Six ways to earn on Aerodrome

I run two Slipstream LP positions on Aerodrome. Most mornings I claim AERO from each one, paste the numbers into a spreadsheet, and tell myself the book is winning. Some mornings I'm right. Most mornings the spreadsheet stops being a number and starts being a feeling. The book needs the number back.

The first thing I had to do to stop trading on vibes was name every surface on Aerodrome where money actually shows up. Not every surface I'd heard of — every surface that pays. There are six. Most users only touch one or two.

This post walks all six in order of how much they actually pay, and where the gaps are. For protocol mechanics (how ve(3,3) works, what a gauge is, why epochs matter), the Aerodrome resource page is the reference. This post is about what to do with that knowledge.

Why care right now

Aerodrome is the #1 DEX on Base. (Live metrics — DefiLlama.)
Emissions have entered the tail phase ("Aero Fed" regime) — forward issuance is now a governance-adjusted percentage of circulating supply rather than a fixed schedule.
The protocol-run veAERO MAXI Relay has been quoted around 50% APR on auto-compound — meaningful passive yield with no weekly management.
Bribe markets keep paying — third-party protocols still spend real dollars per epoch to attract veAERO votes to their pools.

The map

Aerodrome has four core systems: AMM pools, veAERO, gauges, and the incentives ("bribes") market. Each one creates a place to earn.

Plotted by direct cashflow potential:

Tier	Surface	Lock-up	Effort
1	LP fees + AERO emissions	None	Low
1	veAERO voter yield (fees + bribes + rebase)	Up to 4 years	Medium (weekly)
1	Relays — passive veAERO	Inherited from veAERO	Zero
2	New-gauge alpha	None	High (research)
2	Liquid AERO wrappers (iAero, etc.)	None	Low
3	LP / veAERO as DeFi collateral	None	Medium

The rest of this post walks each surface — how it works, where the yield actually comes from, and what to watch out for.

1. LP fees + AERO emissions

The bread and butter. Provide liquidity to a pool, earn the trading fees the pool collects, and — if you stake your LP position into the pool's gauge — earn AERO emissions on top.

How it works

Deposit two tokens into a pool. Three choices:
- Classic stable — Curve-style invariant, best for pegged pairs (USDC/USDT, cbETH/ETH)
- Classic volatile — Uniswap v2-style, best for any uncorrelated pair
- Slipstream — concentrated liquidity (Uniswap v3-derived), choose a price range
Receive an LP token (Classic) or LP NFT (Slipstream).
Stake that position into the pool's gauge. This is the load-bearing step most beginners miss.
Claim AERO emissions periodically (typically each epoch).

Where the yield comes from

Pool's swap fees — but only if the pool is not a gauged voted pool. In gauged + voted pools, 100% of swap fees go to veAERO voters, not LPs.
AERO emissions — paid to staked LP positions in gauges that received votes that epoch.

In other words: on a typical gauged pool, LPs earn emissions, voters earn fees. Not both.

Best for

Slipstream concentrated positions on high-volume pairs (cbBTC/ETH, USDC/ETH, AERO/ETH).
Stable pools when you want a low-IL slice of stablecoin or LST flow.

Watch out

Out-of-range Slipstream LP earns nothing. Capital sits idle until price returns to your range. Auto-rerangers exist but add another layer of risk.
Unstaked LP positions earn nothing on gauged voted pools. Staking into the gauge is the difference between zero and the emissions APR.
Impermanent loss applies the same as anywhere else.

2. veAERO voter yield (fees + bribes + rebase)

The protocol's actual revenue line. Lock AERO for veAERO, vote every Thursday epoch, claim three payouts.

How it works

Lock AERO for any duration up to 4 years. Longer lock = more veAERO voting power per AERO. You receive a transferable veAERO NFT.
Each epoch, vote across active gauges to direct that epoch's AERO emissions.
After epoch close (Thursday 00:00 UTC), claim:
- 100% of swap fees from the pools you voted for, pro-rata to your vote weight
- All incentives ("bribes") deposited on those gauges, pro-rata
- A small rebase of newly-minted AERO — anti-dilution against emissions to non-locked supply

Where the yield comes from

Protocols paying you to direct emissions to their pool (bribes — this is the largest line item for popular gauges).
Trading fees redirected from LPs to voters on gauged pools.
Rebase AERO minted to your veAERO each epoch.

Best for

You believe Aerodrome will keep generating fees and bribes long enough to amortize the lock.
You can actually manage weekly votes (or use a Relay — see #3).

Watch out

4-year max lock is real. Your principal is illiquid for the lock duration. You can sell the veNFT, but typically below spot AERO value.
Voting power decays linearly with remaining lock time. To keep maximum vote weight you have to re-lock.
The yield depends on what you vote for. Voting blindly is leaving money on the table. The discipline is screening current-epoch bribe-per-veAERO across pools before each Wednesday close.

3. Relays — passive veAERO

If you want voter-side yield without weekly micromanagement, use a Relay. You deposit your veAERO into a Relay contract; the Relay votes as a bloc on a defined strategy and either compounds or pays out.

How it works

Lock AERO into veAERO (yes — still required; the Relay doesn't avoid the lock).
Deposit the veAERO NFT into a Relay.
Each epoch the Relay automatically:
- Votes its veAERO on its declared strategy
- Claims fees + bribes + rebase
- Compounds (into more locked AERO, growing your voting power) or converts (e.g. to USDC for withdrawal)

Where the yield comes from

The same three voter-side streams as #2 (fees + bribes + rebase), automated.

