Aerodrome-Velodrome Merger Targets NYSE, Nasdaq With Multichain Crypto Exchange Expansion

Referring to the merger, Dromos Labs CEO Cutler said, "Every CME needs a New York stock exchange."

• AERO rose on Wednesday ahead of the merger of the two protocols, Aerodrome and Velodrome. 
• He said Aerodrome climbed "from 150th of the tokenized stock market to 13" in a few months, calling those "trillion-dollar markets."
• According to Cutler, Aerodrome climbed “from 150th of the tokenized stock market to 13” in a few months, calling those “trillion-dollar markets.”

Aerodrome Finance (AERO) edged higher on Wednesday as Aerodrome and Velodrome are scheduled to merge into “Aero, with the CEO of their developer saying the goal was to "take on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ (NDAQ)."

Alexander Cutler, CEO of Dromos Labs, the team behind both protocols, said Aero wanted to do for spot trading what Hyperliquid (HYPE) did for derivatives. "Every derivative exchange needs a stock exchange. Every CME needs a New York stock exchange," he said in an interview with Coinage published on Tuesday.

AERO’s price rose over 5% in the past 24 hours, paring back the 10% gains seen earlier on Tuesday. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around AERO remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter stayed at ‘low’ levels over the past day.

More Chains But One Protocol

Until now, Aerodrome ran on Base, while its sister protocol Velodrome ran on OP Mainnet, and together they handled about 15% of trading volume on Ethereum (ETH) compatible networks, depending on the day, Cutler said. With the merger, Aero was expanding to Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum (ARB) and Robinhood (HOOD) Chain. 

Cutler said that would let it compete for a market about four times the size of the one it serves today. He described Aero as "the spot exchange infrastructure for the onchain economy." That market served as a big opportunity. On-chain spot markets generated about "$5 billion in fees" last year, Cutler said, calling it "the biggest single prize that exists in DeFi."

'Trillion Dollar Markets'

Cutler pointed to Aerodrome's track record to back the ambition. He said it has generated more revenue than any other spot exchange over the past 30 days, year-to-date, and over its lifetime, with 100% of that revenue going "back to the token."

Aerodrome Revenue Hits $7.85M As Cutler Highlights Tokenized Stock, FX Opportunity

DeFiLlama data supported that claim, as it showed that Aerodrome and Velodrome generated $7.85 million in revenue over the past 30 days, and the full amount went to token holders. The protocols have paid out almost $106 million in token incentives over the past year to attract liquidity. 

That left annualized earnings at over-$18 million. Total value locked (TVL) across the two exchanges stood at about $381 million, well below the more than $1 billion it reached in late 2024, according to DeFiLlama. 

Cutler also said Aerodrome was "the biggest venue for trading Bitcoin (BTC) anywhere on chain," and that it climbed "from 150th of the tokenized stock market to 13" in a few months. "This isn't pump fun. This isn't the long tail," Cutler said. "These are trillion-dollar markets, and they're coming on chain very, very quickly."

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However, some users on Stocktwits are betting against the merger, saying that the token could crash on “sell the news”.

A Different Take On Buybacks

Cutler also aimed at the buyback-and-burn model that Hyperliquid made popular. He argued that "$1 towards buybacks is not necessarily $1 in value accrual back to you," because holders have to sell to realize the gain. Aero instead lets token stakers claim their share of value directly, without exiting their position. Cutler said the two protocols have "redistributed half a billion dollars" to stakers over their lifetime.

HYPE’s price was up over 4% in the last 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around HYPE remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘low’ levels over the past day.

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