Berachain V2: What’s New?

Back in January, Berachain’s Artio Testnet went live, and since then, the ecosystem has trended up only. Developers, users, and validator operators have all taken part, helping to stress test the network and guide design decisions for Berachain. The V1 testnet validated core concepts like Proof of Liquidity, but also revealed there was room for improvement. That’s where V2 comes in.

We’ll do our best to summarize what the Berachain core devs have been cooking up 🐻⛓

TLDR

• Validators now need to stake 69,420 BERA instead of BGT for better economic security.
• BGT delegators can no longer be slashed.
• All validators have an equal chance to produce blocks.
• The validator limit has been increased to improve decentralization.
• The core tech stack changed from Polaris to BeaconKit for better performance and EVM parity.
• A public Infrared testnet deployment is coming soon.

New Changes in V2

BERA Staking and Slashing Changes

One of the key economic changes in V2 is the introduction of a larger validator bond “paid” (i.e. staked) in BERA. Put simply: a validator bond is the amount of tokens a validator must stake to start producing blocks.

In V2, the validator bond has increased from a small amount of BGT to 69,420 BERA. This ensures a higher economic stake for validators, improving the network’s security by increasing the cost of potential attacks. This change means validators have more at stake while creating more utility for BERA without disrupting BGT’s role in Proof of Liquidity.

The change to BERA staking also affects validator slashing, which is a punishment for validators who misbehave or perform poorly. If a validator is slashed, a portion of their staked tokens is taken–an undesirable outcome.

In V1, slashing could affect both validators and BGT delegators. In V2, only validators’ BERA stakes are subject to slashing. This protects BGT delegators and places more responsibility on validators, ensuring that users and protocols feel more comfortable putting their BGT to work and participating in Proof of Liquidity.

Fairer Block Production

In V1, a validator’s chance of producing a new block increased with the amount of BGT they had delegated to them. In V2, block production has been improved and all validators now have an equal chance to produce new blocks, with block rewards increasing proportional to their delegated BGT. This ensures a fairer distribution of rewards and encourages more validators to join the network while still maintaining the importance of BGT delegation.

Validator Limit

The validator limit has increased from 100 to 128, with the potential for more in the future. Most will know this already, but raising the ceiling for more validators improves decentralization and network security. Decentralization is important!

Architecture Upgrade

Lastly, Berachain V2 moves from the Polaris architecture to BeaconKit, which will improve network performance. BeaconKit allows the use of any Ethereum execution client, such as Reth, Geth, or Nethermind, making Berachain EVM identical. This upgrade resolves the bottlenecks experienced in V1 and ensures smoother transaction processing. If you want to learn more, read Dev Bear’s technical blog on the subject.

How This Impacts Infrared

The changes introduced in V2 are a significant step forward for the network. Berachain V2 will provide a better experience for users, developers, and validators, benefiting the entire ecosystem.

BGT’s shift to a purely economic role strengthens the ecosystem built around iBGT by clarifying BGT’s value proposition for users and protocols. We’ve already seen many protocols embrace iBGT to build flywheels, and we expect this trend to continue with the improved BGT design.

Regarding BERA staking for validators, we’re planning something exciting that we’ll share soon.

What’s Next?

We’re heads down finishing up a new, public Infrared testnet deployment and hope to have it live ASAP for users and partners to tinker with.