Aerodrome vs Velodrome: 2026 Comparison

Last reviewed: 2026-05-03

Aerodrome and Velodrome are the two flagship ve(3,3) DEXs in the OP-Stack ecosystem. Velodrome (Optimism, launched 2022) was the original ve(3,3) DEX after the Solidly fork era, surviving the founder drama and stabilising into the dominant Optimism DEX. Aerodrome (Base, launched 2023) is the canonical Velodrome v2 fork on Base, deployed at Base mainnet launch with explicit Coinbase ecosystem alignment — and went on to surpass Velodrome's TVL within months. The codebase is essentially the same, both share the same audit foundation, and the choice usually comes down to which OP-Stack chain you are trading on.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	Aerodrome	Velodrome
Launched	2023 (August, Base mainnet era)	2022 (June, Optimism)
Chain	Base	Optimism
Codebase	Velodrome v2 fork (essentially same code)	Original — Solidly-derived ve(3,3) v1, then v2 redesign
TVL (2026-05, approx.)	$1.0-1.5B	$300-500M
Native token	AERO	VELO
Vote-escrow lock	veAERO (4-year max lock)	veVELO (4-year max lock)
Pool types	Stable (sAMM) + Volatile (vAMM) + Concentrated (CL)	Stable (sAMM) + Volatile (vAMM) + Concentrated (CL)
Concentrated-liquidity?	Yes — Aerodrome Slipstream	Yes — Velodrome Slipstream (rolled out 2024)
Bribe markets	Mature — protocols pay veAERO holders for emissions	Mature — protocols pay veVELO holders for emissions
Public-goods funding tie-in	Coinbase-ecosystem alignment + Base grants	OP grants + Optimism RetroPGF rounds
Backing / sponsors	Coinbase Ventures-aligned brand	Optimism Foundation-aligned brand
Best for	Trading on Base + Coinbase ecosystem alignment	Trading on Optimism + OP grants ecosystem

Where Aerodrome wins

Higher TVL — Aerodrome holds roughly 2-3x Velodrome's TVL in 2026, with deeper books on USDC, AERO, ETH and the major Base-native pairs.
Base-native — if you trade on Base (Coinbase's flagship L2), Aerodrome is where the deepest liquidity lives by a wide margin.
Coinbase ecosystem alignment — informal proximity to the largest US exchange's L2 means stronger flow and brand affinity.
Larger emissions budget at this stage of the curve — LP and bribe APRs trend higher than Velodrome on equivalent pool types.
More retail attention and integration in Base-native products (Aerodrome is the default DEX in many Base-aggregator routings).

Where Velodrome wins

Original implementation — Velodrome built the v1 → v2 redesign that Aerodrome forks, so battle-testing depth on the codebase is longer.
Optimism native — for Optimism-only flow (OP, Lyra/Derive, Synthetix legacy, Velodrome itself) it is still the deepest DEX on the chain.
OP RetroPGF tie-in — Velodrome is one of the longest-running RetroPGF recipients and the OP Foundation has direct relationship history with the team.
More mature governance and parameter tuning — Velodrome went through multiple emission and gauge-design iterations before Aerodrome was forked.
Less concentrated holder base — Aerodrome's veAERO concentration is higher than veVELO's as of 2026, which some governance-conscious users prefer to avoid.

Best for which user

Choose Aerodrome if:

You are trading on Base, want the deepest ve(3,3) liquidity in the OP-Stack ecosystem, value Coinbase ecosystem alignment, or want higher emissions APRs at this stage of the curve.

Choose Velodrome if:

You are trading on Optimism, want the longer battle-tested original implementation, value the OP RetroPGF tie-in, or care about a less concentrated veToken holder base.

Use both if:

You run cross-OP-Stack strategies — Aerodrome for Base-side liquidity provision and Velodrome for Optimism-side. Same mental model, two different chain markets, often different bribe yields week-to-week.

Pricing detail

Both protocols charge no native trader fee beyond the per-pool LP fee (typical sAMM stable: ~0.02%, vAMM volatile: ~0.30%, Slipstream CL: 0.01%/0.05%/0.30%/1.00% per tier). veAERO and veVELO holders earn 100% of the swap fees from the pools they vote for, plus protocol-pay-to-vote bribes. Effective trader cost is therefore pool-fee + slippage; the aggregator will route to whichever has tighter spread on the chain you are on. There is no protocol fee skim that goes to the team — Aerodrome and Velodrome are both fully ve-emissions-driven economic designs.

Frequently asked questions

Is Aerodrome a fork of Velodrome?

Yes. Aerodrome is the canonical Velodrome v2 fork, deployed on Base at mainnet launch with the explicit blessing of the Velodrome team. The codebases are essentially the same and share the same audit foundation. The two products differ mostly in chain, tokenomics, and ecosystem positioning — not core mechanism.

Which has higher TVL, Aerodrome or Velodrome?

Aerodrome — roughly 2-3x Velodrome in 2026-05. Aerodrome surpassed Velodrome's TVL within months of its 2023 launch, driven by Base ecosystem flows and a larger emissions budget. Velodrome remains the dominant DEX on Optimism specifically.

What does ve(3,3) mean?

ve(3,3) refers to vote-escrowed tokenomics where lockers (4-year max) earn 100% of swap fees plus bribes for the pools they vote for. The "(3,3)" comes from the Olympus DAO meme via Solidly — the design Andre Cronje launched on Fantom. Velodrome and Aerodrome are the two surviving production-quality ve(3,3) implementations.

Is Aerodrome safer than Velodrome?

They share essentially the same codebase and audit foundation, so the smart-contract risk is similar. The differences are chain-level (Base vs Optimism, both OP-Stack rollups with similar security assumptions) and governance-level (different veToken holder concentrations).

Do I need to lock AERO or VELO to use the DEX?

No. Trading and LPing only require the underlying assets. Locking AERO/VELO into veAERO/veVELO is what unlocks vote rights, swap-fee earnings on voted pools, and bribe income. Most casual traders never lock; LPs who chase emissions usually do.

Switch from Aerodrome to Velodrome

Export your data from Aerodrome. Download trade history, address book, and tax CSVs from the account-settings export panel before disabling 2FA or rotating keys.
Set up your Velodrome account. Complete KYC if required, enable hardware-backed 2FA, fund a small test deposit, and verify withdrawal works end-to-end before moving size.
Migrate balances and recreate workflows. Move funds in tranches rather than one transfer; re-create recurring orders, watchlists, API keys and alerts on Velodrome; keep Aerodrome live for 30 days as a fallback.

Reverse direction works the same way — see Velodrome vs Aerodrome if you're moving the other way (page may not exist; the steps above invert cleanly).