Investors expect Berachain to launch the mainnet by the end of 2024. Berachain, which stood out as the hottest topic at the Token 2049 event in Singapore, could become a major competitor for Solana.

Berachain is described as a “high-performance” layer-1 (L1) blockchain with a unique proof-of-liquidity (POL) consensus mechanism that aims to transform liquidity into security.

While many investors are discussing Ripple’s XRP overtaking Ether, some suggest that the real rival could be a new token.

Berachain’s upcoming token (BERA) could be the next big competitor for Ether, according to Vance Spencer, co-founder of Framework Ventures.

Spencer said in an interview with Cointelegraph at the Token 2049 event in Singapore:

“Will SOL surpass ETH? So, XRP surpassed ETH in 2017, but my real question is: Can Berachain surpass SOL?”

Solana’s price has been declining for more than five months, since early April, losing more than 8% in the last 30 days.

Analysts are worried that Solana will lose further value against Bitcoin, just as Ether did after the last correction against Bitcoin, which fell to a three-year low.

However, the Berachain mainnet is expected to be launched by the end of 2024, making the industry have an optimistic outlook.

The upcoming Bera token, which is live on the testnet, will serve as a gas token to pay transaction fees on the network and a staking token to increase network security.

However, the mainnet launch could bring a lot of attention to the token. Spencer explained how Berachain’s economic alignment makes this clear:

“The market is looking for a harmonious ecosystem and that is the essence of the argument against ETH, however flawed it may be, but I think there are solutions to this, especially with a fair on-chain consensus mechanism.”

Berachain’s POL consensus mechanism could bring about a fully compliant blockchain ecosystem by redirecting some profits back to ecosystem participants, Spencer added:

“When you stake BERA, you have to direct the liquidity you receive to these essential things. Thus, all fees remain in the ecosystem. It all flows to BGT and BERA holders, and I think that’s what the market is longing for.”

Spencer’s Framework Ventures led a $100 million funding round for Berachain in early April 2024. Despite the optimistic outlook, Spencer also touched on the overall negative or bearish sentiment in the crypto market.

According to Spencer, price movements over the last six months are the main reason for weak investor sentiment in traditional and digital markets.

Spencer added:

“Every asset class has been in a range over the past six months and so I think everyone is pretty dissatisfied. SOL and ETH have also remained flat over the last six months and the last two years. “There was a big decline in between.”

However, other prominent market analysts such as Michaël van de Poppe state that a significant rally is predicted for cryptocurrencies and commodities because these asset classes are “extremely undervalued.”