"Infrared Secures $16M for PoL Staking on Berachain"

Infrared, a pioneering proof-of-liquidity (PoL) staking protocol, has secured $16 million in funding to launch its first liquidity staking protocol on Berachain. The Series A round was led by Framework Ventures, bringing the total amount raised to $18.75 million, following previous strategic and seed rounds.

Berachain, a layer-1 blockchain, transitioned to its mainnet on February 6, airdropping tokens to ecosystem and exchange users. It differentiates itself by using a proof-of-liquidity consensus mechanism, rewarding users and protocols for providing liquidity. Infrared is one of the first projects to leverage this mechanism, offering liquid staking solutions for Berachain's native BGT and BERA tokens. Users who stake native tokens to receive validator rewards will also receive iBERA, a liquid staked token that can be used to generate additional yield across other DeFi protocols.

Infrared is also the first project to benefit from the Berachain Foundation's incubator program, 'Build a Bera,' which was launched in January. Framework Ventures co-founder Michael Anderson expressed his confidence in Infrared's protocol, stating that it would unlock significant productive capital within the wider Berachain ecosystem while maximizing efficiency and yield, allowing builders on Berachain's framework to innovate in new ways.