Berachain’s mainnet went live on February 6, 2025. The project launched simultaneously with approximately $632 million worth of BERA tokens to eligible users.
The Berachain blockchain runs on the Proof-of-Liquidity (POL) consensus mechanism. Farmers and investors alike anticipated the project for a long, long time. So long, in fact, that it came to earn the alias “fake chain.”
There was always constant activity and tasks to do, often involving real funds. Then, there was the one-year-long testnet. Since Berachain launched earlier today, the patience appears to be finally paying off.
Berachain mainnet launch plus airdrop
Berachain enters the crypto scene as a next-generation L1 blockchain designed to push boundaries in speed, scalability, and innovation. It also supports decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, and other Web3 applications.
Prior to the launch, there was a lot of chatter from the project’s long-suffering users, who may have been let down by other projects in the past. Hyperliquid’s disproportionate allocation to Binance users over its long-term community immediately comes to mind.
Berachain released its highly anticipated whitepaper on February 3, giving its believers a detailed look at its lofty aims to revolutionize blockchain technology with speed, scalability, and innovation.
By February 5, the Berachain network officially confirmed it will airdrop $632 million worth of BERA tokens at $8 per token with eligible users allowed to start claiming from February 6.
Some of those eligible for the airdrop include the chain’s early supporters like Baritio users, NFT owners, community members, and dApp users.
Berachain’s airdrop tokenomics
The initial supply of BERA tokens is 500 million, with 15.8% allocated for the airdrop. Users with Bong Bears NFT and affiliates reportedly received the fattest allocations, but long-term followers also got a significant portion of incentives.
The remaining allocations were divided among community programs (13.1%), ecosystem development and research (20%), and advisers and developers (16.8%).
Pre-launch speculation valued the Berachain network at $4 billion, which fueled “hopium” among traders and investors. Now that it has launched, the token is holding nicely. It is currently trading at $7.68 after reaching as high as $14.8 earlier in the day. It currently has an FDV of about $3.8 billion and a market cap of almost $1 billion, which is also down from its peak of over $1.5 billion.
Amidst all the excitement, analysts have warned traders to expect wild price fluctuations within 24 hours of its market debut. For now, the airdrop and launch have been huge successes, especially for long-term Berachain supporters.
Berachain has also already been associated with big players like Binance, Hashkey, and Bitrue. Hashkey Global confirmed the launch of Berachain (BERA) perpetual contracts on or after February 6 at 22:00 (ET8). This will allow traders to speculate on the price of BERA without directly holding the token.
Bitrue also announced the listing of Berachain’s native token, BERA, with trading support to commence at 13:00 UTC, February 6, 2025, and withdrawals scheduled to start at 13:00 UTC, February 7, 2025.
Binance has also announced Berachain as the 7th project on its HODLer airdrops platform. A statement from the exchange says that users who subscribed their BNB to Binance’s Simple Earn products from January 22, 2025, to January 26, 2025, are eligible to receive a portion of 10 million BERA tokens, which is about 2% of the token’s total supply at launch.
Berachain’s mainnet launch has not disappointed – so far
Berachain’s mainnet has deviated from the norm of disappointing L1 launches in recent times. For starters, it launched its mainnet on the same day as its TGE and airdrop, a move that may have helped it cash in on initial interest and liquidity.
The blockchain also raised approximately $142 million and already created a thriving ecosystem with over 200 decentralized applications (dApps) deployed before the mainnet launch, a feat that most chains achieve post-launch.
The pre-launch ecosystem development was supported by the Boyco Vault program, which saw over $3.32 billion in total value locked (TVL). This positioned it ahead of many already established L1s in terms of initial liquidity.
L1s like Sui, Aptos, and Near also secured significant funding, but their ecosystem developed post-launch. Sui raised about $336 million in pre-launch funding, while Aptos raised about $200 million in a prelaunch funding round. They did not match Berachain’s pre-launch TVL or the number of dApps it had ready at launch either.
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Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/berachain-1-5b-market-cap-first-trading-day/