Aave DAO has approved a proposal to advance its V4 protocol toward deployment on the Ethereum mainnet, signaling renewed alignment after weeks of internal disagreements and contributor departures.
The proposal, voted on Monday, received near-unanimous backing, with over 645,000 votes in favor and fewer than one vote against, according to data from Snapshot.
The outcome reflects a shift from earlier divisions within the community, indicating broad consensus as Aave moves closer to launching V4.
Stani Kulechov said the next step will be an Aave Improvement Proposal (AIP)—a binding onchain vote that, if approved, would authorize the deployment and activation of V4 on Ethereum.
V4 introduces modular design for onchain credit markets
Aave Labs’ proposed V4 upgrade, unveiled on March 19, marks a shift toward a more modular protocol architecture for Aave DAO.
The design separates liquidity from market-specific risk. Under this structure, shared liquidity pools—referred to as “Hubs”—supply capital, while “Spokes” create distinct borrowing environments with customized risk parameters and exposure limits.
According to Aave Labs, this approach maintains the efficiency and depth of unified liquidity while enabling more granular risk management. It is also intended to support a wider range of financial use cases, including assets with varying risk profiles, maturities, and even offchain dependencies.
The proposal suggests V4 could enable new collateral types and structured credit markets to develop, all while preserving a single, unified liquidity layer.
Strong vote follows contributor exits
The near-unanimous support for V4 comes after a period of internal tension within the Aave ecosystem.
On Feb. 20, BGD Labs—a long-time technical contributor—announced it would step away from the project after four years, citing what it described as an “asymmetric organizational scenario” and an increasingly adversarial environment around its work on the existing protocol.
Then, on March 3, the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), a key governance delegate and service provider, also revealed plans to exit following a dispute over a proposed funding package.
ACI founder Marc Zeller said the organization would wind down operations, raising concerns about governance standards and voting dynamics within the DAO.
