Whereas unprecedented of the industry’s consideration over the last twelve months has gravitated toward stablecoins, tokenized treasuries and institutional onramps, the personnel within the abet of Velodrome and Aerodrome says the proper energy warfare in crypto is unfolding in other areas: in decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
Alex Cutler, the CEO of Dromos Labs, the principle developer firm within the abet of Aerodrome and Velodrome, described the alternate layer as “the second predominant layer” to the onchain financial system in an interview with CoinDesk.
That undercover agent is now shaping the corporate’s most aggressive cross but. Dromos Labs is making ready to unveil Aero, a unified DEX that can merge its existing Aerodrome and Velodrome protocols below a single working system, and take recount aim at incumbents like Uniswap and Curve.
The rollout, centered for the second quarter of 2026, can even label Dromos Labs’ growth to Ethereum mainnet, inserting the firm into head-to-head competitors with the excellent and most entrenched DEXs within the market.
Aerodrome currently captures a foremost share of trading exercise on Coinbase’s Flawed community, whereas Velodrome plays a identical feature across Optimism’s Superchain. Aerodrome currently has as regards to $500 million in total label locked (TVL) and surpassed $1 billion in December 2025, when it accounted for roughly a quarter of Flawed’s total TVL, a stage of dominance Dromos Labs says is repeatable on mainnet.
Whereas decentralized finance also can no longer dominate crypto’s day-to-day headlines, Cutler argues that it shows consolidation, no longer stagnation. In his undercover agent, as regards to each and every memoir utilizing crypto adoption, from institutional FX to memecoins, aloof is depending on the identical foundational infrastructure.
“You must possibly well also’t have global FX onchain without deep liquidity and the flexibility to alternate it freely, defective-community, at quick speeds and low payment,” he acknowledged. “The 2 main pillars of the onchain financial system are the chain layer and the alternate layer — and each and every pattern advantages these two.”
Dromos Labs’ draw is rooted within the perception that exchanges, in preference to blockchains, will become the foremost footholds for label as more sources cross onchain. That thesis informs each and every Aero’s create and the corporate’s increasingly more utter positioning in opposition to Uniswap, the sphere’s excellent incumbent.
“One among the finest reports next twelve months is going to be: who owns the alternate layer?” Cutler acknowledged.
The aggressive distinction sharpened earlier this twelve months when Uniswap governance developed a “UNIfication proposal” aimed at allowing protocol earnings to circulate to $UNI token holders. Cutler publicly criticized the cross, arguing it weakens Uniswap’s relationship with liquidity suppliers, the core engine of any DEX.
“They’re taking from liquidity suppliers to present to token holders — and that methodology paying much less for a truly unprecedented provider in DeFi,” he acknowledged.
(The UNIfication proposal is Uniswap’s thought to simplify how the protocol works and launch sharing trading costs with $UNI token holders, a cross that can possibly well trade who gets paid throughout the alternate.)
Uniswap did no longer return a requirement for comment in time for e-newsletter.
Unless now, Dromos Labs’ competitiveness has largely been confined to layer-2 networks. Aero’s Ethereum mainnet initiate is supposed to trade that dynamic, and test whether or no longer its model can scale in opposition to Uniswap and Curve on their home turf.
Whereas Aero is designed to relief retail customers chasing liquidity across networks, Dromos Labs can be building with institutional adoption in thoughts.
“Establishments will use DeFi rails, but these rails ought to aloof be institutional-grade, that’s non-negotiable,” Cutler acknowledged. “There can’t be human dependency layers. Every thing must be verifiable.”
That capabilities onchain automation, lowered operational threat and compliance tooling embedded without delay at the protocol stage, capabilities Cutler says are main as capital markets increasingly more cross onchain.
Read more: Leading Flawed DEX Aerodrome Merges Into Aero in Main Overhaul
