Just days after its mainnet launch and airdrop, the Berachain community is concerned about the project’s visible favoritism toward private investors. There are also allegations about the network’s lead developer swapping large amounts of airdropped BERA tokens.

Despite this, however, Berachain does have a chance to rebuild public trust. If its Proof of Liquidity system gets implemented and becomes operational, it would be a truly novel project.

Questionable Decisions from Berachain Developers

Berachain, the new layer-1 blockchain network, has created notable engagement in the crypto space due to its airdrop and mainnet launch last week. Although the firm has a clear vision to become a novel network with its unique ‘Proof of Liquidity’ mechanism, its marketing and hype are evocative of meme coin culture.

Its pre-launch liquidity platform attracted $2.3 billion in deposits. Berachain also started one of the biggest airdrops this year with its mainnet launch on February 6. Its BERA token also received Binance listing immediately after TGE, along with other major exchanges.

However, trouble has been brewing. When the airdrop happened, users complained that testnet farmers got minuscule BERA token rewards.

Berachain’s blockchain is designed as a self-contained system of three tokens: BERA, BGT, and HONEY, which serve different functions. However, by staking and burning different tokens, users can exploit the system.

“Wait, so all the huge insiders of Berachain, with locked BERA tokens, can stake the BERA, receive BGT, burn the BGT for BERA and then dump? Please tell me this isn’t true. It’s almost criminal,” one user wrote after the BERA tokenomics were revealed last week.

Ericonomic, an observer of Berachain’s blockchain ecosystem, compiled a thread of pressing concerns. Essentially, more than 35% of the BERA token supply went to private investors, and its inflation is much higher than most projects.

Also, private investors can stake BERA to earn liquid rewards that they can easily dump. There are also concerns about one potential core developer dumping his BERA tokens.

“A cofounder [DevBear] is selling tokens from one of his doxxed addresses. He got around 200,000 BERA from the airdrop (this is a really bad thing since he, or the core, designed the airdrop) and then he swapped some of those tokens for WBTC, ETH, BYUSD, etc,” Ericonomic claimed.

Berachain developers didn’t reveal the nature of their blockchain’s staking scheme until recently. Additionally, although they claim that Berachain’s core product will be Proof of Liquidity, this hasn’t materialized yet.

So, all of these factors do make BERA’s long-term sustainability questionable. It might end up being as extremely volatile as non-utility meme coins.

“I’ve always seen Berachain as a breath of fresh air in a place full of scams, something with its own culture and good morals, and I’m not gonna lie—seeing this ‘bad’ launch and the ‘shady’ stuff makes me feel kinda sad. But the end, if the builders keep working as they have for the last few years, Berachain will succeed and become the best place to yield by far,” Ericonomic wrote.

BERA Token Continues to Struggle

As soon as the airdrop took place, BERA’s price began dropping like a rock. It fell over 50% from its intra-day peak post-airdrop, and it continued to struggle the next day.

Ostensibly, Berachain is attempting a novel type of blockchain project, but community confidence has been shaken, and that crisis has been reflected in its valuation.

Still, even despite these alarming trends, community members are not totally bearish in their predictions. There is still a lot of optimism around the Proof of Liquidity (PoL) mechanism. The network has significant developer support.

So, if PoL is implemented and the dev community remains committed to leveraging the novel architecture, Berachain could likely overcome these challenges in the long-term.

Cardano (ADA) price remains in a consolidation phase after dropping more than 25% over the last 30 days as it struggles to reclaim the $25 billion market cap threshold. Despite signs of stabilization, indicators still reflect lingering bearish pressure.

The Ichimoku Cloud setup also suggests ADA is struggling to build momentum, with price trading near key levels but failing to break decisively higher. However, if bullish momentum returns, ADA could test resistance at $0.82, with a breakout potentially leading to a recovery toward $1.16, representing a 67% upside.

Cardano BBTrend Is Recovering From Recent Lows, But It’s Still Very Negative

Cardano BBTrend indicator is currently at -9.4, showing a steady recovery from its recent low of -28 just five days ago. Despite this rebound, the indicator remains in negative territory and has now been negative for six consecutive days.

This suggests that while bearish pressure is easing, ADA has yet to establish a clear shift in momentum. Without stronger bullish signals, the recovery could stall, keeping price action under pressure.

