Fueled by token incentives, the decentralized exchange on Base has raked in more than double Uniswap’s revenue this year.
Aerodrome, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by Coinbase, is the biggest revenue generator in the sector so far this year.
Aerodrome, the largest DeFi protocol on Base with more than $500 million in total value locked (TVL), has generated nearly $119 million in revenue year-to-date, according to Token Terminal. That’s almost two and a half times the revenue of Uniswap, the leading DEX by volume, which takes second place with $49 million.
Although Aerodrome has been around since 2023, it embarked on an explosive growth trajectory earlier this year after Coinbase Ventures invested in its native AERO token, which rallied more than 1000% in the following six weeks. This, in turn, drove up the value of the token incentives offered by the DEX, drawing an influx of liquidity and cementing its position as the liquidity hub of Base.
The exchange was also boosted by Base memecoin mania, with tokens like BRETT, MOG and DEGEN generating massive trading volumes in their heydays.
Despite AERO plunging more than 70% from its April high, Aerodrome is routinely processing more than $200 million in daily volume, according to DeFiLlama. It hit an all-time high of $765 million on August 5 as crypto markets crashed.
All that revenue came at a cost, however.
Data from Token Terminal shows that Aerodrome has spent $2.65 on incentives for every dollar in revenue generated.
Over $313 million worth of AERO tokens were awarded to liquidity providers in 2024, resulting in net negative earnings of $195 million for the year.
