Inside Aave’s governance battle as DeFi giant prepares for upgrade

In an interview with CoinDesk, Aave Labs CEO Stani Kulechov reflected on the governance debates in the Aave ecosystem, as well as what’s to come for the network. What to know : In an interview with CoinDesk, Aave Labs founder Stani Kulechov framed ongoing governance disputes and contributor exits as part of a natural evolution, as the community debates how decentralized the protocol should remain versus becoming more coordinated. The protocol is also preparing for its v4 upgrade, which is expected to expand Aave beyond crypto-native lending into broader financial use cases, including real-world assets and institutional markets.