Aerodrome and Velodrome Merge Into Aero, a Spot Exchange Across Seven Chains
Published October 22, 2026, 2:20 PM PKT. Based on a Wednesday statement from the Aero team as reported by The Block on October 21, 2026 (primary source), and reporting by TradingView News, CoinGabbar, CoinStats, and KuCoin (secondary sources). This is a follow-up to MABOnChain's October 16, 2026 article on Aerodrome's rally ahead of the merger, and it covers the completed launch rather than the run-up.
Aerodrome and Velodrome have officially merged to launch Aero, an onchain spot exchange across seven blockchain networks, according to a Wednesday statement reported by The Block. Aero is launching on Ethereum mainnet, Base, Robinhood Chain, Ink, OP Mainnet, Arc, and Arbitrum, and it aims to bring the two decentralized exchanges' existing operations under a unified platform. The project set go-live for October 21 at 8:00 PM EDT, which was October 22 at 00:00 UTC, according to the project's launch coverage.
Seven chains, about $120 billion in monthly DEX trading
The scale claim is the first thing to check, because it is the project's own figure. The seven networks together handle about $120 billion a month in decentralized exchange trading, the project said, according to The Block. Aerodrome accounted for 58% of DEX trading volume on Base in the third quarter, while Velodrome accounted for 60% on OP Mainnet, according to the same statement. Aerodrome also led all decentralized exchanges in bitcoin-dollar trading volume during the quarter, the statement said. The team added that the chains Aerodrome and Velodrome serve today account for about 17% of EVM spot volume, and that it expects the launch to roughly triple that reach, according to CoinGabbar's report on the launch. Those reach figures are project claims, not confirmed results, and they will be testable only once trading volume starts appearing under the Aero name.
Alex Cutler, founder and CEO of Dromos Labs, which develops Aero, framed the merger as an attack on traditional market structure. "Every market is coming onchain, and any institution that can be distilled into code will be. Their margin is our opportunity," Cutler said, according to The Block. "Aerodrome and Velodrome won because the model works better for the people who use it," he added. "Aero takes that model to some of the biggest markets onchain, and 100% of the revenue it earns goes back to the people who stake AERO." That last sentence is the economic pitch in one line: the exchange's revenue is directed to stakers rather than to shareholders, which is the model both predecessor exchanges ran.
One AERO for one AERO, 0.044 AERO for one VELO
As part of the merger, the existing AERO and VELO tokens will migrate to a new AERO token, while veAERO and veVELO will convert to sAERO, staked AERO, according to the statement reported by The Block. The conversion rates, reported from the project's launch hub, are one new AERO for each old AERO, and about 0.044 new AERO for each VELO. The new supply splits 94.5% to Aerodrome holders and 5.5% to Velodrome holders, a split the project says matches each protocol's revenue share over the 52 weeks before the merger announcement. The projected total comes to roughly 2.1 billion new AERO, about 1.99 billion from Aerodrome plus about 116 million from Velodrome's share, according to the launch hub reporting. Because the VELO rate depends on supply at launch, the project presents it as approximate, so holders should confirm the exact rate in the upgrade portal before migrating.
The split itself tells the story of the two protocols' relative weight. Aerodrome, built on Base, was the much larger business, and its holders take nearly nineteen twentieths of the new token. Velodrome, built on OP Mainnet, was the smaller partner, and its holders take the remainder. That imbalance is also why the merger reads less like a merger of equals and more like Aerodrome's model absorbing Velodrome's operations, even though the new brand, Aero, drops both old names.
Predictive Allocation, Metaswaps, and Slipstream V3
Aero is launching with three named features, and each one targets a different side of running an exchange. The central feature, dubbed Predictive Allocation, lets participants stake AERO and direct the liquidity rewards budget toward markets they expect to generate revenue, according to The Block. In plain terms, stakers vote with their stake on where incentives should go, rather than leaving that decision to the team alone. The second feature, Metaswaps, is designed to connect trading across networks using the platform's existing onchain liquidity, so a trade can draw on liquidity held on another chain in the seven-chain set. The third, Slipstream V3, introduces dynamic fees that rise when markets move fast, along with MEV capture on supported Layer 2 networks, according to the statement. Taken together, the three features describe an exchange trying to keep liquidity where it earns, move it across chains, and price volatility into its fees.
Holders must upgrade by hand, and old emissions have ended
The practical warning for holders is the most important paragraph in this article. Nothing converts automatically. The Aero Upgrade Hub says holders must use the upgrade portals, and the move cannot be reversed, according to the launch hub reporting. Emissions on the old protocols ended at launch, so earning new rewards requires an upgrade. A holder who does nothing keeps old tokens that no longer earn, while a holder who migrates gets the new AERO or sAERO and a claim on the new platform's rewards and revenue. Because the migration is irreversible, the sensible sequence is to verify the portal address through the project's official channels, confirm the conversion rate shown, and only then migrate, since a fake portal is the obvious scam vector around any high-profile token migration.
From the October 16 preview to a live exchange
MABOnChain covered this merger as a run-up story on October 16, 2026, when Aerodrome's AERO spiked to $0.98 intraday as the October 21 merger neared. That article treated the merger as an approaching catalyst. This article records the completed event: the two exchanges are now one platform, the seven-chain footprint is live, the token migration terms are public, and the old emissions have stopped. What to watch next is execution, not announcement. The markers are whether trading volume consolidates under the Aero name across the seven chains, whether holders migrate promptly or leave old tokens idle, and whether the promised revenue flow to stakers shows up in practice. The merger's pitch was that a proven model on two chains would work on seven, and the launch gives that pitch a live test.
This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.
Sources
- Aero/Dromos Labs, Wednesday statement as reported by The Block, Aerodrome and Velodrome merge to launch Aero across seven blockchain networks (October 21, 2026), primary source
- TradingView News, Aerodrome and Velodrome merge to launch Aero across seven blockchain networks (October 21, 2026), secondary source
- CoinGabbar, AERO Crypto News: What Happens When Two Major DEXs Become One? (October 22, 2026), secondary source
- CoinStats, AERO Crypto News: Why Are Aerodrome and Velodrome Becoming Aero? (October 22, 2026), secondary source
- KuCoin, Aerodrome and Velodrome Merge to Launch Aero on Seven Blockchain Networks (October 22, 2026), secondary source
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