Aave Labs has decided to retire the Avara brand and consolidate its products under the Aave Labs name, marking a clear strategic return to decentralized finance after several years of broader Web3 expansion.
Aave co-founder Stani Kulechov confirmed the shift in a post on X, stating that the company will wind down the Family iOS wallet while retaining Family Accounts as part of Aave’s infrastructure. According to Kulechov, the change reflects lessons learned during Aave’s attempt to expand beyond its core lending protocol.
"We are winding down the Family iOS wallet. Family Accounts will continue to power the Aave App as part of Aave’s infrastructure, helping bring millions of users into DeFi," Kulechov wrote.
Beginning expansion, ending consolidation
Avara launched in 2023 as an umbrella brand meant to house Aave Labs’ non-lending initiatives. The brand included projects such as the Family wallet and the Lens decentralized social media protocol. At the time, Aave Labs positioned Avara as a vehicle for broader Web3 adoption beyond lending and borrowing.
That direction has now changed. Aave Labs will phase out projects that sat under Avara and operate all current and future products directly under the Aave Labs brand. Lens has already exited the company after its sale in January, and Family wallet-related products will follow.
"Going forward, all products will be operated under the Aave Labs brand," Aave Labs said on X, adding that the shift would simplify branding and focus resources on bringing DeFi to new users worldwide.
In 2023, Avara acquired @Family, bringing in an exceptionally talented design engineering team.
— Avara (@avara) February 3, 2026
We believe future DeFi users will prefer purpose-built financial experiences over open-ended wallet explorers.
Thus, we'll phase out the Family iOS app over the next year.
Family wallet shutdown details
Kulechov said the Family team joined Aave in 2023 after a partnership that later resulted in an acquisition. He credited the team for contributions across several products.
"Over the years, the Family team has made significant contributions across multiple products, including Aave Pro, the Aave App, and Aave’s brand identity," he wrote.
Despite that track record, Aave Labs concluded that a standalone wallet no longer fit its onboarding strategy.
"Through this journey, we’ve learned that onboarding millions of users requires purpose-built experiences, such as savings, rather than generic, open-ended wallet experiences," Kulechov said.
According to Aave Labs, no new users will be onboarded to the Family iOS app after April 1. Existing users will retain access until April 1, 2027, and funds will remain accessible through Aave’s web interface.
Avara brand is no longer required
The decision formally ends Avara as a corporate identity. Kulechov framed the move as part of a broader unification effort inside the company.
"As part of this transition, the Avara brand is no longer required as we go all in on bringing Aave to the masses," he wrote. "We are now united as one team of world-class designers, engineers, and smart contract experts, aligned around a single mission: bringing DeFi to everyone."
Aave Labs said all products, including the Aave App, Aave Pro, and Aave Kit, will now operate under a single brand surface.
Tensions with the Aave DAO remain in focus
The consolidation comes after months of visible friction between Aave Labs and the Aave DAO. While Aave Labs developed the original protocol, governance of the smart contracts, risk parameters, and protocol revenue sits with the DAO.
Disagreements intensified in December after Aave Labs integrated CoW Swap into the official aave.com interface and routed swap fees to a private wallet rather than the DAO treasury. The move triggered debate over who controls Aave’s brand and frontend.
A community-led proposal that aimed to absorb Aave Labs’ intellectual property and brand assets into the DAO failed during a governance vote. Token concentration played a role in the outcome, according to governance records cited at the time.
Since then, Kulechov has proposed sharing future non-protocol revenue with AAVE holders and reopening discussions around branding and IP ownership.
Renewed focus on core DeFi products
Aave Labs has taken several steps that signal renewed emphasis on its lending business. Late last year, the company unveiled an updated Aave App with high-yield savings products and deposit protection of up to $1 million.
Aave remains the largest DeFi protocol by total value locked, with about $30 billion, according to DefiLlama. The AAVE token traded near $127 on Wednesday, down about 0.1% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.
External attention has also followed Kulechov in recent weeks. Bloomberg reported that he purchased a five-story home in London’s Notting Hill for roughly $30 million, a development that drew mixed reactions within parts of the Aave community.
For now, Aave Labs has made its direction clear. Expansion experiments have ended, and the company has placed its resources back behind DeFi under one name.
Oleksii Shumak
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