Aerodrome, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Base, reported a suspected front-end compromise on Saturday, November 22. In the early hours of the weekend, the project disclosed that it is investigating an attack and asked users to avoid their centralized domains.
Dromos Labs’ Sister Protocols Hit With Another DNS Hijack
On Saturday, Aerodrome took to the social media platform X to report its ongoing investigation of a DNS hijack of its centralized domains. While assuring users that all smart contracts remain secure, the project told users to access the DEX through its decentralized mirror.
For context, a DNS hijack allows an attacker or bad actor to manipulate the Domain Name System (DNS) in order to redirect users from a legitimate website to a malicious one. In essence, this compromise redirected users of the Base-native Aerodrome to a fraudulent website on Wednesday.
It appears that the problem with the decentralized exchange might have stemmed from its domain provider. Earlier in the day, Aerodrome went on the X platform to inform Web3 domain provider My.box that its infrastructure had likely been compromised and to reach out to them.
Base-domiciled Aerodrome was not the only decentralized exchange affected by this DNS hijack, as its sister protocol Velodrome appears to be facing a similar issue. Velodrome, the largest decentralized exchange on Optimism, also reported that it is investigating a similar front-end compromise.
Interestingly, this latest DNS hijack comes roughly two years after a similar attack affected the ability of users to access both decentralized exchanges in November 2023. Blockchain detective ZachXBT, at the time, estimated the loss from the 2023 attack at about $100,000.
According to data from DefiLlama, about $399.17 million in value is locked on the Aerodrome, reflecting an almost 4% decline since the DNS hijack. Meanwhile, Velodrome’s TVL stands at about $49.74 million.
Aero And Velodrome To Become A Unified Platform In 2026
The timing of this DNS attack is rather interesting, especially as Dromos Labs, the development company behind the Base-native Aerodrome and Optimism-based Velodrome, recently disclosed plans to consolidate both protocols into a trading hub called “Aero.”
This development will also unify the protocols’ existing tokens into the single AERO token, Dromos further revealed. The Aero trading hub is expected to launch first on the Ethereum mainnet and Circle’s Arc blockchain in the second quarter of 2026.
