TVL exceeds $3 billion, firmly securing its position as the absolute leader in the Berachain ecosystem
As of June 2025, Infrared Finance, as the leading liquid staking and liquidity management protocol in the Berachain ecosystem, has surpassed $3 billion in total locked value (TVL), accounting for over 60% of the liquidity in the entire Berachain DeFi network. This figure not only makes it the absolute leader in the Berachain ecosystem but also ranks it among the top ten liquid staking protocols across all chains. Its investors include top institutions such as YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), Framework Ventures, and NGC Ventures, with a total of $18.75 million raised over three rounds of financing. The post-investment valuation is not publicly disclosed, but the market estimates it has exceeded $500 million.
So far, it has undergone 10 comprehensive security audits
In the Berachain ecosystem, which integrates the innovative mechanism of liquidity proof, Infrared has built a key protective barrier for DeFi users through systematic security practices. As of April 2025, the project has completed a total of 10 comprehensive security audits, including two in-depth reviews in March 2025 alone. The auditors include top institutions such as Zellic and Spearbit, and multiple verifications have been achieved through Code4rena's competitive auditing. This high-frequency, multidimensional auditing strategy significantly differs from the industry's common one-time compliance checks, and its strategy of full public disclosure of audit reports further strengthens safety credibility.
Notably, the upcoming iBERA unlocking function still adheres to the principle of 'audit first', reflecting its core value of 'sacrificing speed to ensure safety.' This rigorous attitude has gained market recognition — the protocol's TVL peak has surpassed $3 billion, confirming users' value recognition of secure infrastructure. In emerging public chain ecosystems, due to the innovation of interaction modes and the maturity of toolchains, the safety margin is often more fragile. Infrared reduces systemic risk through continuous auditing mechanisms, establishing a moat for its own protocol and providing a safety paradigm for the healthy development of the entire Berachain ecosystem. This concept of viewing safety as a public good may become an important reference for the compliance operation of new chain projects.
Technical Architecture: Liquidity Innovation under the PoL Mechanism
The core value of Infrared arises from its deep adaptation to Berachain's original liquidity proof (Proof-of-Liquidity, PoL) mechanism. Unlike traditional PoS public chains, Berachain reconstructs the liquidity incentive system through a dual-token model (BERA for Gas, BGT for governance):
The soul-binding nature of BGT: The governance token BGT is non-transferable and can only be obtained by providing liquidity, and it must be delegated to validators to unlock its value. This design, while strengthening the binding of governance rights and ecological contributions, also limits capital efficiency.
The liquidity liberation of iBGT: Infrared innovatively launched the liquid staking token iBGT, allowing users to stake LP tokens, after which the protocol automatically captures BGT rewards and generates tradable iBGT on a 1:1 basis. This move resolves the liquidity dilemma of BGT while optimizing governance rights distribution through automatic delegation of validator clusters. On-chain data shows that iBGT currently covers 60% of the BGT staking volume on Berachain, becoming the actual hub of ecological governance.
Another key product, iBERA, targets the staking demand for BERA. Users can stake BERA to receive iBERA, which is pegged 1:1, allowing them to earn validator node rewards (current APY 6.58%) while freely participating in DeFi compositions. The TVL of iBERA has reached $295 million, accounting for 16% of the total BERA staking volume.
Business Model: Flywheel Effect and Revenue Loop
Infrared's profit model is built on three levels:
1. Liquidity Aggregation Premium: By automatically aggregating user LP positions through PoL vaults (such as the BERA-HONEY pool on BEX) and participating in Berachain's 'bribery market' (validators distribute BGT emissions based on protocol incentives). Currently, the average APY of the liquidity pools managed by Infrared reaches 191.75%, with some high-leverage strategies (such as hedging iBGT positions through Pendle) even achieving over 500% annualized returns.
2. Protocol Revenue Sharing: Infrared charges about a 10% performance fee on vault earnings, estimating its average monthly protocol revenue to be over $4 million based on TVL scale. This portion of revenue will partially be used to repurchase the native token IRED, creating value support.
