BGD Labs, a key technical developer for the Aave decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, announced its decision to cease collaboration with the project due to "radical changes" in the structure of the DAO.

The current agreement between the parties will end on April 1.

Founded in 2022, BGD Labs played a central role in building and maintaining Aave's infrastructure. The firm led the development of the Aave v3 protocol, which it referred to as the "jewel" of the ecosystem, along with governance structures and the Umbrella security module.

According to the company's statement, the core systems of the DeFi platform are currently in a "very reliable and promising state" and can operate indefinitely without significant changes.

BGD Labs announced plans to publish documentation and maintenance guides to assist other participants in taking over these responsibilities.

The company explained its decision to end collaboration due to an "asymmetrical organizational scenario" from Aave Labs that threatens centralization. The startup, which originally created the DeFi project, is seeking to regain full control:

  • transitioning from an independent company to a central developer of the v4 protocol;
  • gaining control over branding and communications, ensuring a majority vote in governance for critical decisions;
  • criticizing Aave v3 to promote version v4;
  • withdrawing from protocol development, expecting others to contribute "for free";
  • planning to discontinue support for v3 and force users to migrate to the new version.

BGD Labs are rage quitting Aave DAO after 4 years.

They built Aave v3, governance infra, Umbrella, and most core systems.

Why they're leaving:

— Aave Labs pivoted from independent company to central contributor pushing v4
— Aave Labs controls the brand, comms, and has voting… pic.twitter.com/MqRR105eEK

— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) February 20, 2026

"A sad outcome for Aave DAO," commented DeFi researcher Ignas.

According to DefiLlama, the platform maintains its leading position in the decentralized finance sector with a total value locked (TVL) of $25.79 billion. In comparison, Lido and Eigen, which rank second and third, have TVLs of $18.34 billion and $9.16 billion, respectively.

Source: DeFiLlama.

The AAVE token has dropped over 5% in the last 24 hours, trading around $117. This is approximately 82% lower than its all-time high of $661, reached in November 2020.

30-minute AAVE/USDT chart from Binance. Source: TradingView.

In February, it was reported that Aave founder Stani Kulechov purchased a five-story Victorian mansion in the prestigious Notting Hill area of London for £22 million (around $30 million).