Berachain Officially Launches Mainnet, Distributes $1.1 Billion Airdrop

Berachain, the bear-themed layer-1 blockchain utilizing a novel "proof-of-liquidity" consensus mechanism, has officially launched its mainnet on February 6.

Alongside the launch, the network commenced the airdrop of its native token, BERA, to early contributors and community members, marking a significant milestone in its evolution from a 2021 NFT experiment to a fully operational blockchain ecosystem.

Trading for BERA went live on leading exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Coinbase, with the token initially reaching a peak of $14.83 before settling at around $8.00, reflecting a 49% decline from its high.

Despite the volatility, the airdrop’s total valuation at peak pricing reached $1.17 billion, distributing wealth to users who contributed to Berachain’s ecosystem prior to launch.

Of the 79 million BERA tokens allocated for the airdrop, 55.75 million were made immediately available, with the remainder designated for select teams, developers, and contributors through the network’s "Request for Broposal" initiative. Additional rewards are reserved for Boyco depositors, Berachain’s pre-launch liquidity program, with payouts scheduled between 30 to 90 days.

Beyond the airdrop, Berachain has allocated an additional 65.5 million BERA for long-term ecosystem incentives, including developer grants and application rewards.

Proof-of-Liquidity Mechanism

Unlike traditional blockchains that rely on proof-of-work (Bitcoin) or proof-of-stake (Ethereum), Berachain operates on a novel proof-of-liquidity (PoL) mechanism. PoL is designed to align the incentives of validators, applications, and users by integrating liquidity provisioning into network security.

In Berachain’s system, validators must stake a minimum of 250,000 BERA tokens to participate in block production. Instead of earning rewards directly in BERA, validators receive BGT, the network’s non-transferable governance token. Users can earn BGT by providing liquidity to allowlisted protocols, receiving BGT rewards in return. This incentivizes deeper liquidity within the ecosystem while maintaining security and governance efficiency.

BGT, while non-tradeable, can be burned 1:1 for BERA, ensuring that active network participants have an avenue for value realization. This structure prevents passive token hoarding and encourages active engagement with Berachain’s applications and liquidity pools.

Berachain implemented significant pre-launch liquidity initiatives. Through Boyco, the project’s liquidity vaults, users deposited over $3.3 billion in assets before mainnet launch. At peak, these deposits positioned Berachain as the fifth-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), surpassing networks like Base and Arbitrum.

Community-Driven Ecosystem

Berachain emerged from a 2021 Ethereum NFT collection known as Bong Bears, which expanded into a broader ecosystem of digital assets. This organic community formation has led to significant developer engagement, with multiple applications and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols already integrating with Berachain.

The project is spearheaded by three pseudonymous founders—Smokey the Bera, Homme Bera, and Dev Bear—who have remained deeply engaged with the community.

With its mainnet now live, Berachain said its team is focusing on expanding developer adoption, refining its consensus model, and enhancing on-chain liquidity to ensure sustained network growth.