According to ChainCatcher, as reported by The Defiant, Aave DAO has approved a permanent token buyback program, allocating $50 million annually from protocol revenue to repurchase AAVE tokens. The proposal was submitted by the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) on October 22 and passed with 100% approval.
Under the new plan, the Aave Financial Committee (AFC) and TokenLogic can repurchase between $250,000 and $1.75 million worth of AAVE each week, depending on market conditions and protocol revenue. Currently, Aave's total value locked (TVL) stands at $36.4 billion, with $12.7 million in revenue generated over the past 30 days.
This move makes Aave one of the few DeFi projects to adopt a permanent revenue buyback program. According to a Keyrock report, since 2024, token buybacks and revenue distributions have increased more than fivefold, with projects returning an average of 64% of revenue to holders, indicating that crypto projects are shifting towards prioritizing shareholder returns similar to traditional enterprises.