The unique mechanisms embedded in Berachain are set to catalyze the emergence of native protocols specifically designed to benefit from its POL model.
Since its inception, the Berachain team has consistently emphasized incentivizing the development of original projects rather than fostering forks of pre-existing ones.
We know that how the Proof of liquidity model enables projects to bootstrap liquidity and protocol-owned liquidity without relying on transient incentives or mercenary capital**.** This approach represents a substantial shift in blockchain ecosystems, favoring long-term sustainability over short-term capital injections.
This is also reflected in their no-grants policy, which contrasts with most ecosystems' practices nowadays. Through strategic use of NFTs and community-building initiatives, Berachain has positioned itself as a dynamic and vibrant ecosystem, drawing widespread interest.
Within this context, community-building adds value and differentiates projects. With each new user, the network effect expands, amplifying its impact. Ultimately, technology alone is insufficient to guarantee a project's success, so user adoption is crucial.
Berachain has cultivated an initial user base by leveraging native NFT communities.
The first prominent NFT collection within this ecosystem was the Bong Bears. These NFTs were rebasable, allowing holders to receive future airdropped collections.These include:
Bit Bears
However, Berachain's scope is not confined to NFTs. With the deployment of the Bartio testnet, a new wave of projects is emerging.
The following section provides an overview of key projects within the Berachain ecosystem.
Kodiak serves as a liquidity hub on Berachain, offering users:
Kodiak DEX: A non-custodial decentralized exchange (DEX) employing concentrated and full-range automated market makers (AMMs).
Automated Liquidity Manager (ALM): A "set-and-forget" strategy to abstract POL.
Incentive Layer: Tapping into POL to incentivize liquidity for the ALM.
Token Deployer Factor: A permissionless mechanism for creating tokens and seeding initial liquidity on the DEX.
Infrared simplifies user interaction with POL. It addresses BGT's non-transferability by offering a liquid version of the token (iBGT).
Users can leverage Infrared to unlock additional yield-earning opportunities.
As Infrared also operates as a validator within the Berachain network, users can maximize their BGT yield through supplementary emissions and trading fees by depositing liquidity into the Infrared vault.
IVX is a protocol offering 0 Days to Expiration (0-DTE) options, which expire within 24 hours.
Unlike longer-term options, 0-DTE provides lower costs, higher leverage, and different risk profiles for options writers.
Ramen is Berachain’s native launchpad. Through this protocol, users can permissionlessly launch tokens on Berachain, bootstrap their liquidity, and ensure fair price discovery.
RAMEN is their native token, used to decentralize the distribution of allocations to project launches. Users must lock RAMEN tokens for 16 weeks to receive gRAMEN and get whitelisted for allocations, reducing the possibility of game allocation through sybilling.
gRAMEN holders will be able to receive token airdrops, or further launchpad-style products boosting their yields.
Shogun is a trading bot facilitating cross-chain trading for Berachain users, utilizing intents to connect native tokens with the broader decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
It focuses on optimizing Trader Extractable Value (TEV), ensuring that users receive a surplus between the amount requested and the amount received in trades.
The money market for everything.
Gummi is an oracle free money market by default and can support any asset with permissionless onboarding. Create a money market for any pair in minutes.
Gummi’s manager Vaults allow for “one-click” deposits in vaults managed by trusted 3rd parties that allocate into individual pools on behalf of the depositor with blended yield.
Traditional isolated pool models suffer from liquidity fragmentation. Gummi solves this by allowing users to deposit capital into as many isolated pools as they choose with their full balance. This capital is then drawn first come first serve leading to more capital efficient lending and more efficient borrowing.
THJ aggregates opportunities across Berachain projects, offering an excellent resource for users new to the ecosystem. This takes the form of a “culture hub” where users can learn about new projects and explore their applications. Creators can also benefit from growing their community with Bera native users.
Holding HC NFTs grants access to whitelists, airdrops, and other early-access features for multiple projects.
Beraborrow is a lending protocol offering liquidity for native Berachain assets, enabling users to borrow NECT, the platforms’ native stablecoin.Key features include:
Using LP tokens as collateral: Bex and Berps LP positions can be utilized to mint NECT.
Arbitrage strategies: Leveraging price discrepancies within the liquid stability pool (LSP) to remain balanced.
Automated leverage: Utilizing flash loans to open leveraged positions.
Autocompounding vaults: Specifically, iBGT autocompounding via Infrared.
Yeet is a game theory strategy game that solves the problem of users getting rugged by protocols, allowing them to rug themselves through the game dynamics.
Players deposit (yeet) BERA into a pool
The last player to yeet before the time ends wins 80% of the pool.
The remaining 20% is split among 10 random players
The more yeets you make and the more YEET tokens you earn
Every yeet is subject to a 10% fee, split among YEET stakers, BERA/YEET liquidity pool, and 2% to THJ ecosystem and public good retroactive fund.
Zeru offers a credit infrastructure where Berachain users can obtain zero-collateral loans (ZCLs) based on AI and online reputation. The ZScore, a soulbound token, functions as a credit score, with users able to enhance their ZScore through activities on Zeru. The platform mitigates loan defaults via a Protocol Controlled Value Reserve (PCVR), which acts as an insurance fund.
Beyond borrowing, Zeru integrates several DeFi strategies that users can access either with their funds or through ZCLs. Some examples include: Margin trading, CLMM on Dexes. More strategies coming soon.
