Aave Founder: DAO needs to evolve to improve execution efficiency but is not heading towards extinction

Gate News reports that on March 10, Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov stated that decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are not coming to an end, but must undergo structural evolution to improve decision-making efficiency and support the protocol’s long-term development. Kulechov published a lengthy post on the X platform on Tuesday, reflecting on recent governance disputes within Aave and sharing his views on DAO governance models. Previously, internal governance conflicts within Aave DAO led to core contributor teams BGD Labs and ACI temporarily withdrawing from protocol-related work, sparking widespread community discussion. Kulechov pointed out that current DAO governance models are often too slow, requiring weeks of forum discussions, temperature checks, and multiple rounds of formal voting, making it difficult for the protocol to keep pace with market changes in decision-making and product iteration. Additionally, DAO governance can become increasingly politicized, with participants forming alliances and relying on louder voices to push proposals. He said, “Many crypto project founders think this way but rarely say it openly — running a DAO in our current manner is very difficult, and this difficulty is not a technical challenge but a daily struggle with the organizational structure itself.” Nevertheless, Kulechov emphasized that DAOs still hold significant value, but governance structures and execution mechanisms need optimization to maintain decentralization principles while enabling more efficient execution, helping Aave continue to expand in the global lending market worth trillions of dollars.