Aerodrome

Aerodrome is a decentralized exchange and liquidity marketplace launched in 2023 on Base, Coinbase's EVM-compatible Layer 2 network built on the Optimism OP Stack. The protocol provides an automated market maker (AMM) infrastructure for token swaps on Base, offering both volatile AMM (vAMM) pools for uncorrelated trading pairs and stable AMM (sAMM) pools for correlated or pegged asset pairs. Aerodrome is accessible at aerodrome.finance, with smart contract source code published on GitHub at github.com/aerodrome-finance and security documentation maintained at aerodrome.finance/security

The AERO token is the protocol's native emissions and governance token, used within the Aerodrome ve(3,3) tokenomics system to direct liquidity incentives across pools on Base. Aerodrome's liquidity marketplace model allows protocols and liquidity providers to interact through a structured incentive layer: protocols attract liquidity to their token pairs by directing AERO emissions through veAERO votes, while liquidity providers earn fees and emissions from pools receiving active vote weight. Documentation covering the Aerodrome protocol architecture, pool types, and integration resources is maintained in the project's GitHub repository at github.com/aerodrome-finance/docs

The primary user interaction with Aerodrome begins at aerodrome.finance, where traders connect an EVM-compatible wallet and execute token swaps on Base through the protocol's AMM pool infrastructure. Aerodrome routes swap transactions through vAMM pools for volatile token pairs — using the constant product market maker formula (x * y = k) — or through sAMM pools for stable and correlated pairs, applying a StableSwap-style invariant that reduces slippage on near-parity trades. The swap interface displays the estimated output amount, price impact, and slippage tolerance before the trader authorizes the on-chain transaction

Liquidity providers interact with Aerodrome by selecting a token pair, depositing both tokens in the ratio required by the selected pool type, and receiving LP tokens representing their proportional share of the pool. As swap activity flows through the pool, the accumulated trading fees are distributed to LP token holders in proportion to their pool share. Aerodrome's liquidity marketplace layer adds a second incentive stream for liquidity providers: pools that receive veAERO vote weight each epoch also receive AERO emissions distributed to LPs in those pools, creating an incentive structure where liquidity depth correlates with protocol-directed vote weight

Aerodrome's AMM architecture separates liquidity pools into two types based on the trading characteristics of the pooled tokens. Volatile AMM (vAMM) pools apply the constant product formula (x * y = k) from the standard Uniswap v2 AMM design, pricing trades along a hyperbolic curve that maintains the product of token balances constant across swaps. Stable AMM (sAMM) pools use a StableSwap-style invariant better suited to correlated or pegged asset pairs — such as stablecoin-to-stablecoin or liquid-staking-token-to-native-token pairs — where minimal slippage at high trade sizes relative to pool depth is the primary execution requirement. Pool operators select the pool type at deployment based on the price relationship of the tokens being paired

The AERO token underpins Aerodrome's ve(3,3) incentive model, in which token holders lock AERO for vote-escrowed AERO (veAERO) in exchange for voting rights over weekly AERO emissions distribution. veAERO holders vote each epoch to allocate that epoch's AERO emissions across Aerodrome's pool registry, with each pool's emissions share proportional to the total veAERO vote weight it receives. LPs in pools with active vote weight earn both swap fee revenue and the AERO emissions allocated to their pool by the epoch's votes, creating a direct link between liquidity provider returns and protocol-level governance participation through the veAERO voting mechanism

Protocols seeking to attract liquidity to specific pools on Aerodrome can deposit token incentives — referred to as bribes — into a pool's reward contract to offer additional compensation to veAERO holders who vote for that pool. veAERO voters who support a pool with bribe incentives earn a proportional share of the bribe tokens deposited for that epoch, in addition to the trading fee revenue distributed to voters from pools they support. This creates a market for liquidity direction on Aerodrome where protocols compete for veAERO votes by offering bribe incentives, and veAERO holders evaluate vote targets based on the combined value of fee revenue, bribe rewards, and strategic liquidity positioning

