Who really calls the shots at Aave?

That's the question gaining traction as AAVE token has tanked roughly 25% amid internal governance friction. The trigger? Frontend fee revenue—previously flowing to the DAO treasury—got rerouted to Aave Labs instead. Simple move, massive implications. It's sparked a broader reckoning: who actually owns the protocol's frontend infrastructure, the intellectual property rights, and controls the economic mechanisms underneath? These aren't just technical nitpicks. They cut straight to the heart of decentralized governance. When a protocol's economics shift without unanimous community backing, trust erodes fast. The Aave community is watching closely to see whether this sets a precedent for how core decisions get made going forward.