Breaking: U.S. SEC Ends Four-Year Investigation Into Aave Amid Ongoing DAO Saga

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ended its 4-year investigation into Aave Protocol, a development which comes as Aave Labs clashes with DAO members over the CoW swap fees. The AAVE price remained largely unchanged despite this development, which confirms that the token is not a security.

SEC Drops Investigation Into Aave Protocol

In an X post, Aave’s founder, Stani Kulechov, revealed that the SEC has concluded its investigation into the DeFi protocol after four years. He highlighted how the process demanded significant effort and resources from their team to protect the top DeFi protocol, its ecosystem, and DeFi as a whole.

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

Kulechov further remarked that DeFi has faced regulatory pressure in recent years and that they are just glad to put the SEC investigation behind them as they enter a new era where developers can truly build the future of finance. “DeFi will win,” he added.

The SEC’s notice to the DeFi protocol showed that the SEC’s Division of Enforcement doesn’t intend to recommend any enforcement action against the DeFi protocol. Meanwhile, the AAVE price remained tepid on the back of this development.

TradingView data shows the DeFi token is trading at around $188, down almost 3% in the last 24 hours. The token had dropped to as low as $185 on the day amid the recent crypto market crash.

The DAO Saga Drags On

In an X post today, Kulechov addressed the reports that Aave Labs diverted CoW swap fees from the DAO treasury. He stated that the CowSwap surplus revenue comes from outside of the protocol and is a separate product feature, although they plan to share this revenue with the DAO.

CowSwap surplus revenue comes from outside of the protocol (and a separate product feature), which is something that will be shared with the DAO. Regarding Horizon, and the claim of undisclosed revenue that is also false information. In fact Horizon is generating revenue to the…

— Stani.eth (@StaniKulechov) December 16, 2025

There were also accusations that the firm diverted Horizon RWA revenues. However, the Aave founder stated that the claim of undisclosed revenue is false information. He added that Horizon is generating revenue for the DAO treasury.

Kulechov also mentioned that Aave Labs has been responsible for the protocol’s revenue streams over the past 5 years by building products on top of the protocol that will grow it. “As a side note, the revenue meta is kind of useless in a world where everyone is arm racing towards growth. It’s time to invest in growth (via AAVE buybacks) to grow the pie,” he said.