Base and OP's top DEX will merge, expanding deployment to Arc and Ethereum
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Base and OP's top DEX will merge, expanding deployment to Arc and Ethereum
Uniswap's new proposal cuts LP yields, while Aero integrates LPs into the entire protocol cash flow.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Sanqing, Foresight News
TL;DR
On November 12, Dromos announced at the New Horizon launch event that it would integrate Aerodrome and Velodrome into a unified entry point called Aero, forming a central hub for cross-chain shared liquidity in a multi-chain environment.
The new plan covers Base, Optimism, Ethereum mainnet, and institutional chain Arc. Dromos positions Aero as a central orchestration layer with unified governance, unified incentives, and unified routing.
AERO and VELO will merge into a single token. Existing community shares will be mapped according to established weights, with the new token representing future revenue across the entire cross-chain system.
MetaDEX 03, as the core upgrade, coordinates emission and real revenue through a dual-engine model, incorporating endogenous MEV auctions, dynamic fees, and cross-chain routing to form a reusable multi-chain liquidity operating system.
Dromos plans to launch Aero on Ethereum mainnet and Arc simultaneously in Q2 2026.
On November 12, Dromos hosted the New Horizon launch event. The day before, founder Alexander shared Uniswap’s UNIfication proposal (activating fee mechanisms, retroactive token burns… Could this new proposal bring Uniswap back to dominance?) and suggested competitors had made critical mistakes, steering attention toward the upcoming event. At the launch, Dromos unveiled two key initiatives: first, merging Aerodrome and Velodrome into a unified liquidity gateway, Aero, positioned as the central hub for expansion across more Ethereum-based chains; second, launching the new MetaDEX 03 suite to upgrade protocol-level revenue structures, LP incentive mechanisms, and inter-chain liquidity coordination. The central theme of the event was consolidating previously fragmented DEX systems into a scalable liquidity operations network.
Dromos’ Existing Dual Deployment on Base / Optimism
Prior to introducing the new AERO, Dromos summarized its operational foundation over the past two years on Base and Optimism. Aerodrome and Velodrome operate under identical mechanisms: the same MetaDEX kernel, the same ve model, the same gauge weighting system, and the same bribe market. They are two deployments of the same system on separate chains, with nearly identical operational logic.
In terms of on-chain performance, Aerodrome is fully focused on Base and has established a long-term dominant position on the chain. According to DeFiLlama data at time of writing, its TVL stands at approximately $467 million, annualized fee revenue exceeds $170 million, and 30-day trading volume reaches $18.6 billion. Among Base DEXs, Aerodrome consistently holds a leading position. In contrast, Velodrome's deployment center remains on OP Mainnet, but as the OP Stack ecosystem expands, it has extended to emerging chains such as Ink, Soneium, and Unichain. Its total cross-chain TVL is currently around $57.79 million, with OP Mainnet accounting for nearly two-thirds. Its 30-day trading volume is about $1.386 billion, maintaining sustained activity within the OP Mainnet DEX ecosystem. Both platforms rank among the top in trading volume share within their respective ecosystems, with differences likely stemming from variations in chain scale, user structure, and ecosystem maturity.
The core structure of both is a continuously operating incentive loop. The underlying AMM and routing are managed by MetaDEX, while the ve model binds LP rewards, incentive weights, and long-term staking together. Token issuers seeking to boost liquidity in their pools actively offer incentive budgets in the bribe market to attract ve voting. ve holders allocate votes based on bribe returns, determining each pool’s gauge weight—higher weights result in greater weekly AERO/VELO emissions. As emissions increase, APR improves, attracting LPs to provide liquidity, creating a closed loop of “projects providing incentives, ve allocating incentives, LPs following yield.”
Dromos summarizes a common industry pain point as the “DEX trilemma”: traders need depth and stable execution, LPs need risk-controlled returns, and protocols require sustainable incentive structures. Over the past two years, Aerodrome and Velodrome have consistently validated this playbook across two chains using the same mechanism—by capturing core liquidity, coordinating incentives via ve + bribe, and continuously expanding their ecosystem portfolios, evolving DEXs from standalone products into on-chain infrastructure. Internal data also shows that fee revenue alone can sustain stable profitability, capital efficiency ranks among the industry leaders, and most value flows back to stakers and LPs through veAERO/veVELO, aligning incentives with long-term value.
