Berachain Founder Disputes $25M Refund Report as False

Berachain Founder Disputes $25 Million Refund Story as “Inaccurate”

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: November 25, 2025

Key Takeaways

Berachain’s founder, Smokey The Bera, disputes reports of a $25 million refund deal with Brevan Howard by calling them "inaccurate and incomplete";
The refund rights, tied to Berachain’s Feb 2025 token launch, let Nova Digital reclaim part or all of its investment within a year;
Smokey said all Series B investors got equal terms, and that side agreements were only meant to handle liquidity and launch risks.

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Berachain's founder has raised objections to how a $25 million refund agreement with a Series B investor has been described.

The anonymous founder, known as Smokey The Bera, stated that the published account is "inaccurate and incomplete".

According to details first reported by Unchained, Nova Digital, the crypto investment division of Brevan Howard, was offered a one-year refund provision for its $25 million allocation.

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The refund is tied to Berachain's token generation event (TGE) held on February 6, 2025.

The rights were referenced in a side letter, which was signed by Berachain's general counsel and a director of Nova, and the letter allowed Nova the possibility of reclaiming "some or all" of its investment within the following twelve months.

Smokey The Bera stated that Brevan Howard's investment was made under the same terms as those offered to all investors in the round.

Other business agreements, Smokey The Bera noted, were put only to manage a possible scenario in which the token launch did not happen as planned and to help Nova provide liquidity if the token did launch as expected.

BERA tokens, introduced in February, have fallen in market value. The token reached a previous high near $14.83 but currently sits close to $1.05.

Meanwhile, Franklin Templeton has launched its XRP XRP $2.20 -linked exchange-traded fund (ETF), known as XRPZ, on NYSE Arca. What is the purpose of this new product? Read the full story.