Aero merger launch Is Nine Days Out: AERO 1:1, VELO ~0.044, Seven Chains

The Aero merger launch is nine days out, and AERO holders are already counting down. Aerodrome and Velodrome, two of the biggest DEXes in the Base and Optimism orbit, will upgrade together into Aero on October 21 at 8:00 p.m. EDT, live on seven chains from day one. The conversion math is fixed, the chain list is final, and the homework deadlines start this week.

What actually happened

The team laid out the final timeline on its official upgrade hub. On October 21 at 8:00 p.m. EDT, upgrade portals open on aerodrome.finance and velodrome.finance. Liquid AERO, liquid VELO and any veNFT that did not vote in the final epoch can upgrade right away. veNFTs that voted in the last epoch wait until 9:00 p.m. EDT, so final rewards and rebases can be claimed first.

The conversion terms come straight from that page. Spreading 116.0 million AERO across 2.63 billion VELO gives about 0.0440 AERO per VELO, based on projected supplies, while AERO itself maps 1:1. Nothing converts automatically. Every token has to go through the upgrade portal, and you will need a little ETH for gas: ETH on Base for Aerodrome, ETH on OP Mainnet for Velodrome.

The Defiant ran the same numbers and noted that existing locks keep their remaining duration when they become sAERO. The chain list is locked too. A September 25 Aero launch update confirmed the date and added Robinhood Chain and Arbitrum to the original five chains, with all seven getting a full deployment.

What changes for holders and LPs

The new design rebuilds the old vote-escrow model. sAERO holders allocate AERO Rewards to pools on any Aero chain in one transaction, paying gas only on Base, and earn a pro rata share of revenue from the pools they back. At launch, each sAERO position has a 47-hour cooldown between allocation changes.

LPs deposit into Slipstream concentrated liquidity pools with dynamic fees and MEV capture on supported L2s. The AER Engine is meant to price rewards in dollar terms and cap reward rates per pool so they track projected revenue.

There are hard dates before launch day. xVELO on any chain other than OP Mainnet and Ink should be bridged back to OP Mainnet by October 15. veNFTs sitting in Relays or other vaults should be withdrawn by October 20. Emissions on Aerodrome and Velodrome stop at launch, so LPs who don't upgrade stop earning.

Miss the bridge-back or the vault exit and you're doing paperwork while everyone else farms.

Why the Aero merger launch matters

Aero claims the chains Aerodrome and Velodrome serve already account for about 17% of EVM spot trading volume, and says the expansion should roughly triple that reach. Those are team figures, not audited market data. Base keeps shipping, from tokenized stocks to network changes like the Base Cobalt upgrade, and Robinhood Chain brings a fresh, if cooling, crowd, as our Robinhood Chain meme losses piece shows.

The market has noticed. Kraken's public ticker at 06:10 UTC on October 12 showed AERO at about $0.931, with a 24-hour range of roughly $0.926 to $0.992. A day earlier, the same ticker had it near $0.938. That is a lot of chop for a token heading into a migration.

Big swings cut both ways. Nine days of hype before the Aero merger launch can price in a lot of good news early. LPs still need to see whether the new reward engine actually pays better than the old gauges did, and that only shows up after launch.

What to do as a reader

If you hold AERO or VELO in self-custody, put October 15, October 20 and October 21 in your calendar now. Bridge xVELO back if needed, pull veNFTs out of Relays by the deadline and keep some ETH for gas on the right chain.

If your tokens sit on an exchange, check that exchange's own upgrade notice. Aero says it coordinated with all major exchanges, but each one runs its own process and timeline, so don't assume the swap happens at the same minute everywhere.

Only use links and token addresses shared through official Aero channels on launch day. Migrations are prime time for fake portals, fake airdrops and copycat tickers. And remember, the Aero merger launch changes the plumbing, not the risk. Nothing here is investment advice.