(a) Problem the project solves

Berachain is a Layer 1 blockchain that runs Proof of Liquidity, a consensus design that extends Proof of Stake by routing block rewards to applications and liquidity providers rather than to validators alone. The design directs network emissions toward productive onchain liquidity so that capital securing the chain also deepens markets across the ecosystem. (Source: Proof-of-Liquidity Overview — Berachain, BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain — IQ.wiki)

(b) Operational priorities

The Berachain Foundation funds and directs ongoing development, ecosystem growth, developer tooling, liquidity provisioning, and incentive programs from the 100,000,000 BERA Ecosystem and R&D allocation. Governance stewards review Reward Vault whitelisting proposals weekly to expand emission-eligible applications across the network. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, PoL Governance — Berachain, Reward Vault Requirements and Guidelines — Berachain)

(c) High-level project overview

Validators stake BERA to enter the active set of the top 69 validators by stake, and block-production probability is proportional to staked BERA. Each proposed block emits a fixed base rate of 0.4 WBERA to the validator operator and a reward rate of 1.305 WBERA routed through the BeraChef contract to governance-whitelisted Reward Vaults. Users stake Proof-of-Liquidity-eligible assets into those vaults to earn WBERA rewards. Transaction fees are paid in BERA and burned. Berachain launched with a three-token model of BERA for gas and staking, BGT as a non-transferable governance and rewards token, and HONEY as a native overcollateralized stablecoin. The July 2026 PoL Next hard fork consolidated the incentive layer around wrapped BERA, so WBERA is now the single emission token and staked WBERA (sWBERA) is the value-accrual layer. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain retires BGT era with PoL Next — Invezz, Berachain Starts PoL Next Hard Fork — Cointelegraph)

(d) Primary token functions

BERA is the native gas and staking token of Berachain and, in its wrapped form WBERA, is the sole Proof-of-Liquidity emission token. Validators stake BERA to secure the network, users pay transaction fees in BERA, and those fees are burned. BGT is a soulbound, non-transferable token that historically carried governance and reward-direction rights and remains redeemable 1-to-1 for BERA. The PoL Next hard fork completed on 2026-07-08 ended BGT emissions and removed BGT's role in Proof of Liquidity, and holders are directed to migrate BGT and BGT liquid staking tokens into sWBERA through the Berachain Hub. HONEY is the network's native stablecoin. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, BGT Token — Berachain, PoL Changelog — Berachain, Berachain Hard Fork Begins Shift to WBERA — Crypto Economy)

(e) Control surface reliance

Onchain governance operates through BGT-holder voting. Proposals stay live for 5 days, require a 20% quorum and at least 51% approval, and then enter a timelock window before execution. A Governance Guardian council acts through a 5-of-9 multisig and can veto proposals it deems malicious or materially detrimental during the timelock. The independent BGT Foundation coordinates governance and works with the Guardians on Reward Vault review. Reward Vault whitelisting requires a Request for Reward Vault form plus a governance-forum proposal, and stewards review submissions weekly. Following the 2026-07-08 PoL Next hard fork, published Berachain documentation still describes governance voting through BGT while the PoL changelog states BGT no longer has a user-facing role in Proof of Liquidity, so the governing token that carries voting power after migration to sWBERA is not definitively reconciled in public sources. (Source: PoL Governance — Berachain, Berachain Governance Update — Berachain Blog, Guardians Assemble — Berachain Blog, PoL Changelog — Berachain)

(a) IP ownership & control

Public sources do not attribute ownership of Berachain codebases, repositories, or the Berachain trademarks to a DAO entity. The core protocol code is maintained by Big Bera Labs and the Berachain Foundation rather than by an onchain DAO. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain by Berachain Labs — QuickNode)

(b) Contract/admin powers

Governance proposals require a proposer to hold or be delegated a minimum of 1,000 BGT of voting power. A proposal stays live for 5 days, needs a 20% quorum and at least 51% approval to succeed, and then enters a timelock queue before execution. During the timelock, the Governance Guardian council can cancel proposals it identifies as malicious, such as a hostile takeover or unauthorized code change, acting through a 5-of-9 multisig of elected signers. Reward Vault whitelisting is governance-controlled through the Request for Reward Vault process, and the BeraChef contract manages validator reward allocations and vault emission routing. (Source: PoL Governance — Berachain, Berachain Governance Update — Berachain Blog, Reward Vault Governance — Berachain)

