Overview
Aerodrome Finance launched on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2, in August 2023, built by Dromos Labs, the team behind Velodrome on Optimism. It became the largest decentralized exchange on Base, and Coinbase’s venture arm is an investor.
In October 2026, Aerodrome and Velodrome merged into a single protocol called Aero, running across several chains, including Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum and Robinhood Chain.
How it works
Aerodrome uses the ve(3,3) model:
- Users lock AERO to get veAERO, which gives voting power.
- Each week, veAERO holders vote on which trading pools receive new AERO rewards.
- Voters earn the trading fees from the pools they vote for, plus incentives (“bribes”) from projects that want liquidity.
- Liquidity providers earn AERO rewards in the pools that receive votes.
This makes Aerodrome a marketplace where projects compete for liquidity.
The 2026 merger
- AERO converts 1:1 into the new AERO.
- VELO holders receive about 0.044 new AERO per VELO.
- Old emissions stop as part of the transition.
- Exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken handle the swap for their users in early November 2026, pausing deposits and withdrawals during the migration. Check your exchange’s instructions and don’t send old tokens during the pause.
The AERO token
| AERO at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Total supply | about 2 billion AERO |
| In circulation (Oct 2026) | about 810 million |
| Price (29 Oct 2026) | about $0.70 |
| All-time high | about $2.32 (December 2024) |
| Market cap | about $570 million (#98) |
| Deposits (Oct 2026) | about $360 million (DeFiLlama) |
Risks
- Migration. Token swaps and new contracts can go wrong; follow official instructions.
- Base dependence. Aero’s value is still closely tied to activity on Base.
- Complexity. Locking, voting and incentives are hard for beginners.
- Competition. Uniswap and others compete for the same trading volume.
Aerodrome vs. the competition
| Aerodrome / Aero | Uniswap | PancakeSwap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main chain | Base (+ others) | Ethereum + many | BNB Chain |
| Model | ve(3,3) voting and incentives | Fee switch and burns | Burns |
| Token | AERO | UNI | CAKE |
Our verdict
Aerodrome won Base, and the merger into Aero gives it a broader, multi-chain future and cleaner tokenomics. But the migration adds short-term risk, and AERO is about 70% below its peak. AERO is a high-risk investment: invest only what you can afford to lose.
This review is for information only and is not financial advice.