Smilee is a decentralized leverage protocol that transforms DEX-style liquidity positions into tradeable options, converting volatility into decentralized products.
The platform supports the creation of various derivatives to improve liquidity efficiency and offers users impermanent gain products to earn yield or speculate on volatility without liquidations.
Smilee leverages a Liquidity to Volatility Engine to build Decentralized Volatility Products. In this way, it recomposes DEX-style liquidity positions to isolate the risk of Impermanent Loss (IL) and transform it into options, finding a way to deliver an inverse IL payout through options.
This provides Smilee users with different strategies. One of its products is new PoL Restaking Vaults (PRV) on Berachain, offering a streamlined solution for liquidity providers and traders to access high APYs and diversified asset exposure. This product enhances traditional v2 LP performance (with yields of 1.5x to 3x), ensuring it is one of the first places to earn BGT. Furthermore, users can leverage advanced trading tools to speculate on market volatility with leverage up to 10,000x without liquidation risk. PRV ensures efficient investment across native protocols like Infrared, Kodiak, Gummi, and Beraborrow while optimizing returns through BEX LP exposure and multiple protocol incentives.
Roots is a decentralized lending protocol (live on testnet) that allows users to maximize yield across the Berachain ecosystem through borrowing, staking, and liquidity provision, unlocking liquidity with a streamlined process that improves the overall UX.
The protocol is backed by Berachain native assets available on BERPS, BEND, and BEX.
Users can collateralize their LP tokens to mint MEAD, RootsFi's native stablecoin. MEAD can then be staked in the stability pool to earn additional rewards, boosting the ecosystem.
The RootsFi flywheel:
Users provide liquidity to whitelisted assets and receive BGT
Users can collateralize the assets eligible for BGT within roots, mint (and stake) MEAD
By participating in liquidity and staking, users earn BGT tokens
BGT tokens can be burned for BERA or delegated to participate in governance.
Some other notable projects on Berachain-
diracFinance - Options Mafia, vault based strategies.
dinero_xyz- The highest yielding ETH LST.
bgtmarket- Auction based market for spot BGT.
TwinFinance- RWA (stocks!) coming to Berachain.
roycoprotocol- Incentive marketplace.
Weberafinance- AI yield optimisooor.
origami_fi- Tokenised automated leverage.
BrahmaFi (Console)- Console is universal multi-chain account to secure, navigate, and automate on-chain interactions.
Exponents_Fi- Inverse bonding, leverage anything.
PrismFHE- FHE encryption markets!
metastreetxyz- Bringing YT/PTs to Bera NFTs.
fractality_fi - Quant strategies in a vault.
NAVFinance- Onchain hedge fund on Berachain.
Hyperplex_xyz- Unlocking extra yield from AMMs.
honeypotfinance -DEX + memecoin launcher.
TradeonParsa- Range based perps, a novel trading instrument.
SolvProtocol - The biggest BTCfi protocol.
VaseFinance- Duel token LST for BGT.
TimeswapLabs- No oracles/liquidation lend/borrow!
moneygoesburr- Stablecoin DEX
Ensofinance - The world's first intent engine powering the intent-centric future.
34 ) Dolomite_io - New gen money market coming to Bera.
0xoogabooga - Berachain's native liquidity aggregator.
Dolomite_io- A next-gen money market and margin trading protocol serving Berachain.\
0xBeraPaw - Novel liquid staking protocol built on top of Berachain.\
beracana- Money market on native dApps, you can even lend LP ERC20s!
goldilocksmoney - Yield splitting, DEX + Lending.
beradrome- Home for liquidity flywheels.
MarginalDEX -Permissionless Markets - With Leverage
aori_io - Intent based trading.
Wagmipad - A decentralized on-chain curation + fair chance launchpad & defi hub.
In the increasingly competitive crypto world, the most scarce resource is users. Rather than focusing solely on technical benchmarks, Berachain leverages Proof of Liquidity (POL) to create an architecture that incentivizes ecosystem-native applications by engraining a system of incentives at the consensus level. This creates new dynamics where validators, applications, and users must collaborate to achieve their self-interests and maximize their benefits. Through a unique branding strategy that blends meme culture with serious innovation, Berachain has carved out a distinct niche. Many community members have risen to leadership positions, allowing Berachain to scale organically while preserving its core ethos.
With competition intensifying, Berachain’s POL model ensures that users are better rewarded for participating within the ecosystem. This represents a departure from traditional, often predatory, incentive structures. Berachain shifts the role of incentives from merely attracting users to making them long-term participants in a self-reinforcing ecosystem. Users and applications become active participants with increased governance power to determine where liquidity and value should flow and vote with their wallets to delegate BGT to validators.
While POL has been criticized for granting excessive power to validators, there remains a system of checks and balances: validators, driven by self-interest, must engage with the ecosystem to maximize their BGT delegations, thus remaining accountable to users. The true test of POL’s efficacy will come with the launch of Berachain’s mainnet, where the practical application of its theoretical constructs will be assessed. As one of the year’s most anticipated launches, Berachain stands out due to its deeply ingrained system of incentives, elevating its ecosystem above others. While many launch with empty networks and are forced to leverage hefty grants, Berachain has been poised to launch since its inception with a vibrant ecosystem of native apps.
The Berachain case is unique for it establishes the conditions for ecosystem-wide collaboration from its inception, representing a fundamental shift from previous models in which consensus primarily secured networks. This shift introduces efficiency but also centralization, notably through the role of the Foundation and its Whitelisting Process for Validators and Reward Vaults.