Best for

You want voter-side payout without weekly check-ins.
The protocol-run veAERO MAXI Relay has historically tracked ~50% APR on compound — the reference number for what passive veAERO can earn.

Watch out

The lock is still real. A Relay automates voting, not unlocking.
Relay strategy may not match yours. MAXI compounds; if you want USDC payout to your wallet, you need a Relay with that strategy.
Smart contract risk on top of Aerodrome's own risk — the Relay is a separate contract.

4. New-gauge alpha

When a new pool gets its gauge whitelisted by governance, there's typically a 2–3 epoch window before bribe markets and emission flows catch up. Early LPs and early voters can capture outsized share before the market prices it in.

How it works

Watch Aerodrome governance for newly-approved gauges (proposals show on the voting page or in governance discussions).
LP into the new pool before gauge activation, or vote your veAERO toward it in its first epoch.
As bribes ramp up to attract attention, you've already locked your position or vote.

Where the yield comes from

Outsized AERO emissions per dollar of TVL (low denominator advantage).
First-week bribe yield before the market normalizes.

Best for

You actively watch the protocol and can move on a 1–2 day window.
You have a small veAERO position or a flexible LP allocation to deploy quickly.

Watch out

New pools often have low volume. Fee income is weak.
Bribe flows may never materialize. Some new gauges fizzle entirely.
This is alpha, not yield-farming. Expect 70%+ misses; the hits have to pay for them.

5. Liquid AERO wrappers

Third-party protocols issue wrapped versions of locked AERO. You deposit AERO, get a transferable wrapper token (e.g. iAERO), and the wrapper protocol manages the lock + voting on your behalf.

How it works

Deposit AERO into the wrapper (e.g. iAero).
Receive iAERO 1:1 — a tradable ERC-20.
Stake iAERO inside the wrapper protocol to earn its yield, typically:
- Voter-side rewards captured by the wrapper's pooled veAERO, redirected to iAERO stakers
- Points campaigns toward the wrapper's own governance token
Exit any time by selling iAERO on the open market.

Where the yield comes from

Voter-side AERO yield, abstracted through the wrapper.
Wrapper's points / native token campaigns (e.g. iAero's Season 1 distributes 5% of LIQ supply across 6 months to iAERO stakers).

Best for

You want voter exposure without managing the lock yourself.
You're comfortable taking on wrapper-protocol risk in exchange for liquidity.

Watch out

Peg risk. iAERO can trade below AERO if confidence in the wrapper falls.
Points yield is temporary. Model your numbers without the points season — that's the floor.
You're stacking the wrapper's risk on top of Aerodrome's risk. Both have to hold.

6. LP / veAERO as DeFi collateral

Some Base-native lending protocols accept Aerodrome LP tokens or Slipstream position NFTs as collateral. You can borrow stables against your LP, deploy that borrow elsewhere, and stack the spread.

How it works

LP into a target Aerodrome pool. Stake into its gauge.
Deposit the LP position as collateral on a money market that supports it.
Borrow stables (or another asset).
Deploy the borrowed asset into another yield strategy.

Where the yield comes from

Underlying Aerodrome LP yield (fees + emissions).
The spread between your borrow rate and the redeployed yield.

Best for

You're already running #1 comfortably and want to leverage it.
You have appetite for liquidation risk on a volatile underlying.

Watch out

Liquidation cascade risk. If LP value falls or your borrowed asset's price moves against you, you can get liquidated faster than on a single-asset collateral.
IL plus leverage is fast loss. A position that just survives IL on a normal LP can be wiped out when leveraged 2x.
You're adding the money-market protocol's risk on top of Aerodrome's.

The fork: LP or voter?

The cleanest question facing every Aerodrome user:

	LP	Voter
Principal	Two tokens of any pair	AERO, locked up to 4 years
Main reward	AERO emissions, swap fees on ungauged pools	Fees + bribes + rebase
Liquidity	Exit anytime	Lock cliff
Risk	Impermanent loss	Lock + voting strategy
Mental load	Re-range Slipstream, claim emissions	Weekly votes (or a Relay)

Both can pay. They pay from different revenue streams of the same protocol. The honest framing: the LP side is a yield-farm; the voter side is closer to an equity claim on protocol fees.

The cleanest path for a user who wants cashflow without a multi-year commitment is #1 + #3: LP into the pools you want exposure to, and if you want voter-side yield, route through a Relay so the lock is managed for you.

The cleanest path for a user who can commit AERO for years and wants the protocol's biggest yield surface is #2 + #4: lock for veAERO, vote actively, and watch new-gauge launches for alpha.

Putting it together

Most operators will live in #1 (LP fees + emissions) and possibly #3 (Relays). #2 is the protocol's biggest yield surface but the 4-year lock is a real commitment. #4 is genuine alpha but requires active research. #5 and #6 stack additional protocol risk on top of #1.

The next post in this series will walk a single Slipstream LP position end-to-end: pool selection, range setting, gauge staking, claiming, and the weekly mechanics that actually move the APR.

For protocol mechanics — what an epoch is, how voting power decays, what a gauge contract actually does — start with the Aerodrome resource page.

If you're already running #1 — Slipstream LP with daily claims — and you want to stop guessing whether the book is actually winning, that's why I built Paid Daily. Paste a Base address, watch your positions, see what your claims actually paid you per pool. Read-only, no signup, no signing.