SEC Closes Aave Case, But Governance Questions Linger
The post SEC Closes Aave Case, But Governance Questions Linger appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its investigation into the Aave Protocol without recommending enforcement action, according to a notice dated December 16. The decision ends a multi-year probe into one of the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platforms and removes a major regulatory overhang for the sector. Sponsored Sponsored Investigation Closed Without Enforcement In its notice, the SEC said it had concluded its investigation into the Aave Protocol and does not intend to recommend enforcement action at this time. However, the agency emphasized that the closure does not constitute an exoneration and does not prevent future action should circumstances change. The notice follows standard SEC practice under Securities Act Release No. 5310. After four years, we are finally ready to share that the SEC has concluded its investigation into the Aave Protocol. This process demanded significant effort and resources from our team, and from me personally as the founder, to protect Aave, its ecosystem, and DeFi more… pic.twitter.com/aZeLrZz5ZQ — Stani.eth (@StaniKulechov) December 16, 2025 The investigation began around 2021–2022, during a period when the SEC intensified scrutiny of crypto lending, staking, and governance tokens. Aave, a non-custodial DeFi protocol, allows users to lend and borrow digital assets through automated smart contracts. The protocol operates without intermediaries and is governed by holders of the AAVE token. AAVE Briefly Climbs After SEC’s Announcement. Source: CoinGecko Sponsored Sponsored Aave Revenue and Governance Under the Spotlight The SEC decision comes as Aave faces separate internal scrutiny over revenue and governance. Earlier this week, DAO members raised concerns that a front-end infrastructure change may have redirected swap fee revenue away from the Aave DAO treasury. The issue followed a shift from ParaSwap to CoW Swap on Aave’s official interface. Extremely concerning. The stealth privatization of approximately 10% of Aave DAO’s potential revenue,…
Filed under: News - @ December 16, 2025 7:23 pm