Aerodrome Finance and Velodrome are set to merge into a single cross-chain decentralized exchange called Aero on Oct. 21, with $AERO converting one-for-one and $VELO converting at roughly 0.044 $AERO, according to the project's launch hub. Aerodrome holders will receive 94.5% of the new token supply, while Velodrome holders receive 5.5%. Nothing converts automatically: holders must complete the migration themselves through dedicated upgrade portals.

The merged DEX will go live across seven networks — Base, Ethereum mainnet, OP Mainnet, Arc, Ink, Robinhood Chain and Arbitrum — a lineup that runs from the two projects' home chains to newer entrants backed by consumer-facing companies, among them Coinbase's Arc, Kraken's Ink and Robinhood's Robinhood Chain. Existing locked positions, the veAERO and veVELO voting tokens, will become sAERO, a staked form of the new token that directs rewards and earns exchange revenue as it accrues.

The VELO-to-AERO Swap Ratio and New Supply

The conversion is fixed at 1 $AERO to 1 new $AERO, and at roughly 0.044 new $AERO per $VELO. The VELO rate follows from the projected launch supply: about 1.99 billion $AERO and 2.63 billion $VELO, with 94.5% of the new supply allocated to Aerodrome holders and 5.5% to Velodrome holders.

That works out to a projected total of about 2.11 billion new $AERO — roughly 1.99 billion from Aerodrome plus116 million from Velodrome's share. Dividing those 116 million tokens across the 2.63 billion $VELO supply produces the 0.0440 rate. Because the rate depends on supply at launch, the project presents it as approximate.

What Holders Must Do Before and After Launch

The migration is manual. Anyone self-custodying $AERO, $VELO, veAERO or veVELO must move through the upgrade portals at aerodrome.finance or velodrome.finance, which open when Aero launches at Oct. 22, 00:00 UTC (Oct. 21, 8 p.m. ET). Before upgrading, holders must claim any unclaimed rewards and rebases and clear active votes; anything left unclaimed cannot be recovered afterward.

$VELO held as xVELO must first be bridged back to OP Mainnet, and the upgrade requires a small amount of $ETH for network fees — $ETH on Base for Aerodrome and $ETH on OP Mainnet for Velodrome. veNFTs that voted in the final epoch can upgrade one hour later, at Oct. 22, 01:00 UTC.

Locks carry over: remaining lock time is rounded up to the next full week, and permanent locks become maximum-duration stakes. sAERO replaces the weekly voting cycle with real-time allocation, allowing holders to steer $AERO rewards toward liquidity pools and earn exchange revenue as it accrues, with a 47-hour cooldown on initial allocation changes.

Why the Merger Matters for Base and Optimism DeFi

Aerodrome serves as the central trading and liquidity marketplace on Coinbase's Base network, while Velodrome holds the equivalent position on Optimism; both were built by developer Dromos Labs on shared code. That code traces back to Solidly, the vote-escrow exchange model launched on Fantom in early 2022, which each project adapted for its home network. Aerodrome's $AERO token already anchors much of Base's DeFi activity, and folding Velodrome's liquidity into it creates a single venue spanning seven chains instead of two competing ones.

The mechanics also change how emissions are allocated. Today, locked-token holders vote weekly to direct the next week's rewards; under Aero, sAERO holders allocate in real time. Aerodrome has relied on these incentives to steer liquidity, and the change represents a bet that continuous allocation outperforms the weekly cycle.

Exchanges operate on their own schedules. Aero says it has coordinated the upgrade with major exchanges, and Binance confirmed on Oct. 16 that it will support the swap for its users. Any additional venue support will be confirmed, if at all, by the exchanges themselves.

What Happens Next

The final voting round closes Oct. 21 at 6:59 p.m. ET, and the upgrade portals open an hour later. The new $AERO contract address will be published through official Aero channels on launch day, and transfers and trading open at the moment of upgrade. Holders should verify any address against those official channels before approving a transaction — because the migration is manual, no swap should be approved through any portal or address that does not appear there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who needs to migrate? Anyone who self-custodies $AERO, $VELO, veAERO or veVELO. Before launch, they should claim any unclaimed rewards and rebases, clear active votes, and bridge xVELO back to OP Mainnet. Nothing migrates automatically.

What is the conversion rate? Each $VELO converts to about 0.044 new $AERO, applied to both circulating and locked tokens. The swap must be completed manually through the upgrade portal at velodrome.finance, which requires a small amount of $ETH on OP Mainnet for fees.

When does Aero launch? Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. ET (Oct. 22, 00:00 UTC), when $AERO and $VELO emissions end and the upgrade portals open. Holders who voted in the final epoch can upgrade one hour later, at Oct. 22, 01:00 UTC.

What happens to locked positions? veAERO and veVELO convert into sAERO, with remaining lock time rounded up to the next full week and permanent locks becoming maximum-duration stakes.