(c) Locked-token rights (conditional)

BGT is soulbound to the address that earns it and grants governance voting and validator-boost rights while held. BGT holders can delegate voting power to validators and can redeem BGT 1-to-1 for BERA, and BERA cannot be converted back into BGT. The 2026-07-08 PoL Next hard fork ended BGT emissions and directs holders to migrate BGT and BGT liquid staking tokens into sWBERA through the Berachain Hub. (Source: BGT Token — Berachain, Honeypaper — Berachain, PoL Changelog — Berachain)

(d) Value accrual & holder rights

Under Proof of Liquidity, value accrues to participants who stake into the emission system rather than to passive holders. After the PoL Next hard fork, all incentives accrue to staked WBERA (sWBERA) holders, who receive WBERA-denominated yield from the incentive fee collector, and BERA captures value through fee burns and its role as the staked and emitted asset. Public sources do not describe a direct treasury revenue-distribution right vested in a broad tokenholder class. (Source: PoL Changelog — Berachain, BERA Token — Berachain)

(e) Dissolution authority

Public sources do not disclose a dissolution or wind-up mechanism for Berachain onchain governance or for the associated foundation entities. (Source: PoL Governance — Berachain, Berachain Governance Update — Berachain Blog)

(a) Entity

The Berachain Foundation is headquartered in George Town, Cayman Islands. It operates as the primary foundation that maintains the network's native applications and directs the Ecosystem and R&D allocation. Berachain also operates a separate independent entity, the BGT Foundation, which represents BGT-holder interests and coordinates governance. The specific registered legal-entity form of the Berachain Foundation, such as a Cayman foundation company, is not confirmed in a primary registry document within the public source set. (Source: Berachain company profile — Tracxn, Berachain company profile — PitchBook, Berachain Governance Update — Berachain Blog)

(b) IP ownership & control

The Berachain Foundation maintains the network's native, composable applications, including the BEX exchange, and develops BeaconKit, the modular consensus layer that powers the chain.A formal assignment of repository ownership, trademark registration, or code license to the Berachain Foundation is not documented in the public source set, and subsidiary entities are not enumerated. (Source: Berachain homepage — Berachain, Berachain by Berachain Labs — QuickNode)

(c) Powers over DAO, treasury, protocol-controlled resources, and token administration

The Berachain Foundation controls the Ecosystem and R&D allocation of 100,000,000 BERA and directs it toward ecosystem development, growth, developer programs, node operator delegations, and Proof-of-Liquidity evolution. The Foundation coordinates Reward Vault review together with the Guardians and the BGT Foundation. A filing-style map of the Foundation's specific thresholds over treasury actions, reward parameters, and token administration is not published in the public source set. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain Governance Phase 1 — Berachain Blog)

(d) Powers over DevCo

Public sources do not describe the control relationship between the Berachain Foundation and Big Bera Labs. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain)

(e) Contract/admin powers

The Foundation participates in the Guardian veto process through the Governance Guardian council, which acts through a 5-of-9 multisig during the governance timelock. During the November 2025 BEX incident the Foundation exercised emergency contract controls to disable affected pool and vault contracts and pause HONEY mint and redeem operations. A Foundation-specific pause and upgrade authority map with named contract roles and thresholds is not published in the public source set. (Source: PoL Governance — Berachain, BEX Incident Post-Mortem — Berachain Foundation)

(f) Current economic arrangements and distribution policies

The Berachain Foundation is funded from the Ecosystem and R&D allocation of 100,000,000 BERA, which equals 20% of genesis supply and covers Foundation operations alongside ecosystem development. Of total supply, 9.5% from this allocation unlocked at launch for ecosystem growth, developer tooling, and liquidity provisioning. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain)

(a) Entity

Big Bera Labs is the core contributor group that builds and maintains the Berachain protocol and receives the initial core contributor allocation. The registered legal-entity form and jurisdiction of Big Bera Labs are not disclosed in the public source set. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain airdrop — KuCoin)

(b) IP ownership & control

Big Bera Labs is described as the primary developer of the Berachain blockchain. Formal repository ownership, trademark holdings, code licensing, and subsidiary entities of Big Bera Labs are not documented in the public source set. (Source: Berachain airdrop — KuCoin, What is Berachain — 99Bitcoins)

(c) Powers over DAO, treasury, protocol-controlled resources, and token administration

