[Digital Today reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] BGD Labs, a key technical contributor to the decentralised finance protocol Aave, will stop participating in Aave DAO when its current service contract ends on April 1, The Block reported on Thursday.

The departure is drawing attention because the company has been responsible for building and maintaining Aave’s core infrastructure for about 4 years since it was set up in early 2022.

BGD Labs will continue work on Aave version 3, chain expansion, asset onboarding and security through the contract end date. It also plans to release documentation and maintenance guidelines for follow-on contributors.

BGD Labs pointed to Aave Labs’ expanding influence as the reason for its withdrawal. Aave Labs, which developed the Aave protocol, recently proposed to request development funding in exchange for allocating all protocol revenue to the DAO treasury, and said it would lead development of Aave version 4. BGD Labs criticised Aave Labs for taking control of the brand, communication channels and voting influence, saying the risk of centralisation is growing within a decentralised ecosystem. It also said Aave Labs was uncooperative on improvements to version 3 and, during the version 4 development process, asked only for advisory input without compensation or participation in the design.

BGD Labs said, "The reason we are stopping our contributions to Aave is that the current environment no longer aligns with how we operate and where we can add value."