Gauntlet Terminates Partnership with Aave, Citing Inconsistent Guidelines and Objectives

According to Blockworks, blockchain analytics company Gauntlet has announced its decision to terminate its partnership with open-source liquidity protocol Aave. In a governance forum, Gauntlet co-founder John Morrow stated that the company could no longer continue its work with Aave and would be terminating its payment stream as soon as possible. Gauntlet was contracted as a market risk manager for Aave, reviewing mechanical designs and creating long-term economic and business modeling simulations for the protocol. Aave is a liquidity protocol that enables users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies by posting collateral. It is currently the largest DeFi lending protocol, with a total value locked (TVL) of $9.5 billion, according to DeFiLlama. Morrow noted that several issues had arisen during Gauntlet's four-year partnership with Aave, including difficulty navigating inconsistent guidelines and undocumented objectives from the largest Aave DAO stakeholders. Gauntlet faced criticism from Aave delegates when seeking assistance in distributing ARB emissions to Aave users. In response to Gauntlet's decision, Marc Zeller, the founder of Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), an Aave DAO delegate, told Blockworks that Gauntlet's work with Arbitrum had little to do with risk, which was the company's primary responsibility. Zeller also criticized Gauntlet for invoicing Arbitrum for services directly without coordinating with the Aave team, which he claimed ruined synergies with third parties. Gauntlet Vice President of Growth Nick Cannon stated that the team consulted many service providers but none could oblige. Gauntlet had recently renewed a $1.6 million contract with Aave following a governance vote. Cannon told Blockworks that the decision to leave the partnership was met with mixed feelings from the Gauntlet team, as they valued the Aave partnership but had to make tough tradeoffs to voluntarily leave. Aave founder and CEO of Avara, Stani Kulechov, shared in a Telegram group message that Gauntlet's decision to leave Aave was expected, as the Aave community had not been extremely happy with Gauntlet. The offboarding process has yet to be determined, but Cannon noted that the team would ensure a smooth and transparent transition.