Layer 1 Berachain will airdrop just under 80 million of its BERA tokens to ecosystem and exchange users as the decentralized finance (DeFi)- focussed network goes live later on Thursday, per a release.

The total initial supply of BERA is 500 million tokens, with 48.9% allocated for community engagement, including airdrops, ecosystem development, and research.

The airdrop distribution included testnet users, social media participants, and other community members. Token allocations can be viewed on the Berachain airdrop checker as of Thursday morning and can be claimed using various EVM wallets like Metamask and OKX Wallet.

“The BERA token distribution includes an airdrop of 15.75% to Berachain community members, applications, liquidity providers and more as recognition of their contributions to an incredibly robust pre-launch ecosystem, and their role in helping to make the fake chain real,” a Berachain post reads.

Pre-launch markets for BERA values the token at $8, giving the airdrop a value of $632 million and the network a $4 billion market capitalization based on current speculation. These values are expected to shift wildly within 24 hours after BERA goes live.

The upcoming blockchain uses a proof-of-liquidity consensus mechanism to reward liquidity provision. In the past year, it has gained a cult following and an engaged social media community — with a catchphrase questioning if the chain «was even real?»

A pre-deposits application meant to bootstrap liquidity on Berachain racked up over $3 billion from users in under a week, as CoinDesk reported, indicative of the massive investor interest in the network.