Aerodrome - DEX on Base

As the Base ecosystem accelerates its growth, one name keeps surfacing at the center of its DeFi activity: Aerodrome. This powerful decentralized exchange (DEX) is playing a pivotal role in bootstrapping liquidity, supporting new tokens, and driving yield opportunities across Base.

But what is Aerodrome exactly? How does it work? And why has it become one of the most used dApps on Base?

In this article, we take a closer look at Aerodrome — from its architecture and tokenomics to its early success and growing influence within Ethereum’s Layer-2 landscape.

What Is Aerodrome?

Aerodrome is a next-generation decentralized exchange (DEX) built natively on Base, Coinbase’s Layer-2 network. It was launched in August 2023 by the team behind Velodrome Finance, a successful DEX on Optimism.

Aerodrome combines elements of:

A traditional AMM (Automated Market Maker)
Basic and contentrated liquidity pools
An efficient liquidity incentive engine
A governance system driven by veNFTs (vote-escrowed NFTs)

The platform is designed to:

Encourage deep, sustainable liquidity for Base-native tokens
Enable protocols to direct emissions and boost yields
Offer low slippage and optimized trading for users

A Fork of Velodrome — Built for Base

At its core, Aerodrome is a fork of Velodrome, tailored specifically for the Base network. It uses the ve(3,3) tokenomics model popularized by Solidly and refined by Velodrome.

This model rewards long-term protocol alignment over short-term speculation. Instead of focusing solely on farming, Aerodrome encourages protocols and users to lock tokens, vote, and shape the flow of emissions.

By aligning incentives between liquidity providers, traders, and protocols, Aerodrome creates a more cooperative liquidity ecosystem — rather than a race to the bottom.

How It Works

1. AMM with Weighted Pools

Aerodrome uses concentrated liquidity pairs similar to Uniswap v2, but also supports weighted and stable pools optimized for correlated assets (like stablecoins or LSDs).

2. Liquidity Incentives

Aerodrome directs token emissions toward specific pools based on gauge voting. Users who lock AERO (the native token) as veAERO can vote on which pools receive the most rewards.

3. veAERO and Bribes

When users lock AERO into vote-escrowed NFTs (veAERO), they gain governance rights and weekly emissions. Protocols can offer bribes to veAERO holders to vote for their pools — a mechanism that creates competition for liquidity.

This bribe-and-vote system has been highly successful in engaging protocols and rewarding veAERO holders.

4. Dual Rewards

Liquidity providers on Aerodrome can earn:

Trading fees
AERO emissions
Bribes (if their pool is voted on)

Tokenomics

Aerodrome’s native token is $AERO, which serves multiple roles in the ecosystem:

Incentive Token: Distributed to liquidity providers and voters
Governance Token: Lockable into veAERO for voting power
Revenue Share: veAERO holders receive fees and bribes

AERO was launched fairly with an airdrop to early Base users and Velodrome participants. Over time, emissions will taper, and veAERO holders will gain increasing influence over reward distribution.

Adoption and Growth

Since launch, Aerodrome has quickly risen to become the top DEX on Base by Total Value Locked (TVL), volume, and user engagement.

Key Stats (as of Q1 2025):

TVL: Over $320 million
Daily Volume: Regularly exceeds $30 million
Unique Wallets: Over 130,000 users have interacted with Aerodrome
Top Pools: USDC/wETH, cbETH/wETH, AERO/USDC, and more

Its dominance on Base is fueled by:

Strong protocol incentives
Deep integration with Base-native projects
Active governance participation

Dozens of protocols on Base now use Aerodrome as their primary liquidity layer, participating in gauge votes, offering bribes, and deploying farming strategies.

Why Aerodrome Matters

1. Liquidity Bootstrapping for Base

Base is a young ecosystem. Aerodrome acts as the liquidity engine that helps new tokens get volume and visibility. Without deep liquidity, new projects can’t grow — and Aerodrome solves that.

2. Incentive Alignment

The ve(3,3) model aligns long-term holders, protocols, and liquidity providers in a way that most DEXs do not. It’s not just a farm-and-dump platform — it’s a governance-driven economy.

3. Homegrown Advantage

Unlike Uniswap or Curve, Aerodrome is natively built for Base. It doesn’t just exist on Base — it thrives here. That local-first approach has made it a central pillar of the chain’s DeFi landscape.

4. Composable and Open

As an open-source protocol, Aerodrome can be integrated into aggregators, wallets, and other DeFi products, expanding its utility and interoperability.

What’s Next?

Looking ahead, Aerodrome plans to:

Expand support for Layer-2 liquidity routing
Launch cross-chain initiatives with Velodrome
Integrate with more Base-native protocols and DeFi games
Refine governance mechanisms and voter incentives

As Base itself grows and evolves, Aerodrome is expected to remain at the core of its liquidity infrastructure — playing a critical role in onboarding users, bootstrapping new markets, and powering decentralized finance on Layer-2.

Final Thoughts

Aerodrome is not just another DEX — it’s a DeFi flywheel designed to scale with Base. With its clever tokenomics, powerful governance system, and community-focused design, it’s helping to build a more sustainable and inclusive financial layer on-chain.

Whether you’re a trader, builder, or long-term holder, Aerodrome offers powerful tools to participate in the next wave of decentralized finance — with the speed and cost-efficiency that only Layer-2 can provide.

If you’re exploring the Base ecosystem, Aerodrome is the place where liquidity lands.