Founded by pseudonymous developers, Berachain has raised more than $100 million to help propel its novel EVM-identical, proof-of-liquidity blockchain.
What started as an NFT project called Bit Bears has since blossomed into a burgeoning ecosystem, leading Framework Ventures co-founder Vance Spencer to describe the Berachain community as, “one of the most energized I’ve seen in all of crypto.”
That rabid community is now eagerly awaiting the launch of Berachain’s mainnet, which the project has cheekily suggested would come in “Q5.”
As its mainnet launch approaches on February 6, here’s how you can prepare for Berachain ahead of time.
What is Berachain?
Built atop BeaconKit, a modular consensus layer for Ethereum-based networks, Berachain is an EVM-identical layer-1 blockchain. It uses a novel “proof-of-liquidity” consensus mechanism, which aims to address the limitations of the proof-of-stake model.
Users provide liquidity to pools using the network’s native BERA tokens, earning Bera Governance Tokens (BGT), which are delegated to validators who produce blocks based on the amount of BGT delegated to them. Validators then vote on future BGT inflation across liquidity pools and distribute block rewards (called bribes) to delegators.
What can you do on Berachain before launch?
Although Berachain’s mainnet launch is not yet live, users are actively seeking out ways to participate ahead of launch.
Pre-deposit vaults
Prior to its mainnet launch, Berachain is allowing interested investors to provide liquidity to the chain and select protocols through collaborations with select DeFi protocols, like StakeStone and EtherFi.
As part of its Beramas initiative, the project opened these vaults, which differ from its pre-launch liquidity program “Boyco,” allowing users deposit crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and gain early access to rewards stacks on Berachain.
Per data from Dune, more than $2.1 billion has been deposited in these pre-deposit vaults to date, led by EtherFi which has amassed more than $627 million in deposits.
Importantly, this offers users a way to stack Berachain rewards before the launch of its mainnet chain.
“These vaults are a simpler way of stacking rewards prior to Boyco’s launch, with a one-click UX across a few different verticals,” wrote pseudonymous Berachain team member, Knower Bera.
Boyco
Boyco is Berachain’s pre-launch liquidity program, designed to fix the problem of short-term incentives offered to “farmers” or blockchain users searching for rewards like token airdrops, while simultaneously benefitting the protocols that need early liquidity and users to succeed.
Launched on January 28, it offered users the opportunity to provide early liquidity to protocols set to launch on Berachain, giving them a chance to stack rewards like the pre-deposit vaults. The project closed the ability to make deposits on February 3, and later began transferring those assets to mainnet ahead of its launch.
Users deposited crypto assets into one of three types of markets—single sided, stableswap, or volatile—and will be rewarded BERA incentives and multipliers depending on the type of asset and market they supply liquidity into.
In other words, a user that only deposits USDC into a single sided market that accepts one asset, will receive a different multiplier and BERA reward than a user who supplies two correlated assets in a stableswap market.
Between Boyco and pre-deposit vaults, more than $3.3 billion in assets were deposited for early rewards and liquidity bootstrapping ahead of Berachain mainnet.
Participate with applications on testnet
Berachain has a robust testnet, allowing users to interact with many protocols of different types to gain insight into the user experience that will come upon mainnet launch and potentially benefit in the process.
Because its upcoming network is EVM-Identical, users looking to gain access to the testnet can do so via popular EVM compatible wallets like MetaMask or Rabby.
Four different faucets, or token drips, are available for users to request BERA tokens, which can then be used to get started on Berachain’s testnet.
Once a user has requested testnet funds, they can typically begin to interact with protocols on the testnet, of which there are more than 100—including 127 which met the criteria for support in Berachain’s recent “Request for Broposal: Applications,” a program led by Berachain to support and scale builders aiming to launch on its mainnet.
Each of these selected protocols will be allocated rewards from Berachain upon launch of mainnet, with specific requirements like “providing a minimum of 70% of those rewards to Mainnet users and for liquidity incentives.”
A full list of protocols, which range from casinos like Pepino Casino, to smart rings like Moon Ring, and all the DeFi protocols like StakeStone and Dolomite is available to users looking to further explore.
Disclaimer: The author owns a Honeycomb NFT created by The Honey Jar, an application which met the criteria for the Request for Broposal program.
Community Projects
In addition to more formal applications like listed above, Berachain’s community has lent itself to the creation of a handful of community initiatives, including NFT projects that are set to launch and be eligible for trading on popular Web3 marketplaces Magic Eden.
Berachain is supporting these projects with rewards under its “Community” umbrella.
At least 72 projects met the criteria and were determined by Berachain to have “demonstrated meaningful contributions to the Berachain ecosystem to date” and “outlined a clear plan for ongoing contributions to foster long-term education, community building, and positive engagement around Berachain itself.”
This includes NFT projects like Steady Teddys and Beratodds, vape-to-earn project PuffPaw, musical project Berachain Records, among others.
It’s important to note that the NFT projects accepted into the Request for Broposal: Community initiative were required to have not gone live, providing the opportunity for new members to learn and engage with the communities prior to their launch.
What potential benefits are there?
Berachain will have a native token, BERA, which will be used for activating validator nodes and paying for transactions on the blockchain.
A formal token airdrop was announced by the Berachain Foundation with a token generation event to commence alongside the mainnet launch on February 6.
TGE will occur at the same time as mainnet launch – Berachain is a L1 blockchain. Tokenomics and checker tomorrow.
— Berachain Foundation 🐻⛓ (@berachain) February 4, 2025
One day prior, the Foundation will launch an airdrop checker for users to determine whether or not they are eligible for the airdrop, in addition to sharing a full tokenomic breakdown.
Although tokenomics have not yet been revealed, a portion of the BERA tokens is expected to be set aside for select actions, like participation in Boyco or its Request for Broposal Communities and Applications.
When will Berachain launch?
Berachain’s mainnet launch will take place on February 6, 2025.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on January 27, 2025 and last updated with new details on February 4.
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