Public sources do not map specific powers held by Big Bera Labs over governance, treasury actions, protocol revenue, token administration, or reward parameters. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, PoL Governance — Berachain)

(d) Powers over Foundation

Public sources do not describe whether Big Bera Labs can influence Berachain Foundation decision-making. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain)

(e) Contract/admin powers

A DevCo-specific pause, upgrade, or governance-executor authority map is not published in the public source set. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain)

(f) Current economic arrangements and distribution policies

Big Bera Labs receives the initial core contributor allocation of 84,000,000 BERA, which equals 16.8% of genesis supply and is assigned to advisors and members of Big Bera Labs. This allocation follows the common release schedule of a one-year cliff with no unlock before the cliff, a one-sixth unlock at the cliff, and 24 months of linear vesting for the remaining five-sixths. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain)

(a) Launch supply totals

Genesis supply is 500,000,000 BERA. The launch distribution includes a 79,000,000 BERA airdrop allocation, and 9.5% of total supply from the Ecosystem and R&D bucket unlocked at launch for ecosystem growth, developer tooling, and liquidity provisioning. All remaining allocated parties follow the common vesting schedule. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain Airdrop Overview — Berachain Blog)

(b) Recipient categories & use of funds

Initial core contributors — 84,000,000 $BERA (16.8%). Assigned to advisors and members of Big Bera Labs, the core contributors to the Berachain blockchain. Investors — 171,500,000 $BERA (34.3%). Assigned to Seed, Series A, and Series B investors. Community allocations (Total) — 244,500,000 $BERA (48.9%). Covers the airdrop, future community initiatives, and ecosystem and R&D uses. Airdrop — 79,000,000 $BERA (15.8%). Distributed to testnet users, Berachain and ecosystem NFT holders, social supporters, ecosystem dApps, and community builders. Future community initiatives — 65,500,000 $BERA (13.1%). Reserved for incentive programs, grants, and other initiatives, with community input through Snapshots and RFPs. Ecosystem & R&D — 100,000,000 $BERA (20%). Funds ecosystem development, R&D, growth, and Berachain Foundation operations, including developer programs such as Boyco, node operator delegations, and Proof-of-Liquidity evolution.

(c) Initial price per token (if applicable)

Berachain set no fixed issuer offering price at the token generation event. BERA reached the open market through the genesis airdrop and simultaneous exchange listings at mainnet launch on 2025-02-06, and its trading price was set by open-market price discovery. For reference, the Series B tranche subscribed by Brevan Howard's Nova fund priced BERA at 3.00 US dollars per token in a March 2024 simple agreement for future tokens. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain Begins BERA Airdrop as Mainnet Launches — Decrypt, Brevan Howard refund right — The Block)

(d) Ticker / market symbol

The ticker is BERA. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain)

(e) Total supply & supply regime

Genesis supply is 500,000,000 BERA and the supply is uncapped and inflationary. Block rewards mint new BERA emitted as WBERA, with each block producing a base rate of 0.4 WBERA to the validator operator and a reward rate of 1.305 WBERA routed to Reward Vaults, while transaction fees paid in BERA are burned. As of 2026-07-21, market aggregators report circulating supply of approximately 300,000,000 BERA and total supply of approximately 552,000,000 BERA. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain — CoinGecko, Berachain — CoinMarketCap)

(f) Initial vesting / release schedules

Initial core contributors and investors follow a common release schedule of a one-year cliff, no unlock before the cliff, a one-sixth unlock at the cliff, and 24 months of linear vesting for the remaining five-sixths. Of total supply, 9.5% from the Ecosystem and R&D bucket unlocked at launch. The Bong Bears and rebases airdrop tranche included 25,000,000 BERA unlocked at launch plus 9,500,000 BERA on the same one-year-cliff and 24-month linear-vesting pattern. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, Berachain Airdrop Overview — Berachain Blog)

• Executed airdrop: (a) Per-address source

  Berachain executed its genesis airdrop of 79,000,000 BERA at mainnet launch on 2025-02-06. No per-address CSV, JSON, Merkle dump, or comparable public recipient file for the executed airdrop appears in the public source set. (Source: Berachain Airdrop Overview — Berachain Blog, Berachain Begins BERA Airdrop as Mainnet Launches — Decrypt)

