Aevo has emerged as a leading force in the decentralized derivatives space, evolving from its origins as Ribbon Finance into a full-fledged DeFi trading platform. With innovative products, robust technical architecture, and growing adoption, Aevo is redefining how users access options and perpetual contracts in a trustless environment. This guide explores everything you need to know about Aevo, its ecosystem, product offerings, tokenomics, and future potential — all optimized for clarity, depth, and search visibility.
The Evolution of Aevo: From Ribbon Finance to DeFi Derivatives Leader
Originally launched as Ribbon Finance in 2021, Aevo began as a structured options protocol designed to simplify complex derivative strategies for retail investors. The founding team, including Julian Koh and Ken Chan — both former software engineers at Coinbase — brought deep technical expertise and strong industry backing. The project secured early funding from Coinbase and raised $8.75 million in a Series B round led by Paradigm in March 2022.
In July 2023, the Ribbon Finance community voted to merge with Aevo, marking a strategic pivot toward building a comprehensive decentralized exchange (DEX) for derivatives. The rebranded platform officially launched its mainnet in April 2023, introducing not only options but also perpetual futures and novel pre-launch token futures. This transformation positioned Aevo at the forefront of innovation in DeFi derivatives.
👉 Discover how decentralized trading platforms are reshaping finance — explore next-gen tools today.
Understanding DeFi Derivatives: Why Aevo Matters
The decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape has expanded rapidly, yet derivative trading still lags behind centralized exchanges in volume and accessibility. Most DeFi derivatives fall into four categories: perpetual contracts, options, synthetic assets, and interest rate derivatives. Among these, perpetual contracts dominate due to their simplicity and high liquidity.
However, options offer unique advantages — they allow traders to speculate on price, time decay, and volatility, enabling more sophisticated strategies than spot or futures trading. Despite this, options remain underutilized in DeFi due to complexity and limited platforms. Centralized platforms like Deribit control most of the market, primarily serving professional traders focused on BTC and ETH.
Aevo bridges this gap by offering a user-friendly, order-book-based DEX that combines the speed of centralized exchanges with the transparency and self-custody benefits of decentralized protocols.
What Is Aevo?
Aevo is a decentralized derivatives exchange built on its own Layer 2 network using Optimism Rollup technology. It supports two core financial instruments: options and perpetual futures, with a distinctive focus on performance, scalability, and user experience.
Unlike many DeFi protocols that rely on automated market makers (AMMs), Aevo uses an off-chain order book with on-chain settlement, delivering fast trade execution while maintaining blockchain security. All transactions are settled in USDC, ensuring stable pricing and reducing volatility risks during settlement.
The platform launched its mainnet in April 2023 and quickly followed with perpetual contracts in August of the same year. Since then, Aevo has attracted significant attention through liquidity mining programs and a recent AEVO token airdrop, fueling growth in both user base and total value locked (TVL).
Technical Architecture: Speed Meets Security
Aevo’s architecture is designed for high throughput and low-latency trading — critical for derivatives markets where timing impacts profitability.
Layer 2 Infrastructure
Built on a custom Optimism-based rollup, Aevo achieves faster transaction finality compared to Ethereum mainnet while inheriting its security guarantees. This Layer 2 solution reduces gas costs and enables near-instant confirmations, essential for active traders.
Off-Chain Order Book & On-Chain Settlement
Aevo operates with an off-chain order book, meaning buy and sell orders are matched off-chain for speed. A dedicated risk engine continuously monitors user margin accounts to ensure sufficient collateral before execution.
Once matched, trades are settled on-chain via smart contracts. This hybrid model delivers a centralized exchange-like experience with decentralized custody — a rare combination in DeFi.
Risk Management & Liquidations
To protect both users and the system, Aevo employs an automated liquidation engine. When a trader’s margin ratio falls below required levels, positions are gradually reduced to minimize slippage. If losses exceed available collateral, the insurance fund covers the shortfall, safeguarding other users’ funds.
Aevo Product Suite
1. Aevo Options
Aevo offers European-style options on BTC and ETH, with weekly and daily expiry cycles. Traders can select strike prices and expiration dates directly through the interface. While users cannot create custom options, the platform provides sufficient flexibility for common strategies like calls, puts, spreads, and straddles.
All options are cash-settled in USDC upon expiry.
2. Perpetual Futures
Launched after options, Aevo’s perpetual contract market supports up to 20x leverage across nearly 100 assets. The system mirrors traditional perpetual exchanges with funding rates and index pricing, making it familiar to experienced traders.
