25 million in stablecoins and 75,000 AAVE, plus growth and development grants payable upon specific product launches. Aave Labs wrote that it had previously requested DAO funds only for protocol development and marketing, and had self-funded the product layer, including aave.com, the mobile app, Aave Pro, Aave Kit, and Aave Horizon, as well as legal and regulatory work such as SEC defense and brand protection.⁠[10][10][10][10][10][10]

The framework’s temperature check went to a Snapshot vote from February 25 to 28, with about 622,000 votes for and about 497,000 against; the formal ARFC was voted on from April 1 to 4, with about 728,000 votes for and about 174,000 against.⁠[11][11]

The Aave Protocol consists of open-source, self-executing smart contracts deployed on permissionless public blockchains such as Ethereum. Aave Labs says it does not control or operate any version of the Aave Protocol on any blockchain network. Aave Labs’ CEO is Stani Kulechov.⁠[2][2][2]

Aave Labs: Official website: https://aave.com/about (opens in a new window).⁠[2]