(b) Covered segments and allocation method

The airdrop covered testnet users on the Artio and bArtio testnets, Request for Brobosal recipients, Boyco participants, social airdrop recipients, ecosystem NFT holders, Binance HODLers, strategic partners, and Bong Bears NFT holders plus rebases. The allocation method was activity- and segment-based rather than a single flat distribution. Testnet-user rewards were based on interactions with native and ecosystem dApps and other unique Berachain activity. Request for Allocation recipients could direct up to 15% to protocol treasury use while committing at least 70% to mainnet initiatives, and the remainder rewarded testnet users through genesis-file submissions from ecosystem teams. Boyco rewards unlock after each market completes on a 30-day or 90-day schedule depending on market terms. (Source: Berachain Airdrop Overview — Berachain Blog, Berachain Begins BERA Airdrop as Mainnet Launches — Decrypt)

Blockworks note: No market maker name, native-token loan or allocation, agreement term, or agreement structure for BERA appears in the public source set. Berachain has not published a market maker disclosure, and the absence of a disclosure does not by itself confirm that no market maker arrangement exists.

Blockworks note: BERA trading went live at mainnet launch on 2025-02-06 across Binance, OKX, and Coinbase, and additional launch-day venues included Bitrue, KuCoin, Bybit, Bitget, MEXC, and BingX. First trading pairs included BERA/USDT, BERA/BTC, and BERA/BNB, and Binance featured BERA in its HODLer Airdrops program. (Source: Berachain Begins BERA Airdrop as Mainnet Launches — Decrypt, Berachain — Coinpedia)

• Series Name: Seed round. Investment instrument not disclosed in public sources.
  • Date Of Sale: Early 2022
  • Number of tokens sold: Token quantity not disclosed in public sources. Part of the combined 171,500,000 BERA (34.3%) investor allocation.
  • Vesting Schedule: One-year cliff, one-sixth unlock at cliff, then 24 months linear vesting, per the common investor schedule.
• Series Name: Series A, led by Polychain Capital at a 420,690,000 US dollar valuation, raised 42,000,000 US dollars. Instrument not disclosed.
  • Date Of Sale: April 2023
  • Number of tokens sold: Token quantity not disclosed in public sources.
  • Vesting Schedule: One-year cliff, one-sixth unlock at cliff, then 24 months linear vesting, per the common investor schedule.
• Series Name: Series B, co-led by Framework Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital, raised 100,000,000 US dollars, structured as a SAFT.
  • Date Of Sale: H1 2024 (Nova Side Letter dated 2024-03-05)
  • Number of tokens sold: Nova fund subscribed 25,000,000 US dollars at 3.00 US dollars per token. Total Series B token quantity not disclosed.
  • Vesting Schedule: One-year cliff, one-sixth unlock at cliff, then 24 months linear vesting, per the common investor schedule.

Blockworks note: Berachain raised across three rounds that total 142,000,000 US dollars, and the aggregate investor allocation is 171,500,000 BERA, or 34.3% of genesis supply, covering Seed, Series A, and Series B investors. The Seed round closed in early 2022 with backers including dao5. The Series A raised 42,000,000 US dollars in April 2023, was led by Polychain Capital, and set a 420,690,000 US dollar valuation. The Series B raised 100,000,000 US dollars in the first half of 2024, was co-led by Framework Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital, and included Arrington Capital, Hack VC, Polychain, and Tribe Capital. Public documents show that the Series B used a simple agreement for future tokens, that Brevan Howard's Nova fund subscribed 25,000,000 US dollars of BERA at 3.00 US dollars per token, and that the Nova Side Letter dated 2024-03-05 granted Nova a refund right. (Source: Berachain Raises 42M Series A — CoinDesk, Brevan Howard refund right — The Block, Brevan Howard 25M refund right — Unchained, dao5 closes second fund after Berachain — Fortune)

(a) Date & component affected

Incident 1: July 2025, the Berachain incentive claim contract.

Incident 2: 2025-11-03, the BEX exchange application, HONEY mint and redeem, bridges, and the chain, following an industry-wide exploit of Balancer v2.

(b) Exploit vector summary

Incident 1: Security researchers uncovered a backdoor deployed across multiple EVM chains that placed protocol funds at risk. Berachain's incentive claim contract was identified as exposed

Incident 2: An attacker deployed a copycat of the Balancer v2 exploit against BEX, a fork of Balancer v2, using a faulty access-control check that converted fake fees into real assets.

(c) Quantified impact

Incident 1: The Berachain Foundation stated that no user funds were at risk or lost.

