Aerodrome is evolving — and the expansion is so big that it could redefine the entire EVM trading ecosystem. Now rebranded as Aero, the largest DEX on Base is merging with Velodrome, expanding to Ethereum mainnet, and becoming one of the first platforms integrated with Circle’s new stablecoin chain, Arc. This positions Aero as the first real “Super-DEX” — unified liquidity, multi-chain routing, MEV capture, institutional access, and a single token powering it all.
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00:00Welcome back to The Deep Dive. You know, if you've been watching the DeFi space, you know fragmentation has always been the enemy of efficiency.
00:08It really has. I mean, you have dozens of chains, hundreds of DXs, all fighting for the same capital.
00:14But something is happening right now, a consolidation event that feels different. It could fundamentally change how the on-chain economy is structured.
00:23It's way more than just one protocol buying another. This is an architectural unification.
00:28To give you an idea of the scale, just imagine if, say, Uniswap, Sushi, Curve, and PancakeSwap all decided to merge.
00:36All their tokens, all their liquidity, everything.
00:39Everything into one single unified protocol.
00:41And that is exactly the ambition we're diving into today. We're looking at the transformation of Aerodrome.
00:47It's already the number one DX on base, but it's making this huge leap to become Aero.
00:52A unified cross-chain, what they're calling a super DX, and it's built for the entire EVM ecosystem.
00:57Okay, so let's get right to it. How is Aerodrome going from being, you know, a top app on a layer two to becoming this central liquidity highway for all of EVM?
01:07And more importantly, what does this actually offer traders, and maybe the real target here, institutional capital?
01:14To really define this super DX, we have to look past just trading volume and focus on the infrastructure.
01:21Aero isn't just expanding. It's building a unified hub across three very specific chains.
01:27Right. We're talking base, Ethereum mainnet, and Circle's new stablecoin chain, which is called ARK.
01:33And that choice of chains is very strategic.
01:35It is, because it supports the four pillars that make this whole concept work.
01:40This isn't just simple token swapping anymore. This is serious financial engineering.
01:45So what are the pillars?
01:45Okay, so you've got massive multi-chain liquidity first, then unified token incentives, which is like the economic glue.
01:53After that, integrated MEV capture, and finally a sort of plug-and-play compliance layer for institutions.
01:59Let's focus on what that means for the end user. If this actually works, you, the trader, get deeper liquidity.
02:04And cheaper swaps.
02:05Because you're routing through all three chains at once from just one interface.
02:08And if you're an LP, a liquidity provider, you're earning more fees from all this new cross-chain flow.
02:13Exactly. But the bigger play here, I think, is for the entities moving real size.
02:20Treasuries, asset managers, even AI agents, they need one reliable place to route complex trades.
02:26Instead of hopping between bridges and DXs manually.
02:29Right. And this whole structure, it directly plays into Jesse Pollack's on-chain economy narrative.
02:34It positions BASE as this core piece of global liquidity infrastructure, not just another L2.
02:40Okay, but none of that multi-chain stuff works unless the incentives are aligned.
02:44Which brings us to the token merger. This is big.
02:47Aerodrome on Base and Velodrome on Optimism are merging into one single ARO token.
02:53And the genius here is how they're doing it. They're preventing dilution.
02:57Whenever you hear merger and crypto, you think, okay, more tokens are being printed.
03:00More inflation.
03:00Not here. This is a clean, non-dilutive consolidation.
03:03The distribution is really specific. 94.5% goes to existing AR holders, 5.5% to VLO holders,
03:11and crucially, no new supply is created.
03:14So it's a pooling of resources, not an expansion.
03:17Exactly. And the benefit is immediate. You just eliminated liquidity fragmentation.
03:22Capital on Optimism is now economically reinforcing the token on base, and vice versa.
03:28It creates that flywheel effect they talk about.
03:30The supercharged flywheel. Every new chain arrow expands to just feeds value right back into that
03:36single ARO token. It's the first time we've seen two major successful DXs do this. They're getting
03:42rid of their own competitive silos to centralize their power.
03:46Let's break down the roles of those three chains because they aren't just random choices. They each
03:50do something very different.
03:51Absolutely. Base is clearly the home base. That's where the high-volume daily user activity is.
03:57And Ethereum mainnet is.
03:58Well, it's always the same thing.
03:59It's the deep liquidity ocean, right? That's where the whale capital and the deep stablecoin
04:03pools live.
04:04And ARK, the new one from Circle, that feels like the strategic wildcard here.
04:08I think it is. It's built for institutional-grade stablecoin flows.
04:12It's basically the stablecoin settlement hub.
04:14So ARO is positioning itself as the, what, the liquidity brain for all of this.
04:19That's a good way to put it. It connects these complementary pieces.
