Berachain Hard Fork Phases Out BGT Token, Shifts to WBERA Rewards

Berachain has kicked off the first phase of a major protocol overhaul called PoL Next, a hard fork designed to dismantle the network's dual-token structure and consolidate its reward system around a single asset, WBERA. The move signals a significant architectural pivot for the proof-of-liquidity blockchain, which had previously relied on the BGT token as a core component of its incentive mechanism.

Under the outgoing model, BGT served as a non-transferable governance and rewards token distinct from BERA, the network's native gas token. The PoL Next upgrade targets that separation, phasing BGT out entirely and routing staking and liquidity rewards through WBERA — a wrapped version of BERA — instead. The consolidation is intended to streamline the user experience and reduce friction for participants engaging with the network's proof-of-liquidity consensus design.

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The launch of this first upgrade stage marks one of the more consequential structural changes Berachain has undertaken since its mainnet debut. By collapsing the dual-token framework, the team appears to be betting that a unified reward token will make liquidity provisioning more intuitive and potentially more attractive to a broader base of DeFi participants. The shift also raises questions about how existing BGT holders will transition and what governance implications the token's removal may carry going forward.

The broader DeFi ecosystem will be watching closely, as dual-token models have been a recurring design experiment across multiple protocols — with mixed results. Berachain's decision to abandon that structure in favor of a simpler rewards layer could influence how newer proof-of-liquidity networks approach tokenomics design. Further upgrade stages under PoL Next are expected to follow as the transition unfolds.

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