Glossary
Proof of Liquidity (PoL)
A consensus and incentive design, pioneered by Berachain, that rewards validators and delegators for directing token emissions to on-chain liquidity rather than for staking alone.
Proof of Liquidity is a consensus and incentive model that ties a chain's security to its on-chain liquidity. Instead of paying block rewards purely for locked stake, validators earn a governance token (BGT on Berachain) that they and their delegators direct as emissions to whitelisted DeFi pools via "reward vaults."
The design aims to align validators, protocols, and liquidity providers: deeper liquidity attracts activity, activity attracts more emissions, and validators compete on the incentives they can offer. Critics note it can concentrate influence around whoever controls the most governance tokens, echoing the vote-bribing dynamics of the "Curve wars."