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Animoca Brands purchased and locked AERO tokens to gain direct voting power in Aerodrome Finance.
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This concentration of votes allows Animoca to decide which liquidity pools will receive token issuances from the protocol.
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The market reacted with an 8% escalate in the price of AERO after the announcement of the public purchase.
Animoca Brands made a strategic move by purchasing and locking AERO tokens as veAEROgiving it decision-making power over the distribution of rewards on Aerodrome Finance, Base’s largest decentralized exchange. This acquisition, made on October 28, 2025, intensifies competition for control of future reward flows in a protocol that already controls over 50% of the value locked on the Base chain.
Animoca confirmed that it paid market prices for the tokens and locked them on the same day as a purchase. The businessfounded in 2006 and led by Robby Yung, supports Web3 projects and is valued at over $5.9 billion after receiving $880 million in funding from Temaska and other investors.
Aerodrome Finance, the largest DEX on Base, manages over $1 billion in user deposits, representing over 50% of the network’s total deposits. By transforming AERO into veAERO, Animoca gains decisive votes over which liquidity pools receive symbolic issuancesa key strength for both professional market makers and game studios that need deep markets for their tokens.
Once the purchase information has been made public AERO price increased by approximately 8%interpreted by traders as a bet that Aerodrome’s trading infrastructure and Animoca’s games will reinforce each other. It was also noted that Coinbase has already published links to Aerodrome, allowing retail users to access the DEX without leaving the centralized exchange.
Consequences for users and projects
In terms of management, one holder now controls more veAEROmeaning its decisions on prize pools will carry more weight, forcing smallholders to decide whether to vote for or against a modern lockdown. In terms of liquidity, institutional money tends to deepen order books, although it can also exit quickly, causing prices to fluctuate in response to rumors of additional purchases or sales.
In the case of games, games that issue NFTs or tokens gain space where liquid AERO pairs allow players to cash out winnings without much slippage. But this concentration of power is also under scrutiny by regulators and critics of open source software, who monitor the influence that a single entity has on a supposedly community-governed protocol.
The upcoming Aerodrome votes will show how Animoca uses its modern power, while investors will keep an eye on the $1.00 price level and any changes in total deposits as reward rates adjust to the newcomer’s wishes.