04:22Base for volume, Ethereum for capital, and ARK for the compliance settlement that
04:27institutions absolutely require. You take one piece away, the whole super DX idea kind of falls
04:32apart.
04:33All right, let's get into the tech that makes this possible.
04:36Metadex03. The sources are calling this a complete operating system upgrade.
04:40Yeah, it's not just an update. It's a shift from being a, you know,
04:43a basic low margin AMM to a highly optimized financial engine.
04:48And at its core is this dual engine model, the AER engine and the Revi engine. I saw a
04:53quote from the CFO saying this aims for like 2.8x more value to token holders.
04:58How?
04:59Okay, so let's break that down. The AER engine is all about efficiency. It's projected to
05:03cut protocol costs by about $34 million. Think of it as an optimized gas router.
05:08So it makes everything cheaper to run?
05:10Cheaper to run, cheaper to interact with. The savings get passed on.
05:13The Revi engine, on the other hand, is about boosting revenue. That's projected to go up 40%.
05:17How does it do that?
05:19By optimizing the pricing and fee structure. It makes sure every profitable swap generates the
05:24maximum sustainable fee for the protocol and its token holders.
05:28Okay, that makes sense. Cost cutting meets revenue boosting. But here's the part that I think is
05:33critical for market dominance. Slipstream V3. The MEV capture.
05:38This is the biggest threat to the old de-ache model. Right now, there are hundreds of millions,
05:45maybe over a billion dollars a year in MEV value being captured by centralized sequencers.
05:51Not by the protocol where the trade actually happened.
05:53Exactly. Slipstream V3 is the first real attempt to intercept that MEV auction revenue before the
05:59sequencers can grab it.
06:00Wait, so they're trying to reclaim the value that their own liquidity is generating? That's not just a
06:04feature, that a massive new revenue line. A huge one. And it immediately sets them apart from,
06:10say, a Uniswap, which isn't capturing this sequencer-level MEV right now.
06:14It fundamentally changes how the protocol accrues value.
06:17And while they're adding that profit center, they're also building for big money with something
06:20called verified pools. Talk us through that.
06:22So this uses ZK tech or compliance layers. You can plug in attestations from partners like
06:28Coinbase or WorldID. Why is that so important?
06:30Because it unlocks billions in institutional capital that legally cannot touch anonymous,
06:37non-compliant pools. This lets them create KYC liquidity pools inside the DCACs.
06:43So institutions can trade compliantly on-chain without needing some separate permissioned environment.
06:49Precisely. It solves the regulatory problem with tech.
06:52And the final piece tying it all together is metaswaps. For a user, what problem does this solve?
06:57It solves the biggest headache in DeFi. You know, having to use a bridge to move an asset,
07:02then finding the right DX on the other chain to do the final swap.
07:05It's a pain.
07:06A huge pain. Metaswaps makes it a single transaction across the entire EVM.
07:11Aero becomes that central highway, doing all the complex routing for you under one UI.
07:15Now, it's important to remember this isn't some startup with a white paper.
07:19Aerodrome is already the top revenue-generating DX in all of crypto.
07:22The data backs it up. The sources show their 30-day revenue was almost $14.8 million.
07:29That's way higher than other big names, like Pum's revenue, over the same time.
07:34So they're building from a position of real strength.
07:36An incredibly dominant position. And the vision from Dromos Labs, the team behind it,
07:42is much bigger than just running a DX.
07:44What's the endgame?
07:45To become the fundamental infrastructure layer for the entire on-chain economy.
07:49Yeah.
07:49A liquidity hub, a trading router, a compliance gateway, and an MEV capture engine. All in one.
07:55The analogy they used was?
07:57The Bloomberg terminal of the on-chain world.
07:59Yeah.
07:59A one-stop shop for institutions to transact on-chain.
08:03So, we've seen the moves. Unify the token, integrate institutional chains like ARK,
08:07and engineer a way to capture MEV.
08:10This brings up a really important question for the whole space.
08:12We're seeing this race for institutional adoption and scale.
08:16Will this Super DX model, which is so aggressive about solving fragmentation and compliance,
08:20ultimately kill off the older, fragmented AM model that's dominated DeFi so far?
08:25What does ARROW's architecture mean for the survival of those chain-specific DEXs?
08:31That is the central competitive question of the next cycle.
08:35Absolutely something to think about.
08:37If you found this breakdown useful, please do remember to engage with the video.
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08:50shaping the on-chain economy.
08:52Until next time, keep analyzing the architecture.
08:55See you on the next deep dive.
09:12We've been recording.
09:12We'll see you on the next 1 track where you can do some K温, semillas, semilla, program, etc.
09:171-2, and 12, and 13 freakin' underneath the horizon,
09:25We've got a lot of extraped sho in the surface where you can get pretty much more of the
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