It is upon this foundation that Dromos positions the new Aero as a unified representation of the entire DEX productivity stack, rather than just a DEX token on a single chain.
Why Upgrade to Aero: Cross-Chain Liquidity Needs a Unified Orchestration Layer
After reviewing existing deployments, the launch shifted focus to Aero. This upgrade is not merely a brand merger of two DEXs but aims to address structural challenges arising from Ethereum’s evolution into a multi-chain ecosystem.
Ethereum has evolved from an early “L1 + few scaling chains” model to a network composed of L1, multiple L2s, app-specific chains, and institutional chains. For users, different chains mean different interfaces and fee structures. For projects and LPs, the same asset must be redeployed and incentivized across multiple chains, fragmenting liquidity across isolated environments.
Dromos emphasized during the livestream that continuing with the “one DEX per chain” model only replicates outdated patterns and fails to resolve cross-chain liquidity fragmentation. Therefore, Aero’s core objective is to establish a unified liquidity orchestration layer across multiple chains, encompassing unified routing, unified incentive distribution, unified governance, and a shared cross-chain economic model.
The launch also highlighted another key development: Arc, a new L1 launched by USDC issuer Circle designed for institutions, using stablecoins as gas and focusing on settlement and tokenized assets. Arc will offer a full suite of compliance and certification interfaces—including address verification, risk tiering, KYC/KYB proofs, and source-of-funds documentation—which external protocols can selectively access. Dromos stressed that Aero will be capable of integrating these interfaces, enabling compatibility with both DeFi and institutional use cases.
On one side are public L2s like Base and Optimism; on the other, institutional chains like Arc. Between them, Dromos positions Aero as a “central liquidity hub”—unifying network-level liquidity and routing at the top, deploying consistent trading and incentive logic across individual chains at the bottom, while remaining compatible with institutional chains’ certification frameworks.
Aero’s Structure: Protocol Integration, Token Merger, and Deployment Roadmap
After establishing its role, the launch detailed Aero’s structural framework, covering protocol integration, token consolidation, and deployment timeline.
At the protocol level, Dromos stated it will consolidate Aerodrome on Base and Velodrome on OP Stack into a unified framework. Frontend interaction will gradually converge under the Aero brand, with the backend fully transitioning to MetaDEX 03 for handling trades, routing, liquidity, and settlements. During the transition period, both platforms will remain operational, but governance, incentive distribution, and cross-chain routing logic will progressively migrate under Aero’s unified rules.
At the token level, Dromos officially announced the merger of AERO and VELO into a single AERO token, with no additional supply—total issuance will be fully mapped from existing communities. The allocation ratio will be calculated based on each protocol’s current TVL and revenue weight, with Aerodrome receiving approximately 94.5% and Velodrome 5.5%. The new AERO will no longer be tied to any single-chain protocol but will represent future output and cashflows across the entire Aero ecosystem. The ve model remains intact—users can stake the new AERO into veAERO to participate in voting, incentive distribution, and revenue sharing. The livestream described this as a “single economic system merge,” emphasizing unification of mechanism and economic structure.
Regarding deployment timeline, Dromos divided the work into phases. Near-term priorities include gradually rolling out the Aero brand and core MetaDEX 03 functionalities on Base and Optimism, ensuring smooth transitions for existing users and projects. In Q2 2026, Aero will deploy to Ethereum mainnet, hosting core trading pairs and institution-sensitive assets in mainnet pools. Concurrently, deployment on Arc will begin, launching verified pools with address authentication and whitelisting rules. Aero will selectively invoke Arc’s identity and compliance modules to support institutional use cases while preserving open access characteristics on other chains.
In the latter half of the launch, several protocols already integrated with MetaDEX 02 took the stage, including lending, derivatives, and cross-chain infrastructure teams. These teams emphasized that Aero is crucial for establishing a unified, predictable base layer of liquidity. MetaDEX provides stable routing and depth, making liquidations, position closures, or cross-chain executions more controllable. The unified incentive layer reduces redundant pool creation and repeated voting costs, allowing assets deployed across chains to maintain consistent incentive structures. For these protocols, Aero consolidates governance, incentives, and routing into a single cross-chain coordination layer, enabling access to more stable liquidity without altering their own product architectures—this is why they chose to adopt it early.