BBTrend, or Bollinger Band Trend, measures the strength and direction of a trend using Bollinger Bands. Values below zero indicate bearish conditions, while positive values suggest bullish momentum.

With ADA BBTrend still at -9.4, the market remains in a downtrend despite recent improvements. If the indicator continues rising, it could signal a trend reversal, but as long as it stays negative, ADA price may struggle to build sustained upward momentum.

Ichimoku Cloud Shows ADA Is Struggling To Build Momentum

Cardano Ichimoku Cloud setup reflects a market struggling to gain momentum, with price trading near the baseline (red line) and conversion line (blue line).

The lagging span (green line) remains below the price, reinforcing that ADA has yet to show any strong bullish signs. Price has remained mostly below the cloud, signaling ongoing weakness, with no clear break above key levels.

The future cloud (Kumo) remains thin and bearish, with the leading span A (green cloud boundary) below the leading span B (red cloud boundary).

A thin cloud suggests weak trend strength, meaning ADA price could continue in a choppy, indecisive pattern. Until price can break above the cloud and hold, upside potential remains limited, and bearish momentum could persist.

ADA Price Prediction: Will Cardano Recover December 2024 Strong Uptrend?

Cardano (ADA) EMA lines continue to signal a downtrend, with short-term moving averages positioned below long-term ones. This bearish setup suggests that unless momentum shifts, Cardano price could extend its decline toward $0.50.

The persistent weakness in EMA alignment indicates that sellers still have control, and a failure to stabilize could accelerate losses.

However, BBTrend suggests that the downtrend may be easing, opening the possibility of a trend reversal. If ADA can regain bullish momentum, it could push toward the $0.82 resistance level, with a breakout paving the way for a move to $0.98.

If ADA can recover the good momentum from December 2024, it could reclaim levels around $1.16, representing a potential 67% upside.

In a recent interview, Binance co-founder Yi He addressed concerns about the exchange’s token listing process. The exchange has used similar KPI guidelines for several years, but the market is changing at a breakneck pace.

Although Binance has increased the staff that oversees token listings, it still suffers from slow response times. According to Yi, the firm needs to focus on assets that create value while absolutely rejecting corruption or shaky projects.

Yi He Talks Binance Listings

Yi He, co-founder of Binance, is one of the most influential women in the crypto industry. She currently serves as the exchange’s Chief Marketing Officer and is a powerful force within the company. Yi recently sat for a lengthy Chinese-language interview, during which she directly addressed a few concerns with Binance’s token listing criteria.

“A pressing concern may be that listing on Binance no longer delivers the same wealth effects it once did. Internally, we’ve had many discussions on this topic. For many projects, listing on Binance has become their ultimate goal, akin to going public on Nasdaq. But how can we address this issue and restore the wealth effect for users?” asked He.

Binance is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, and Yi acknowledged that its listings have always been important. Although Coinbase listings have recently failed to cause large gains, tokens continually spike when Binance lists them.

This follows criticism from the exchange’s former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who labeled Binance’s listing policy as “a bit broken.” The exchange listed the TST meme coin even though CZ repeatedly clarified that it’s not a real token.

Most recently, Binance has faced significant criticism for listing low-market-cap meme coins, which often leads to pump-and-dump schemes.

Yi He said that listings are determined by ROI, market performance on other exchanges, and the ability to attract new users. However, the firm’s research indicates that investor demographics are changing, bringing new responsibilities.

In other words, even though Binance’s listing team has grown, Yi He said it nonetheless struggles with slower response times. She claimed that this market is very difficult to navigate, but market incentives are always clear and present.

Moving forward, Binance will need to prioritize tokens that create value, not shaky gains, to maintain its relevance.

If we don’t face problems head-on and work on improvements, burying our heads in the sand will only erode confidence in the entire industry. In this cycle, we’ve seen early, passionate entrepreneurs grow disillusioned, even going so far as to declare, ‘Blockchain is dead.’ Some argue that over the past 10 years, blockchain has failed to generate real value,” Yi said.

Yi also discussed a few other aspects of Binance’s business beyond its listing criteria. For one, she repeatedly emphasized Binance Labs’ independence, apparently ignoring its recent rebrand.

She also said that the firm is working hard to repair relationships with US regulators. All in all, Yi He painted a realistic yet optimistic view of the company’s future trajectory.