What is Berachain (BERA)?
BERA is the native gas token of Berachain, an EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain that grew out of the Bong Bears NFT community and is developed by a pseudonymous founding team. The network and its token went live together on 6 February 2025, when mainnet launched alongside the token generation event.
- Type
- Layer-1 gas token
- Launched
- 2025
- Consensus
- Proof of Liquidity (proof-of-stake variant)
- Max supply
- No fixed cap (500 million at genesis)
- Swap network
- Berachain
- Sector (Messari)
- Smart Contract Platform
How Berachain works
Berachain secures itself with Proof of Liquidity, a proof-of-stake variant in which validators stake BERA but block rewards are paid in BGT, a separate non-transferable governance token. BGT holders direct those emissions to reward vaults for liquidity pools and other apps, tying network security to on-chain liquidity. BGT can be burned 1:1 for BERA, but not the other way around.
What BERA is used for
BERA pays for gas on every Berachain transaction and is the stake that validators lock to produce blocks. It is also a base trading and liquidity asset across Berachain DeFi apps.
BERA supply
Genesis supply was set at 500 million BERA, and new BERA enters circulation as BGT is burned into it, so supply is inflationary rather than capped; governance can adjust the emission rate.
Before you swap BERA
Here BERA moves on Berachain itself, so the receiving address must be a Berachain (EVM) address you control rather than a wrapped version on another chain. Receiving BERA also gives you gas for your next transaction on the network.