Aave Founder Embroiled in $10M+ AAVE Token Governance Dispute

BlockBeats News, December 24th, according to Cointelegraph, Aave founder Stani Kulechov recently faced scrutiny after buying over $10 million worth of AAVE tokens, with some members of the crypto community believing that this move was aimed at increasing his voting power in a key governance proposal.

DeFi strategist and liquidity expert Robert Mullins posted, stating that the purpose of this purchase was to boost Kulechov's voting power to support a forthcoming vote that directly harms the best interests of token holders. He added: "This is a clear example that the token mechanism has not been adequately designed to effectively deter governance attacks."

Well-known crypto KOL Sisyphus also expressed similar concerns, suggesting that Kulechov may have sold millions of dollars' worth of AAVE tokens between 2021 and 2025 and questioned the economic motivations behind this buyback.

At the time of this controversy, Aave token holders are discussing how to exercise governance rights around one of DeFi's protocols. Critics point out that large token purchases could substantially impact voting outcomes in high-risk governance proposals.