The founder of Aave, Stani Kulechov, has purchased a five-story Victorian mansion in the prestigious Notting Hill area of London for £22 million (approximately $30 million). The transaction ranks among the most expensive residential property purchases in the city over the past year, according to Bloomberg.
According to the agency, the businessman completed the deal in November. The final price was £2 million below the initial expectations of realtors.
A representative for Kulechov declined to comment.
The creator of Aave was born in Estonia and raised in Finland. He launched the project in 2017 and is currently the CEO of the parent company Avara. The entrepreneur also oversees the social blockchain Lens Protocol, the stablecoin platform GHO, and the crypto wallet Family.
Aave’s Performance and Internal Disputes
Aave maintains its status as a leading decentralized lending protocol by total value locked. At the time of writing, its figure stands at $29.8 billion.
At the end of 2025, a conflict erupted within the project community over returning control of the Aave brand, domains, and intellectual property to the DAO.
The standoff between the development company and ecosystem participants began after a controversial deal. In early December, Aave Labs entered into a partnership with the CoW Swap project “to improve swap pricing and integrate MEV protection into the protocol interface.”
Later, a delegate under the nickname EzR3aL claimed that commission fees from the updated swap contracts are now directed to a private wallet controlled by Aave Labs. The decentralized organization lost a significant portion of its revenue, which outraged the community.
Kulechov was also accused of buying votes worth $10 million to gain control over the protocol. Former Aave Labs CTO Ernesto Boado, listed as the proposal’s author, stated that trust was undermined. According to him, voting on the Snapshot platform was initiated prematurely and without his consent.
Ultimately, the majority of ecosystem participants (55.29%) opposed the initiative. Amid the “civil war,” AAVE lost 19% over the week.
Earlier, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized modern DAOs and called for their reform.
