Aave Cowswap Integration- Tokenholder Questions

[eboado]

@AaveLabs

You are right that the ParaSwap “fee” people keep quoting was not a protocol fee. It was referral / surplus mechanics from Velora that happened to route value back under that specific execution path. There was no separate agreement behind it, and governance never set a standing policy that swap routing surplus must be donated to the DAO.

Of course there were policies.
Here the development and proposal for the infrastructure to claim the referral from ParaSwap

• https://governance.aave.com/t/bgd-aave-paraswap-fee-claimer/10671
• Treasury related operations https://governance.aave.com/t/arfc-deploy-ethereum-collector-contract/12205/4#p-30948-specification-5
• Amongst others.

The DAO was acting all the time under the assumption that the flow from app.aave.com was towards the DAO.

@AaveLabs

Where we disagree is calling the current situation “privately monetising the app.aave.com orderflow.” The swap route inside app.aave.com is an application-layer feature built permissionlessly on top of the Aave Protocol. It does not require contract ownership or governance approval. The CoW partner fee is also an application-layer fee that funds the ongoing cost and liability of operating these flows inside the interface. These were built without asking the DAO to bear the costs as we believe self-sustaining our products keeps us more aligned with the DAO.

This is going (again) on the side of corporate answers.
Traffic goes to app.aave.com because it is “Aave”, and that means orderflow goes to it because it is “Aave”. I will be repeating myself, but sure, via an application that needs to be maintained, but 1) it was initially funded by the DAO, 2) there were multiple contributors, and 3) Aave Labs could/can propose a budget to maintain the application. And still, the application is not even the topic (feels like misdirection even), the topic is aave.com and hence app.aave.com. (together with all other “branded” channels).

@AaveLabs

The right question for the DAO is whether the Aave Labs’ interface should be expected to pass partner fees to the treasury, and under what operating model. That is a valid governance discussion, but it has to be an explicit policy decision with clear scope, not an implied entitlement carried over from a referral mechanism on a previous route.

This is a red herring by the book.
The question is not Aave Labs passing a “partner fee” to the DAO, and definitely not the governance discussion to have for the best interests of AAVE token holders.
The question how AAVE token holders can exercise control & have ownership in all senses of aave.com, app.aave.com, and all other brand/trademark aspects. Then, the owner decides what to do with them, for example, engaging Aave Labs to run content on aave.com, or marketing on socials, or a frontend application on app.aave.com. And obviously, the DAO could decide to compensate Aave Labs for it, via periodic budget, or any other model; with clear boundaries of what can/can’t be done there.

@AaveLabs

On the aave.com homepage point, it is not an Aave Labs product showcase. It is a protocol entry point. It includes protocol overview material, builder resources, security and audits, live stats, and governance context, including work delivered across DAO service providers. Product surfaces are present because they drive the largest share of protocol usage today, and that usage is what ultimately funds SP work through protocol revenue, as it has successfully been the case for the previous 8 years.

If we want to have a serious conversation about the future of Aave, let’s at least not try to dismiss the evidence (you have your Aave mobile App waitlist as people open aave.com). And also, let’s stop with the argument of “It is undeniable that xyx gives value to the Aave DAO, so that it gives value to somebody else (ourselves) is not relevant at all”.
Sure, users having visibility on the Aave ecosystem is positive for AAVE token holders. That doesn’t matter that by giving visibility, an org gets a wildcard to basically do whatever using all assets that in substance belong to AAVE token holders.