The founder of Berachain has pushed back against claims that Brevan Howard’s crypto arm, Nova Digital, secured a unique right to reclaim its $25 million Series B investment. The report, published by Unchained, alleged that Nova was granted a one-year refund window following Berachain’s token generation event (TGE) in February.
The publication shared a side letter signed by Berachain general counsel Jonathan Ip and Nova’s Carol Reynolds, stating the fund could reclaim “some or all” of its investment up to twelve months after the TGE, setting the window to February 2026.
Founder says the framing is incomplete
Berachain’s anonymous founder, Smokey The Bera, pushed back on Monday, calling the reporting “inaccurate and incomplete.” According to Smokey, Brevan Howard via Nova participated in the April 2024 Series B raise on the same core terms as every other investor.
Bm Folks,
I wanted to put something out here to set the story straight in light of the recent hit piece. I also didn’t want to write a knee-jerk response without getting feedback from our legal team (given allegations made) and some of our largest stakeholders who have been…
— Smokey The Bera 🐻⛓ (@SmokeyTheBera) November 25, 2025
He explained that Nova, a liquid-only fund, sought additional protection only if Berachain failed to launch its token. Without a successful TGE and listing, Nova’s locked BERA allocation would not meet its investment criteria.
“This wasn’t a clause designed to close the deal or protect against post-launch losses,”
Smokey said, adding that similar provisions “generally have precedent” in venture deals.
Provision linked to network launch, not preferential treatment
Smokey said the side letter came with trade-offs: Nova agreed to take on “additional commercial obligations,” including providing liquidity once the network went live. That, he said, was only feasible after the TGE.
He also stressed that Nova remains deeply invested in the ecosystem. The firm is reportedly one of the largest BERA holders, holding both locked Series-B tokens and additional tokens purchased on the open market.
“They’ve actually increased their exposure over time,”
Smokey noted, despite broad weakness in altcoin markets.
BERA has had a turbulent run since its launch in February. The token has fallen 93% from its $14.83 peak and now trades around $1.05, up 3.2% on the day, according to CoinGecko.
Berachain has since changed its token economics
In 2026, the network began overhauling its Proof of Liquidity system. In February, Berachain proposed routing part of its emissions directly toward protocol-owned applications and potentially selected third-party applications, with the stated goal of ensuring emissions generate measurable economic returns for the network.
PoL Next, Berachain’s redesigned emissions system, was announced in May and activated later in 2026; the upgrade sought to improve capital efficiency, simplify the token model and move away from the previous BGT-based structure toward BERA and staked wrapped BERA (sWBERA).
Berachain’s ecosystem has also continued to evolve, with the network now hosting applications across DeFi, liquidity infrastructure, prediction markets, gaming and other consumer-focused products. Its current ecosystem directory includes projects such as Dolomite, Kodiak, Honeypot, Stableflow and Origami.
These changes matter because the original refund controversy was partly tied to expectations around Berachain’s token and network performance. The project is now trying to address some of the economic weaknesses that emerged after launch rather than relying solely on the incentives that accompanied its initial token rollout.
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