3. Pre-Launch Token Futures
One of Aevo’s most innovative offerings, this product allows speculation on tokens before official listing — such as ENA, W, BLAST, and PARCL. These contracts require a 50% initial margin (2x max leverage) and have strict position caps to limit risk.
Notably:
- No index price or funding rate before launch
- Upon external listing, index pricing activates automatically
- Settlement occurs in USDC
- High fees: 25% taker fee, 10% maker fee, 5% liquidation fee
This feature taps into early-stage speculation demand — a niche largely unaddressed in DeFi.
4. aeUSD: Yield-Bearing Collateral
Introduced in late 2024, aeUSD is a yield-generating stablecoin asset combining USDC and sDAI (yield-bearing DAI). Users can convert USDC to aeUSD freely and use it as collateral with a 100% collateral ratio.
Key benefits:
- Earn up to 4.75% APY passively
- Whitelisted for margin trading
- ERC-4626 compliant
- Up to 20x leverage when used as collateral
AEVO Tokenomics: Governance & Utility
The AEVO token is the native utility and governance token of the protocol, replacing the former RBN token from Ribbon Finance on a 1:1 basis.
Key Metrics
- Max Supply: 1 billion AEVO
- Circulating Supply: ~110 million (as of early 2025)
Token Distribution:
- DAO Treasury: 36%
- Team: 23%
- Private Investors: 18.5%
- Binance Launchpool: 4.5%
- Market Makers: 2%
- Community Airdrops: 3%
- Corporate Treasury: 2.7%
- Existing RBN Holders: 10.3%
DAO-held tokens are allocated for incentives (15%), liquidity support (9%), community programs (5%), and future development (16%).
Token Utility
- Governance: AEVO holders vote on protocol upgrades, new listings, fee changes, and treasury allocations.
Staking Benefits: Stakers receive:
- Transaction fee discounts
- Higher rewards in trader incentive programs
An airdrop of 30 million AEVO tokens was distributed in early 2025, though it sparked controversy due to perceived favoritism toward high-volume traders. In response, the team revised rules to penalize wash trading and reward genuine activity.
Market Performance & Growth Trends
As of 2025, Aevo ranks among the top five decentralized derivatives platforms by trading volume. Key metrics include:
- Monthly Trading Volume: Over $15 billion
- Active Users: More than 250,000
- TVL (Total Value Locked): ~$450 million
- Options Market Share: ~28% of DeFi options volume
Perpetual contracts now surpass options in trading activity, reflecting broader market trends. Weekly active users have peaked above 60,000, indicating strong user retention and engagement.
Strategic partnerships with major liquidity providers, oracle networks (e.g., Chainlink), and cross-chain DeFi protocols have enhanced reliability and interoperability.
👉 See how top-tier platforms manage billions in trading volume — learn from the leaders.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Is Aevo fully decentralized?
A: Aevo operates as a decentralized exchange with on-chain settlement and community governance via AEVO tokens. However, order matching occurs off-chain, which introduces some centralization risk — though mitigated by open-source code and regular audits.
Q: Can I trade any asset on Aevo?
A: Currently, options are limited to BTC and ETH. Perpetuals support nearly 100 assets, including major cryptocurrencies and pre-launch tokens like BLAST and ENA.
Q: How does Aevo handle liquidations?
A: An automated liquidation engine reduces positions when margin ratios drop below thresholds. An insurance fund covers any shortfall to protect other users.
Q: What makes pre-launch futures unique?
A: These contracts let users speculate on tokens before public listing — a first in DeFi. They come with high barriers (50% margin) and fees to discourage excessive risk-taking.
Q: How can I earn rewards on Aevo?
A: Participate in liquidity mining, stake AEVO tokens for fee discounts, or engage in trader incentive programs based on volume and activity.
Q: Is my money safe on Aevo?
A: Funds are held in non-custodial wallets. The platform uses smart contracts audited by third parties and maintains an insurance fund for risk mitigation.
Final Thoughts: Aevo’s Role in the Future of DeFi
Aevo stands out in the competitive DeFi derivatives space through its blend of advanced technology, innovative products, and strong institutional backing. By combining an off-chain order book with L2 scalability, it delivers performance comparable to centralized exchanges — without sacrificing decentralization.
With growing TVL, rising trading volumes, and continuous product innovation — including yield-bearing aeUSD and pre-launch futures — Aevo is well-positioned for long-term growth. As retail interest in options and structured products increases, platforms like Aevo could unlock the next wave of DeFi adoption.
Whether you're a seasoned trader or exploring advanced strategies for the first time, Aevo offers powerful tools wrapped in an accessible interface — making it one of the most compelling projects in decentralized finance today.
👉 Start exploring decentralized derivatives with cutting-edge tools — see what’s possible now.