Overview
- CoWSwap replaced ParaSwap on app.aave.com this month with swap fees of roughly 15–25 basis points now accruing to an external recipient tied to Aave Labs, according to an open letter and on-chain data.
- An analysis by delegate EzR3aL estimated about $200,000 per week in foregone DAO income, or roughly $10 million annually, from the new fee routing.
- Aave Labs says the website is a privately funded product and that prior ParaSwap surplus sent to the treasury was discretionary, adding that the switch targeted better execution and MEV protection.
- Governance delegates led by Marc Zeller call the move “stealth privatization” and warn it could set a precedent for ring-fencing future features such as V4 components and Vaults from tokenholders.
- Delegates also cite reduced flash-loan fee revenue as CoWSwap solvers use free alternatives like Balancer, and as of Dec. 15 no on-chain proposal has been filed while the Aave Chan Initiative readies a formal response.