MetaDEX 03: From AMM to a “Liquidity Operating System”
In 2017, Bancor first implemented constant function market making. In 2018, Uniswap became the default DeFi exchange layer thanks to its minimalist model and low integration cost. Sushi introduced liquidity mining, and Curve optimized curves for stablecoins and long-tail assets, yet AMMs have always struggled economically to satisfy all three parties simultaneously. Traders need depth and stable execution, LPs need risk-managed returns, and protocols need sustainable positive net income. Most DEXs can only make trade-offs among these three.
MetaDEX 1 established the foundational AMM and routing definitions, enabling Velodrome to reliably capture mainstream liquidity on Optimism. MetaDEX 2 added the ve model, gauge weights, and bribe markets, allowing Aerodrome and Velodrome to combine LP incentives with project budgets, forming a sustainable economic cycle within single-chain environments. With this upgrade, Dromos positions MetaDEX 03 as a reusable, cross-chain “liquidity OS”—not just an AMM on a single chain, but a unified market-making, routing, and incentive framework.
The economic structure of MetaDEX 03 consists of two engines: AER and REV. The AER engine manages incentive emissions, determining emission amounts per cycle and distributing them to pools based on ve voting. The REV engine collects and allocates protocol revenue, including fees, Slipstream MEV, and batch-matching gains. An internal “automatic stabilizer” coordinates between the two, adjusting emission rates according to real protocol revenue, aiming to align token supply growth with revenue growth. One week of data shown during the livestream indicated that MetaDEX maintains a positive surplus of over $1 million after deducting LP incentives and bribes. Simulations suggest this surplus could increase by approximately 2.8x under MetaDEX 03 without increasing inflation. The overall goal is to ensure LPs receive composite yields exceeding their fee contributions while enabling the protocol to maintain positive net income across cycles.
The key technical upgrade comes from Slipstream V3. Currently, most MEV is captured by third-party auctions at the sequencing layer, leaving DEXs and LPs unable to benefit. Slipstream V3 integrates an endogenous MEV auction and batch-matching mechanism directly within the AMM, retaining part of arbitrage and matching profits inside the protocol and distributing them to LPs, veAERO holders, and the protocol treasury—all while aiming to avoid increasing, or even reducing, user-side costs. Complementing this is a more granular dynamic fee structure: automatically lowering fees for deep, low-volatility pools and raising them during extreme conditions for high-risk pools to cover elevated risks with higher income. When combined with gauge caps and dynamic fee mechanisms, MetaDEX 03 significantly enhances capital efficiency and risk-adjusted performance.
For transaction routing and operational tools, MetaDEX 03 integrates MetaSwaps, Autopilot, solver markets, and verified pools. MetaSwaps provides users with a unified cross-chain swap interface. Users simply select assets and target chains, and the backend automatically splits and routes orders across Base, Optimism, Ethereum mainnet, and Arc to find the lowest-cost path. It does not rebuild bridges but collaborates with multi-chain messaging infrastructures like Hyperlane. Autopilot serves LPs and projects, enabling one-click complex position creation, automatic reinvestment, bribe budget management, and cross-chain incentive structuring. The solver market targets professional market makers and MEV participants—Aero offers a unified API and settlement rules, allowing these actors to integrate proprietary algorithms for batch matching and MEV auctions, turning external computational power into internal protocol services.
Institutional needs are addressed through verified pools. On Arc and similar environments, Aero can activate pools with KYC and whitelisting rules, invoking Arc’s compliance modules as needed so institutions can participate in market making and trading while meeting regulatory requirements. MetaDEX 03 also reserves integration capabilities with external identity systems such as Coinbase and World ID, adding extra security layers for large or sensitive funds and offering advanced analytics tools.
In Dromos’ vision, regulation is increasingly focusing on stablecoins and tokenized assets. Through MetaDEX 03, Aero aims to deliver a scalable, unified core that supports both open DeFi liquidity and institutional-grade liquidity without compromising DeFi’s native openness.
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