AAVE
AAVE is the native token of Aave, the largest lending protocol in DeFi.
AAVE, stkAAVE and aAAVE holders control the protocol through onchain governance with Timelock execution. The token has fixed 16M supply with no mint function. Delegated steward roles exist but are elected and revocable by governance.
AAVE, stkAAVE and aAAVE holders vote onchain with execution through Timelock.
The Governance Emergency Guardian is a 5/9 multisig elected by holders to protect the protocol from governance takeover attacks by vetoing onchain payloads.
Governance Emergency Guardian
Holders control implementation upgrades for all v3 market deployments.
Upgrade Documentation
Pool (upgradeable proxy) → Admin is PoolAddressProvider → onlyOwner is Executor → owner is PayloadsController → controlled by Governance.
Ownership Chain
Pool → PoolAddressProvider → Executor → PayloadsController → Governance.
For PayloadsController to call Executor, MESSAGE_ORIGINATOR must equal Governance.
The AAVE token is upgradeable but controlled by token holders.
Ownership Chain
ERC-1967 Transparent proxy owned by ProxyAdmin, controlled by token holders.
AAVE (Proxy) → ProxyAdmin → Executor → PayloadsController → Token Holders
Fixed 16m AAVE token supply. No mint() function or inflation pathway in the bytecode.
Roles can be broadly classified into Core Protocol Roles and Delegated Steward Roles. AAVE holders elect and revoke all these roles with their standard governance procedure.
Core
Core Protocol Roles: EMERGENCY_ADMIN, RISK_ADMIN, POOL_ADMIN, ASSET_LISTING_ADMIN. These live in ACLManager, owned by ACLAdmin (verifiable in PoolAddressesProvider). ACLAdmin is owned by PayloadsController, controlled by token holders.
Delegated Steward Roles
Risk Stewards → Risk Parameters
Finance Stewards → Treasury
Aave Guardians → Emergency
Protocol Emergency Guardian
A separate multisig that executes limited emergency operations for the protocol.
No Guardian or blacklist capabilities exist in the AAVE token contract.
Protocol fees flow to a governance-controlled treasury. Holders can stake as stkAAVE in Safety Module for yield. Treasury composed of reserve factor from borrower interest + liquidation fees + flashloan premiums.
Alongside the protocol fees going to the AAVE token-holder controlled treasury as an important source of value accrual, holders can stake their AAVE tokens as stkAAVE in Aave's Safety module, getting additional AAVE tokens as yield from the treasury for bearing the risk of slashing in case of protocol insolvency.
Caveat: This Safety Module is in the transitional phase of being sunset in favour of aToken staking as part of the Umbrella release for automated bad debt coverage, which is live already.
AAVE holders control treasury usage. Composed of reserve factor (borrower interest), liquidation fees, and flashloan premiums.
Treasury Control
Token holders direct treasury via governance.
Fee Sources
Reserve factor (interest), liquidation fees, flashloan premiums all route to treasury via mintToTreasury().
Token holders control fee levers (Reserve Factor, liquidation fees) via ACL-gated admin roles. Emergency actions are delegated, but economic controls are governance-owned through ACLManager.
ACL Control
ACLManager gates admin roles (POOL_ADMIN, RISK_ADMIN) which control fee parameters. ACLManager itself is controlled by governance.
Aragon has not verified additional offchain value accrual flows to the AAVE token
AAVE token proxy and implementation are verified on Etherscan. Aave V3 protocol contracts are open source and verified.
The AAVE token contract source code is publicly available and verified on Etherscan.
Aave V3 protocol contracts are open source on GitHub and verified on Etherscan.
Aragon has not verified if any 3rd party controls a majority share of the voting power of AAVE or derivatives.
Aragon has not yet verified if any 3rd party controls a majority share of the voting power of AAVE or derivatives.
Aragon has not yet verified the supply schedule criteria for the AAVE token
US AAVE trademark is held by Quantum Swan OU (Estonia). Primary interface terms identify Aave Labs (a separate entity from the Aave DAO) as the contracting party.
A US AAVE trademark filing lists Quantum Swan OU (Estonia) as the applicant/owner.
The primary interface terms identify Aave Labs as the contracting party.
Aragon has not yet verified all the licensing criteria associated with the AAVE token or the corresponding protocol and assets
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