After four years of involvement, BGD Labs, a key technical contributor to the Aave decentralized finance protocol, has announced it will cease its engagement with the Aave DAO on April 1. The decision comes amid concerns about changes within the organization and an increased adversarial stance toward its liquidity protocol.

In a recent forum post, BGD highlighted an “asymmetric organizational scenario” that was poorly executed without regard for contributor expertise. They lamented that Aave has adopted an “adversarial position” regarding its protocol’s third version (v3), favoring features in the upcoming fourth version (v4).

“While all previous points that BGD should just keep contributing on the v3 side exclusively, the situation created makes it nonsensical to us: every time we think about improving v3, there will be some type of implicit/explicit artificial constraint,” said BGD. “We are not really interested in being in that position, as we think it is a waste of our potential.”

BGD assured that their work with Aave would proceed as usual until April 1, continuing their contributions to v3, Umbrella, chain expansions, and asset onboarding. They also proposed a two-month, $200,000 security retainer for the community to consider after their departure.

In response to BGD’s exit, users expressed mixed feelings, addressing the implications for independent contributors amid perceived centralization.

“If independent contributors feel sidelined by DAO-level centralization, maybe the answer is just structural clarity inside the DAO,” user JosueMpia remarked. “Because this feels bigger than one team leaving.”

Some users pointed to Stani Kulechov, Aave’s CEO, as a contributing factor in BGD’s decision to depart, while he responded with a respectful acknowledgment of BGD’s role in the DeFi ecosystem:

“I respect BGD’s decision, though I am sad to see them go. The DeFi ecosystem is better for having a team like BGD in it and I hope they continue to build and contribute to the industry.”