The Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) announced it will not renew its contract with the Aave DAO and will begin a four-month wind-down, returning infrastructure and responsibilities to the DAO or successor teams. Founder Marc Zeller said structural governance failures and inconsistent transparency drove the decision. ACI said it drove 61% of governance actions, nearly half of protocol revenue strategies, and deployed over $100 million in incentives over three years. ACI plans documentation handovers and will propose cancelling its GHO revenue stream and transferring remaining vesting to the DAO treasury. The exit heightens debates over revenue allocation, delegate roles, and balance of power in Aave governance as other contributors (e.g., BGD Labs) signal planned departures by April 2026.

ACI will stop renewing its contract and begin a four-month wind-down; it claims responsibility for 61% of governance actions, nearly half of protocol revenue strategies, and over $100M in incentives. ACI plans to propose cancelling its GHO revenue stream and transfer vesting to the DAO treasury, and other contributors have signaled planned exits — concrete governance and revenue changes that can disrupt protocol decision-making and treasury flows.