Berachain Founder Addresses Report on $25M Investment Refund Clause

Berachain Founder Addresses Investment Refund Report

The founder of Berachain has responded to a recent report suggesting that one of its lead Series B backers was granted the right to be refunded $25 million, calling the report's framing both “incomplete” and “inaccurate.”

Unchained reported on Monday that Berachain gave Brevan Howard’s crypto-focused fund, Nova Digital, a one-year right to a refund on its $25 million investment in Berachain’s Series B round in April 2024.

Unchained also provided a side letter signed by Berachain general counsel Jonathan Ip and Nova director Carol Reynolds that stated Nova could recoup “some or all” of its investment for “twelve months following” Berachain’s token generation event (TGE).

Berchain’s TGE, or token mint, took place on Feb. 6, meaning Nova could reportedly get a refund on its bet until Feb. 6, 2026.

Founder's Rebuttal

Smokey The Bera, Berachain’s anonymous founder, stated on Monday that the report was “inaccurate and incomplete” and that Brevan’s “investments involve several complex commercial agreements, but they participated in the Series B fundraise on the same paperwork as all investors.”

“Brevan Howard co-led our Series B a year ago, out of their Abu Dhabi office, via Nova, a new liquid-only vehicle on the same terms as all other investors. Nova had approached Berachain to lead the round some months prior to this,” said Smokey.

Additional Arrangements

Smokey explained that Nova asked for a provision “to guard for a scenario in which Berachain failed to TGE and get listed.”

They said that if that happened, the locked Berachain (BERA) tokens Nova purchased would “not be an eligible investment via Nova’s liquid strategy.”

“Thus, we entered into the side letter posted in the article and committed Nova to additional commercial arrangements, including an agreement to provide liquidity on the network, which was only possible upon launch,” Smokey added.

They clarified that the letter wasn’t made “to close the deal with a party who otherwise would not have been interested, or to prevent against post-launch losses,” adding it also “generally has precedent.”

Smokey also stressed that Nova is one of the largest tokenholders of Berachain and is a liquidity provider, holding both locked BERA acquired in the blockchain’s Series B and additional BERA it purchased on the open market.

“They have increased their BERA exposure over time, despite running a liquid fund in a harsh alt environment,” they added.

Smokey and the Berachain Foundation were contacted for comment via X. Brevan Howard did not respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.

The BERA token is down 93% from its peak of $14.83, which it reached when it launched in February, and is currently trading at $1.05, up 3.2% on the day, according to CoinGecko.