Berachain (BERA): how it works, supply and reviews
In short
- Type
- Layer-1 blockchain with an execution environment identical to Ethereum's EVM
- Maximum supply
- No hard cap; 500,000,000 BERA at genesis
- Risks and caveats
- BERA has no hard supply cap; emissions add about 5% a year, subject to governance.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Ticker
- BERA
- Official site
- berachain.com
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Berachain
Berachain is an EVM-identical layer-1 blockchain built around Proof of Liquidity, which routes block emissions to liquidity and applications. BERA is its gas and staking token; consensus runs on BeaconKit, a CometBFT-based framework.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Layer-1 blockchain with an execution environment identical to Ethereum's EVM |
| Consensus | BeaconKit combines EVM execution with CometBFT-based consensus; validators stake BERA, top 69 by stake are active |
| Validators | Active set is the top 69 validators by staked BERA; block production is proportional to stake |
| Chain ID | Berachain mainnet chain ID 80094 (Bepolia testnet 80069) |
| Smart contracts | Execution client Bera-Reth, a lightly modified fork of Reth; Solidity contracts and Ethereum tooling work unchanged |
| Launched | First mainnet block produced on 20 January 2025 |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Maximum supply | No hard cap; 500,000,000 BERA at genesis |
| Inflation | About 5% a year through Proof-of-Liquidity emissions paid as WBERA, subject to governance |
| Fee burn | Transaction fees paid in BERA are burned |
| Initial distribution | Investors 34.3%, ecosystem and R&D 20%, initial core contributors 16.8%, airdrop 15.8%, future community initiatives 13.1% |
| Unlocks | All allocations: 1-year cliff, then 1/6 unlocks and the rest vests linearly over 24 months |
| Staking rewards | Each block emits 0.4 WBERA to the validator operator and 1.305 WBERA to Reward Vaults |
What BERA is used for
- Gas token for transactions on Berachain
- Staked by validators and delegators to secure the network
- Emitted as WBERA through Proof of Liquidity to Reward Vaults
- Deposited into the Staking Vault for sWBERA, which earns incentive-auction yield
Who develops and governs Berachain
- Developer
- Big Bera Labs is the core contributor to the Berachain blockchain
- Foundation
- The Berachain Foundation's operations are funded from the ecosystem and R&D allocation
- Governance
- Governance must whitelist Reward Vaults and sets emission parameters; proposals go through the governance forum
- Open source
- Contracts, Bera-Reth, governance proposals (BRIPs) and audits are published under the berachain GitHub organisation
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| — | First Berachain mainnet block is produced. |
| 4 June 2025 | Prague/Pectra upgrade activates on mainnet. |
| May 2026 | PoL Next upgrade: all emissions become BERA (WBERA), the boost mechanism and BGT are phased out. |
| 8 July 2026 | BGT is formally deprecated; holders can redeem it for BERA. |
Security and audits
- Audit reports are published in the berachain/security-audits GitHub repository.
- Since the 2026 PoL Next upgrade, BGT has no role in reward allocation, block rewards or governance.
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 3 November 2025 | Exploit: The Balancer V2 exploit of 3 November 2025 hit BEX (Berachain's Balancer V2-based DEX). Berachain shipped a critical hard fork, Prague3, that froze the exploiter's funds and use of BEX vaults; Prague4 (activated 12 November 2025, 16:00 UTC) later undid the Prague3 account and transfer freezes. Funds returned: not stated | github.com |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Risks and caveats
- BERA has no hard supply cap; emissions add about 5% a year, subject to governance.
- Investor (34.3%) and core contributor (16.8%) allocations vest on the same 1-year cliff plus 24-month schedule as other buckets.
- The token model changed substantially in 2026: BGT was deprecated and emissions moved to WBERA.
Official links
- Website: www.berachain.com
- Docs: docs.berachain.com
- Governance forum: forum.berachain.com
- Source code: github.com/berachain
- Hub: hub.berachain.com
Questions and answers
What is Berachain?
Berachain is an EVM-identical layer-1 blockchain that uses Proof of Liquidity to route block emissions to liquidity and applications.
What is the supply of BERA?
500,000,000 BERA at genesis, with no hard cap and about 5% annual inflation from emissions; transaction fees are burned.
What is BERA used for?
BERA pays gas, is staked to secure the network, and is emitted as WBERA to Reward Vaults.
What happened to BGT?
BGT was phased out in the May 2026 PoL Next upgrade and deprecated on 8 July 2026; holders can redeem it for BERA.
Who builds Berachain?
Big Bera Labs is the core contributor; the Berachain Foundation funds ecosystem work.
Sources
- Berachain Docs — What is Berachain?
- Berachain Docs — BERA Token
- Berachain Docs — BGT Token
- Berachain Docs — What's New (PoL)
- Berachain Docs — PoL Governance
- Berachain Docs — Connect to Berachain
- Berachain Docs — Protocol overview
- Berachain Docs — FAQs
- Berachain public RPC — block 1
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