Berachain's Effort "Bera Builds Businesses": Strategic Shift Behind the $30 Million PoL Revenue

Berachain releases the 2025 year-end summary, delivering a data-driven impressive report card: PoL staking of over 25 million BERA, distributing over $30 million in income to holders, and PoL supporting a TVL of over $250 million. But more noteworthy is that this L1 chain is making an important strategic adjustment — shifting from ecosystem incentives dependent on market sentiment to creating real demand for tokens through business incubation.

Practical Results of the PoL Mechanism

According to the latest news, Berachain’s Proof of Liquidity (PoL) mechanism has preliminarily validated its commercial value.

Data Performance

• PoL staking scale: over 25 million BERA
• Income distribution: over $30 million to BGT/BERA holders
• Liquidity support: TVL over $250 million
• Stablecoin scale: on-chain HONEY over $100 million

These figures demonstrate that PoL is not just a theoretical concept but has already attracted real capital. Compared to traditional liquidity incentive mechanisms, PoL establishes a more direct value transfer chain by allowing stakers to directly earn protocol revenue.

Market Response

Notably, BERA surged by 28.3% within 24 hours after the release of the summary, with a 14.9% increase in just 1 hour, indicating positive market expectations for Berachain’s strategic shift.

Shift in “Bera Builds Businesses” Strategy

Compared to last year’s broad ecosystem incentives, Berachain’s new strategy this year appears more pragmatic.

Core Changes

The new strategy, “Bera Builds Businesses,” includes several key shifts:

• From ecosystem incentives to business incubation: no longer a broad, scattershot approach but focusing on 3-5 high-confidence applications
• From dependency on third parties to autonomous creation: through internal incubation, acquisitions, or deep collaborations, directly creating demand for BERA and HONEY
• From emotion-driven to revenue-driven: aiming for emission neutrality and protocol profitability, with profits reinvested or used for buybacks

Recent Progress

• Native currency market BEND launched
• HONEY staking generates annualized income
• Ecosystem projects listed on multiple exchanges
• User funds fully recovered

These developments indicate Berachain is gradually building its own business foundation rather than relying entirely on the success of external projects.

Facing Practical Challenges

The team candidly disclosed the difficulties for 2025:

• Price and sentiment pressure: Although BERA recently rose, long-term pressures remain
• Some projects leaving: Certain ecosystem projects have exited for various reasons
• Marketing focus adjustment: shifting from aggressive marketing to pragmatic operations
• Key personnel departures: changes among critical team members

According to related information, concerns over the “February clause” are also intensifying market sentiment. Early investor Brevan Howard Digital may exercise a $25 million refund right in February 2026, which could exert potential pressure on the token price.

Key Focus for 2026

Berachain explicitly states that in 2026, it will prioritize partners with real income and non-crypto-dependent collaborations. This means:

Strategic Priorities

• Seeking applications capable of generating real cash flow
• Maintaining sufficient influence in collaborations with high-confidence projects
• Balancing protocol profitability with ecosystem development
• Restoring market confidence in the team’s execution

Summary

Berachain’s strategic adjustment reflects the maturation of the entire L1 track — from indiscriminate incentives to selective tracks, from flow-centric thinking to business-centric thinking. The $30 million income distribution via the PoL mechanism proves the feasibility of this approach, but the real test lies in whether “Bera Builds Businesses” can find enough high-confidence applications.

In the short term, BERA faces risks from the February clause and market sentiment fluctuations. In the long term, if Berachain can successfully incubate 3-5 applications with real income, token value inflow can truly be based on fundamentals rather than sentiment. The success or failure of this shift will determine whether Berachain can evolve from an “incentive chain” into a genuine “business chain.”