TL;DR:
- Curve founder Michael Egorov seeks DAO approval for a 17.45 million CRV grant, worth $6.6 million, to fund Swiss Stake AG’s development, security and infrastructure work.
- The grant would support a 25-person team delivering a refreshed Llamalend, onchain FX swaps, user interface upgrades, crosschain expansion and governance tooling improvements.
- Swiss Stake AG earns revenue from Curve Lite deployments and veCRV staking, but relies on DAO grants, fueling debate over sustainability.
Curve Finance is back in the governance spotlight after founder Michael Egorov requested a new grant, seeking approval for 17.45 million CRV, worth about $6.6 million, to fund development, security and core infrastructure via Swiss Stake AG throughout 2026. The proposal, published on Curve’s governance forum and now awaiting DAO approval, revives questions about how much token-subsidized funding the protocol’s builder should receive and whether current revenue streams can reliably sustain operations.
A proposal to grant 17.45M CRV to Swiss Stake AG for further development of technologies for Curve.
Please vote at: https://t.co/Mhg1knf2Yu
And read the proposal at: https://t.co/hhiZtzR696 pic.twitter.com/NvwAE6ma3o
— Curve Finance (@CurveFinance) December 14, 2025
Development roadmap, revenue gaps and community unease
At the center of the request sits Swiss Stake AG, a 25-person team tasked with building and maintaining Curve’s core infrastructure while delivering an ambitious development roadmap for the coming year. Planned work includes shipping a refreshed version of Llamalend, Curve’s own lending product, and rolling out an onchain foreign exchange swap system aimed at enabling more efficient currency trading inside the DeFi ecosystem.
Beyond flagship products, the proposal outlines user interface upgrades, expanded crosschain functionality and deeper integrations with other protocols alongside governance tooling improvements. These initiatives are presented as part of efforts to keep Curve relevant across multiple networks while improving accessibility for both power users and newcomers. Egorov also stressed that any intellectual property produced with the grant would remain open source, in line with Curve’s existing development philosophy and its emphasis on transparent protocol evolution.
Still, the document acknowledges that Swiss Stake AG has yet to reach full financial independence, even after building several revenue channels around the protocol. Income today derives from Curve Lite deployments on alternative chains and from staking veCRV positions through partners such as Convex, StakeDAO and Yearn Finance. While these sources help offset costs, Egorov confirms they are not yet sufficient to cover the full operating budget, leaving the organization dependent on renewed DAO grants to maintain staff and roadmap delivery.
That reliance is what gives the latest grant proposal its edge, with the $6.6 million ask prompting community debate over whether repeated allocations signal structural funding fragility or simply reflect the scale of Curve’s ambitions. Supporters may frame the package as a pragmatic investment in a systemically important DeFi protocol’s infrastructure, while skeptics could worry about precedent and long-term sustainability. As DAO participants weigh the request through governance, the outcome will double as a referendum on how Curve balances founder-led execution with community stewardship of its treasury.
