DEX Aerodrome launches an upgrade package, expanding to Ethereum and Circle's Arc.

Dromos Labs, the organization behind the decentralized exchange Aerodrome on Base, has just launched a new trading hub called Aero. This platform will connect the Aerodrome network with the “sibling” protocol Velodrome operating on Optimism, while also serving as a foundation for expansion to other Ethereum chains.

“At Base, Aerodrome has achieved success and now we want to expand to effectively serve other Ethereum networks through Aero. Just like the world has gone online, it is now moving on-chain. Aero will lead to a better, faster, and cheaper financial system than the current systems,” Alexander Cutler, CEO of Dromos Labs, shared.

The “centralized” liquidity hub Aero will first expand to the Ethereum mainnet and the Arc blockchain optimized for Circle's stablecoin, while being designed for easy integration with the entire EVM ecosystem. “Aero's headquarters will be located at Base,” said Luis de la Cerda, CEO of Aerodrome Foundation, at Dromos's “New Horizon” event on Wednesday.

Expected to launch in Q2/2026, Aero will consolidate the existing tokens of Aerodrome and Velodrome into a single token named AERO. This token will “represent the entitlement to the production capacity” of the DEX operated by Aero, according to de la Cerda. The initial distribution of AERO will “reflect the current ratio” between the revenues of Aerodrome and Velodrome, meaning approximately 5.5% of the supply will be allocated to VELO holders, while the remaining 94.5% will be for AERO holders, “without dilution and without issuing new tokens.”

Unified trading system

Dromos not only aims to eliminate liquidity issues and fragmented users on Aerodrome and Velodrome but also expects Aero to become the central exchange platform for the onchain economy. The protocol will implement interfaces for profitable “earn” programs, NFT and token trading, as well as other onchain services. The protocol is “fully compatible and integrable” with any wallet, exchange, or AI agent, according to de la Cerda.

“Every action creates value and flows back to a single place: the token,” de la Cerda emphasized. At launch, Aero will operate with a unified token. Jesse Pollak, founder of Base, also agreed, believing that Aero could become the infrastructure for the global onchain economy.

Alongside the Aero announcement, Dromos also introduced the new protocol operating system MetaDEX 03, enhancing the cross-chain capabilities of the exchange and increasing rewards for liquidity providers.

MetaDEX 03 system, developed over two years, adopts a “dual engine model,” combining two engines AER and REV, aiming to further “internalize” revenue streams for the protocol while reducing value leakage to competing automated money markets such as Uniswap, according to Cutler.

According to Dan Wick, Chief Financial Officer of Dromos, the REV Engine could increase revenue by 40%, while the AER Engine is expected to reduce costs by 34 million USD, providing “2.8 times value for token operators.”

New generation features for Base

Aerodrome is currently the largest DEX on Layer 2 Base supported by Coinbase, and also the highest revenue-generating onchain exchange on any blockchain, with a revenue of approximately 14.79 million USD in the past 30 days, surpassing Pump with 8.96 million USD, according to DeFiLlama.

To “internalize” additional profits, MetaDEX 03 integrates Slipstream V3, for the first time blocking MEV revenue at the DEX level from centralized sequencers. Traditionally, MEV fee auctions at the sequencer level are worth hundreds of millions of USD, according to Cutler.

Dromos also introduces “verified pools,” allowing developers to connect various zero-knowledge solutions such as the verification of Coinbase or World Verification, helping organizations to interact and trade on DEX in a compliant manner. The protocol also features “Metaswaps,” a cross-chain bridging and swapping tool, “optimized for the entire EVM ecosystem.”

Thạch Sanh