Aave Founder: DAOs Have Not Failed, But Need to Evolve to Improve Execution Efficiency

Odaily News Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov stated that Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are not coming to an end, but must undergo structural evolution to enhance decision-making efficiency and support the long-term development of protocols.

On Tuesday, Kulechov published a lengthy post on platform X, summarizing his views on DAO governance models in light of recent Aave governance controversies. Previously, internal governance conflicts within the Aave DAO led to the temporary withdrawal of core contributing teams BGD Labs and ACI from protocol-related work, sparking widespread community discussion.

Kulechov pointed out that the current governance model of DAOs is often too slow, involving processes such as weeks of forum discussions, temperature checks, and multiple rounds of formal voting. This makes it difficult for protocols to keep pace with market rhythms in decision-making and product iteration. Simultaneously, DAO governance is also prone to gradual politicization, where participants may form alliances and rely on louder voices to push proposals forward.

He said, "Many crypto project founders think this way in their hearts but rarely say it out loud—running a DAO the way we do now is very difficult, and this difficulty is not a technical challenge, but a daily struggle with the organizational structure itself."

Despite this, Kulechov emphasized that DAOs still hold significant value but need optimization in governance structure and execution mechanisms. This would allow them to maintain decentralization principles while achieving more efficient execution capabilities, thereby helping Aave continue its expansion in the global multi-trillion dollar lending market.