3. Ecological Synergy Effect: The re-staking token LrBGT launched in collaboration with Lair Finance further expands the application scenarios of iBGT. Following the announcement of the partnership in June 2025, the LAIR token saw a single-day increase of 22%, reflecting market recognition of Infrared's ecological integration capabilities.
Growth Catalysts: Points Program and Token Expectations
Launched in April 2025, the Infrared Points incentive program has become the core driver of recent growth. This program incentivizes user participation through retrospective rewards (the earliest retroactive to March 21, 2025):
Staking iBGT/iBERA: Basic points accumulate linearly over time
High Multiplication Points Pool: For example, the WBERA-iBGT LP pool on Kodiak enjoys a 1.375x point bonus (APR 258%)
Third-party Integration: Collaborating with protocols like Dolomite to expand point acquisition scenarios
Pendle, the world's largest cryptocurrency yield trading platform, has announced the launch of the iBGT market, providing investors with more diverse yield strategy options. Users can provide liquidity to the market to earn iBGT yields, while also enjoying additional incentives of 2x Infrared Points. Meanwhile, the project team has revealed that its technical team is actively advancing system upgrades, expected to officially launch the highly anticipated Iberia unstaking upgrade next week. This series of product iterations demonstrates Infrared's continuous innovation in optimizing DeFi yields, creating more attractive yield opportunities for liquidity providers.
According to the official roadmap, Infrared will issue the token IRED in Q3 2025, with 15% of the total supply allocated for community incentives. Referring to the token valuation models of similar protocols (like Lido and EigenLayer), if the FDV is estimated at 5% of TVL, the initial valuation of IRED could reach $150 million.
Competitive Barriers and Moats
Infrared's leading position is reinforced by three moats:
1. First-Mover Technology Binding: As one of the first incubated projects in the Berachain Foundation's 'Build-A-Bera' program, its smart contracts directly integrate the underlying logic of PoL, with a much higher technical compatibility than later competitors.
2. Validator Network Control: By operating its own validator node cluster, Infrared effectively controls about 20% of the governance voting rights in Berachain, significantly influencing the direction of BGT emissions.
3. Capital Synergy Effect: Lead investor Framework Ventures has a deep layout in the DeFi track (having invested in Chainlink and Aave), which can provide cross-chain liquidity import support for Infrared; while YZi Labs' exchange resources may potentially open up future listing channels for IRED.
Valuation Reference and Market Positioning
In horizontal comparison with other liquid staking protocols, Lido (with a 32% ETH staking market share) has an FDV of about $12 billion, while EigenLayer (in the restaking track) has an FDV of $8 billion. If Berachain can maintain its current position as the seventh largest public chain in DeFi (with a TVL of $5.3 billion), Infrared, as the leading infrastructure of its ecosystem, is expected to reach a mid-term valuation of $1 billion. Notably, its iBGT product has created a de facto liquidity monopoly — any protocol needing to acquire BGT governance rights on Berachain must go through Infrared's system for liquidity guidance.
Institutional Holding Trends
On-chain data shows that Framework Ventures' associated addresses currently hold about 8% of the circulating supply of iBGT and continue to increase their holdings through the vault; while YZi Labs' undisclosed holdings may be completed through off-market protocol token subscriptions. The stability of institutional holdings provides a confidence anchor for the market.
Looking at the product iteration pace, the Infrared team completed six significant upgrades in 2025, averaging one core function update every 45 days (such as iBERA redemption, multi-signature vaults, etc.), with a development efficiency significantly above the industry average. This execution capability further reinforces its position as Berachain's 'official liquidity partner.'
For investors, Infrared's value lies not only in its existing $3 billion TVL scale but also in its strategic positioning as the primary practitioner of the PoL paradigm. As the Berachain ecosystem expands, Infrared is expected to replicate Lido's dominance in the Ethereum ecosystem, becoming a benchmark for the next generation of liquid staking infrastructure.