What is Berachain (BERA)

I. Project Introduction

1. What Is Berachain?

Berachain is a Layer 1 blockchain highly compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine execution environment, with Proof of Liquidity (PoL) as its core feature. It seeks to unify network security, application liquidity, and user incentives, enabling liquidity-providing users, applications, and validators to collaborate within a single economic system.

2. How Does Berachain Work?

Berachain currently runs the new version of PoL primarily on BERA/WBERA, sWBERA, and HONEY. BERA is used for gas, validator staking, and network security. Validators distribute WBERA block rewards to governance-whitelisted Reward Vaults, and users can participate in PoL through the corresponding vaults and incentive markets. Users can also deposit BERA or WBERA into the BERA PoL Yield Vault to receive sWBERA. HONEY is the ecosystem stablecoin. BGT has become a deprecated legacy token that no longer affects validator reward-distribution weighting, block rewards, or ecosystem proposals. Former BGT holders can convert to BERA through the official process.

3. Who Founded Berachain?

Berachain was initially launched by pseudonymous creators such as Smokey the Bera, Papa Bear, Homme Bera, and Dev Bear, with development subsequently driven by Big Bera Labs core contributors and the Berachain Foundation. The project originated from a bear-themed NFT community. It raised approximately USD 42 million in 2023 and completed a USD 100 million Series B in 2024, bringing total disclosed funding to approximately USD 142 million.

4. Berachain Tokenomics

BERA has a genesis supply of 500 million tokens and generates approximately 5% annual inflation through PoL reward emissions, with the specific parameters adjustable by governance. The genesis allocation is: Core Contributors 16.8%, Investors 34.3%, Airdrop 15.8%, Future Community Initiatives 13.1%, and Ecosystem & R&D 20%. Applicable locked shares are subject to a one-year cliff, after which one-sixth unlocks first and the remaining five-sixths release linearly over two years. Network transaction fees are burned, partially offsetting the new emissions.

5. Timeline of Key Milestones

2021: A bear-themed NFT community forms, becoming Berachain's early starting point.

April 2023: Approximately $42 million in funding is completed.

April 2024: Approximately $100 million in funding is completed, and work on the testnet and PoL continues.

February 6, 2025: The Berachain mainnet and BERA go live simultaneously.

2025–2026: PoL is upgraded to use WBERA as the unified emission asset, and the sWBERA staking vault and incentive-auction mechanism launch; BGT enters its deprecation and conversion phase.

II. Basic Information

III. Related Links