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Velodrome V3

Rejected
Max sleeve
Reviewed
2026-08-14 · v1
Next review
2026-11-15
Chains
Ink · hybrid, OP Mainnet · hybrid

Rejected venues wait the longest for re-review; a rejection has to earn another look before the scheduled date.

Velodrome V3, called Slipstream, adds concentrated-liquidity pools to Velodrome’s existing stable and volatile AMM pools on OP Mainnet and Ink. Depositors are liquidity providers, and concentrated liquidity sharpens impermanent loss rather than removing it: the LP’s range sells the rising asset for the falling one, and once price leaves the range the position sits entirely in the weaker asset. That loss cannot be explained to this client in two sentences and is indefensible when it bites, so the AMM category is rejected regardless of protocol quality. The DefiLlama API read on 2026-08-15 reported about $21.3M across ten Superchain deployments, chiefly Ink and OP Mainnet; size does not change the mechanism rule.

The research file

Mechanism applicability

Velodrome’s official Slipstream repository identifies concentrated-liquidity contracts adapted from Uniswap V3 core and periphery, with non-fungible positions and Velodrome gauges. Official documentation describes LPs depositing into pools for fees and optionally staking the position for VELO emissions. A range position trades its paired inventory as price moves, directly establishing AMM-LP membership.

Current observation and control applicability

The DefiLlama protocol API read on 2026-08-15 reported approximately $21.3M of Velodrome V3 TVL across Ink, OP Mainnet, Unichain, Fraxtal, Soneium, Celo, Lisk, Mode, Superseed and a zero-balance Swellchain deployment. Pool and gauge configuration, fee modules and emissions affect returns. Velodrome also documents an emergency council able to kill or revive gauges, while the current multi-chain contracts and audit lineage vary by release.

Exit applicability

Each Slipstream deposit is an ERC-721 concentrated-liquidity position. The holder can unstake it from a gauge, remove liquidity, collect fees and burn the NFT only after liquidity and rewards are cleared. The assets realized depend on the pool’s current price and the position range, so an out-of-range exit can be one-sided and materially different from holding the original pair; emissions do not reverse that inventory outcome.

Why the class rule decides

The shared v1 AMM-LP dossier controls because Slipstream fees and VELO emissions must overcome divergence loss from pooled range inventory. Reopen only if Velodrome ships an economically separate product without pooled multi-asset inventory or relative-price rebalancing. That product would require its own review of chain deployments, pools and fee modules, governance and emergency controls, contracts and audits, incidents, incentives, liquidity and stressed exits.

Sources

The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.

Inherited controls

The verdict above grades the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The least safe layer sets the position’s grade, and the position table names which one that is.

ChainVerdictGradeControl constraint
InkRejected hybrid forced inclusion and fault proofs constrain the sequencer, but co-signers can still execute an immediate upgrade before a client exits.
OP MainnetRejected hybrid Ethereum forced inclusion limits sequencer censorship, but the Foundation and Security Council can co-sign an immediate upgrade before a client can exit.
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