Berachain vs Near

Berachain is an EVM‑compatible Layer‑1 built with the Cosmos SDK that introduces Proof‑of‑Liquidity (PoL), rewarding validators based on the liquidity they provide rather than just stake weight. Its tri‑token model splits governance (BGT), block rewards (BERA) and stable value (HONEY) to align incentives between traders and stakers. The chain launched public testnet #3 ‘Berenodes’ in February 2025 and plans mainnet with native USDC support later in the year.

NEAR Protocol employs Nightshade sharding where each block contains chunks from multiple shards, and Doomslug consensus gives 1‑second near‑finality. The JavaScript SDK and Contract Aurora EVM make onboarding Web2 developers easier. In 2024 NEAR launched a chain‑signature wallet standard that leverages passkeys for seedless login.