The Aerodrome smart contract source code is available on GitHub at github.com/aerodrome-finance, providing developers with access to pool factory contracts, router interfaces, gauge and bribe contract implementations, and the ve(3,3) governance token infrastructure. Developers building on Base can integrate Aerodrome's swap routing, pool state queries, and liquidity management interfaces by referencing the published contract ABIs and documentation in the project's GitHub repository at github.com/aerodrome-finance/docs. Security documentation including audit references for the Aerodrome protocol is maintained at aerodrome.finance/security, providing structured resources for teams evaluating the protocol's contract security posture before building integrations or providing liquidity on Base

Aerodrome supports a range of token swap, liquidity provision, and incentive distribution use cases on Base: traders swap ERC-20 tokens on Base through the aerodrome.finance interface, with vAMM and sAMM pool routing providing execution tailored to the price relationship of the traded pair; liquidity providers deposit token pairs into Aerodrome pools to earn swap fees from trading activity routed through their position; protocols building on Base incentivize liquidity for their token pairs by depositing bribe tokens to attract veAERO votes and direct AERO emissions to their pool; AERO token holders lock for veAERO to vote on pool emissions, earn trading fee revenue from voted pools, and earn bribe incentives deposited by protocols seeking vote support; and developers building on Base integrate Aerodrome swap routing and pool interfaces using the contract source and documentation at github.com/aerodrome-finance

The ve(3,3) model implemented by Aerodrome on Base combines vote-escrowed token locking with cooperative game theory incentives to align emissions distribution with liquidity depth. AERO holders who want governance influence lock their tokens for veAERO, with lock duration determining the voting power assigned to the locked position — longer locks yield higher veAERO voting power. Each epoch, veAERO holders cast votes allocating that epoch's AERO emissions across registered Aerodrome pools, and AERO is distributed to LP positions in each pool in proportion to the pool's share of total epoch vote weight. The (3,3) component of the model refers to the cooperative equilibrium: veAERO voters maximize returns by supporting pools with the highest bribe and fee revenue, while LPs maximize returns by concentrating in pools with high vote weight — creating an emergent alignment between governance participation and liquidity efficiency on the Base network

Aerodrome maintains security documentation at aerodrome.finance/security, providing users and developers with references to the security review history of the deployed Aerodrome protocol contracts on Base. The smart contract source code for the Aerodrome AMM pool factory, router, gauge, bribe, and governance contracts is publicly available at github.com/aerodrome-finance, enabling independent inspection of the implementation before providing liquidity or building integrations on the protocol. As a non-custodial AMM protocol, Aerodrome does not hold user funds in a centralized account — token swaps, liquidity deposits, withdrawals, and AERO locking operations are executed through on-chain smart contracts with all state changes verifiable on Base by any external observer. Users evaluating Aerodrome should review the security documentation at aerodrome.finance/security and apply standard Web3 wallet security practices before connecting to aerodrome.finance and authorizing on-chain transactions

Aerodrome provides a Base-native decentralized exchange and liquidity marketplace through a dual AMM pool architecture — vAMM for volatile pairs using the constant product formula (x * y = k) and sAMM for correlated pairs using a StableSwap-style invariant — combined with a ve(3,3) incentive model that aligns AERO emissions distribution with liquidity depth through veAERO voting, epoch-based fee revenue, and protocol bribe markets. Security documentation at aerodrome.finance/security, open-source contracts at github.com/aerodrome-finance, and documentation at github.com/aerodrome-finance/docs give developers, liquidity providers, and protocol teams structured resources for evaluating Aerodrome's AMM design and security posture on Base. Teams and users evaluating Aerodrome should review the protocol documentation, the contract repositories, and the security references at aerodrome.finance/security to understand the pool type selection criteria, the ve(3,3) mechanics, and the wallet interaction requirements before trading or providing liquidity through the Aerodrome protocol on Base