Incident 2: Onchain monitors estimated roughly 128,000,000 US dollars drained across Balancer and its forks industry-wide. The Berachain Foundation stated that all funds from the incident on Berachain were returned and that no consensus-layer vulnerabilities were found.

(d) Remediation/response taken

Incident 1: The Foundation paused the incentive claim contract, transferred its funds to a new contract, and recreated the distribution merkles so incentives became claimable again within 24 hours.

Incident 2: The Foundation disabled affected BEX pool and vault contracts, paused HONEY mint and redeem, coordinated with validators to halt the chain, and executed an emergency hard fork that froze ERC20 transfers from exploiter addresses and routed recoverable assets to a Foundation recovery wallet.

(e) Current status

Incident 1: Resolved with no loss of funds.

Incident 2: Mitigated, funds returned, chain live, with permanent fixes and a full root-cause report in progress.

(f) References (optional)

Incident 1: (Source: Berachain company and incident profile — CB Insights)

Incident 2: (Source: BEX Incident Post-Mortem — Berachain Foundation, Berachain Halts Network to Contain Balancer-Linked Exploit — CoinDesk, Berachain emergency hard fork — The Block)

Blockworks note: No incident directly affected the BERA native token contract, total supply, minting controls, burn mechanics, tokenholder BERA balances, or custody of BERA supply as of 2026-07-21. Two ecosystem-level incidents are disclosed below for completeness because they triggered network or contract-level responses, though neither compromised the BERA token itself.

(a) Regulatory, Legal & Tax Risks

The Berachain Foundation states in its public terms that it is not registered or licensed by any regulatory agency or authority and that no regulatory agency or authority has reviewed or approved its site, platform, or services. The same terms state that the Foundation may restrict, suspend, or close wallet access for any reason or no reason, that it is not responsible for transferring or safeguarding private keys or wallet assets, and that it may modify the agreement through site notice or by updating the last-updated date. Tokenholders remain responsible for understanding and meeting their own tax obligations. Tokenholder-specific tax guidance and a formal jurisdictional access-restriction policy for BERA do not appear in the public source set. (Source: Bepolia Faucet Terms of Use — Berachain)

(b) Protocol, Technology & Security Risks

Berachain depends on validator staking, WBERA emission routing through BeraChef, Reward Vault whitelisting, and live smart-contract systems, so a contract-layer or operational failure can disrupt incentives, liquidity routing, and validator economics. The 2025-11-03 BEX incident demonstrated that an application-layer vulnerability in a native dApp can escalate to a full chain halt and emergency hard fork. Berachain operates several security measures. Quantstamp reviewed the native smart contracts covering staking, stablecoin, and governance components between 2024-11-18 and 2025-01-14, and the initial report classified six issues as high severity and one as medium severity. Berachain runs a bug bounty on Immunefi that pays up to 250,000 US dollars for critical smart contract bugs. These measures reduce but do not eliminate risk, since audits and bounties can miss novel vectors and copycat exploits of forked code, as the BEX incident showed. (Source: Berachain Native Smart Contracts audit — Quantstamp, Berachain Bug Bounty — Immunefi, BEX Incident Post-Mortem — Berachain Foundation)

(c) Token Economics, Unlocks & Incentive Risks

BERA carries a 500,000,000-token genesis supply and an uncapped, inflationary regime driven by per-block WBERA emissions, with a base rate of 0.4 WBERA to the validator operator and a reward rate of 1.305 WBERA routed to Reward Vaults, partly offset by burning BERA transaction fees. The economic model assumes that emissions attract productive liquidity and that staking demand for BERA and sWBERA sustains security and yield. If staking participation or migration to sWBERA falls short, or if liquidity incentives fail to convert into durable usage, security economics and token value capture weaken. The 2026-07-08 PoL Next hard fork ended BGT emissions and consolidated value accrual into sWBERA, and BGT remains redeemable 1-to-1 for BERA. Governance can change reward allocations and emission-eligible vaults through the Reward Vault process, and it directs where DES carve-outs and incentive fees flow, so governance decisions can materially reallocate rewards away from a given holder cohort. Investor and core contributor allocations vest on a one-year cliff followed by a one-sixth unlock and 24 months of linear vesting, and community and ecosystem allocations continue to fund incentives, grants, and liquidity over time, which adds ongoing supply. (Source: BERA Token — Berachain, PoL Changelog — Berachain, Berachain retires BGT era with PoL Next — Invezz, Berachain Airdrop Overview — Berachain Blog)