Is Aerodrome Safe?
Risk Grade: B- (31/100)
Aerodrome is rated as moderate risk — some novel mechanisms, generally well-understood.
Moderate risk — dominant on Base with no contract exploits, but website attacks and bribable governance introduce real concerns
The biggest decentralized exchange on the Base blockchain, where users swap tokens and earn fees by providing liquidity. It manages $209M in deposits with a $1B fully diluted valuation. Its B- grade reflects strong growth and no smart contract exploits, offset by a DNS hijacking attack and governance that can be captured through bribery.
TVL
$198M
Mechanisms
7
Interactions
5
Value Grade
B
Key Risks for Aerodrome Users
Hackers hijacked the website's domain name, redirecting users to a fake site that could steal their funds. The smart contracts were unaffected, but anyone who visited the fake site was at risk.
Protocols can pay bribes to control where trading rewards go. The highest bidder wins, which means your liquidity pool could lose its incentives if someone outbids your pool's backers.
A planned merger with Velodrome across three different blockchains could fragment currently concentrated liquidity during the transition period.
Top Risk Factors
- •DNS hijacking attack compromised frontend domains, exposing users to phishing and approval-based fund theft. Smart contracts were unaffected but frontend dependency is a real attack surface.
- •ve(3,3) emission voting creates a bribery market where governance is captured by the highest bidder, directing AERO emissions to low-utility pools at the expense of organic liquidity.
- •Planned Q2 2026 merger with Velodrome into unified cross-chain Aero DEX introduces significant execution risk and potential liquidity fragmentation.
Risk Score Breakdown
Aerodrome's highest risk area is Scale Exposure (7/10). Here's how each dimension contributes to the overall 31/100 score:
Read the Full Aerodrome Risk Report
This protocol has 2 collapse scenarios. 1 high-severity interaction risks identified. See the full mechanism classification, interaction matrix, and deep-dive recommendations.
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