The Berachain layer 1 blockchain network, which is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and built using the Cosmos SDK, has officially launched its mainnet and conducted an airdrop to the community on February 6, 2025.
Berachain operates on a Proof-of-Liquidity (POL) consensus mechanism. This project has been long-awaited by the cryptocurrency community, even being nicknamed a "fake chain" due to the long waiting time. The community's patience seems to have paid off when Berachain officially launched.
Specifically, on February 5, the development team announced a plan to airdrop 632 million BERA tokens for the chain's initial supporters such as Baritio users, NFT owners, community members, and dApp users.
The total initial supply of BERA is 500 million, of which 15.8% is for airdrops. Bong Bears NFT holders and partners receive the majority of the tokens, and long-term followers also receive rewards accordingly.
The remaining allocations are divided between community programs (13.1%), ecosystem development and research (20%), and mentors and developers (16.8%).
BERA's tokenomics. Source: Berachain
Prior to its launch, Berachain was rumored to reach a valuation of $4 billion, which added to the expectations of traders and investors. However, after its official launch, BERA has experienced significant fluctuations.
Overall, though, BERA still holds its price quite well, currently trading around $7.68, after peaking at $15.5. BERA's current market capitalization is nearly $1 billion, down from a peak of $1.5 billion.
It is worth noting that BERA's perpetual contract trading volume has exceeded $4.8 billion in just 24 hours. The fee rate on centralized exchanges (CEXs) is also extremely high, especially the funding rate on Binance recorded -2.4% and Bybit -2.89%.
The funding fee is the fee between the buyer (long) and the seller (short) in a perpetual contract. A negative funding rate means that buyers have to pay a fee to the seller, which usually happens when the number of buyers overwhelms the seller.
BERA price at the time of writing. Source: Tradingview
Although analysts have predicted the possibility of strong price volatility on the first day of launch, there is no denying that Berachain's airdrop and launch has so far been a success, especially for the project's supporters from the early days.
Berachain has also received interest from major exchanges such as Binance, Hashkey, and Bitrue. Hashkey Global has announced the launch of the BERA perpetual contract on or after February 6. Bitrue also lists BERA, allowing trading from February 6 and withdrawals from February 7.
Binance, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has selected Berachain as the 7th project on its HODLer airdrop platform. Users who participated in Binance's "BNB to Simple Earn" program from January 22 to 26 will receive a share of a total of 10 million BERA tokens airdropped.
The reaction of the user community to the price of Berachain at the launch of the exchange was quite positive. Although there are certain fluctuations, in general, users are satisfied with this price. With an average number of airdrops of 100 BERA or more, many consider this an acceptable number, especially when compared to other projects.
Berachain's mainnet launch event went quite smoothly. In the context of many recent disappointing layer 1 projects, Berachain has bucked this trend. The mainnet launch coinciding with the TGE event and airdrop shows the development team's preparation, and helps them make the most of their initial interest and liquidity.
Berachain has also raised around $142 million and built an ecosystem of more than 200 dApps before the mainnet launches. The total value locked (TVL) of the ecosystem, through the Boyco Vault program, reached more than $3.32 billion, surpassing Arbitrum ($2.9 billion) and Base ($3 billion).
