Why Berachain Gave Brevan Howard a Secret $25M Escape Hatch - Ep. 961

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Crypto funding rounds often look glamorous from the outside: big name investors, big valuations, big narratives. But behind the scenes, the terms can look very different — and sometimes, radically so. In this episode of Bits + Bips, host Steve Ehrlich sits down with reporter Jack Kubinec, who broke the story about Berachain’s Series B and one of the most unusual terms we’ve seen in a major token deal: a lead investor receiving the right to ask for its entire $25 million investment back, for up to a year after Berachain’s token launched. Jack walks through what the documents show, why lawyers say the clause is extremely rare, and how a refund right like this could impact other investors, and even trigger MFN clauses. They also unpack Berachain’s market struggles since TGE, the state of the Nova Digital fund inside Brevan Howard, and the transparency questions this episode raises across crypto venture investing. Read the full story here on Unchained Thank you to our sponsor Uniswap! Host: Steve Ehrlich, Executive Editor at Unchained Guest: Jack Kubinec, Crypto Journalist and Podcast Host Timestamps: 0:00 — Start 0:25 — Steve introduces Jack 2:24 — What the documents reveal 5:17 — Why Brevan Howard’s refund is a big problem 9:21 — How refund clauses really work 14:09 — Jack’s interactions with the Bera team and how Smokey responded to the story 19:29 — Why the MFN clause is key 26:19 — How Breva Howard Digital didn’t actually invest in Bera 30:18 — What investors should learn from a deal like this Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey all, before we begin, I've got some exciting news to share. We've been working on something
0:05.9	a little wild behind the scenes. It's called Unchained On Air, a revamped live stream series and podcast
0:12.7	feed that takes you way beyond the headlines. It features sharp, maybe even controversial,
0:18.6	takes on major events, and the kind of on-chain intel that never makes it to your feed. Way more shows, way more often, each one laser-focused on a different slice of crypto and finance. First up is decks in the city, where the wallets are cold and the takes are hot, with Jesse Brooks, Catherineatherine kirkpatrick baws and v lee three powerhouse lawyers
0:40.8	gathering to dish about the latest from defy enforcement to token regulation and everything in between
0:46.5	it live streams every t t t t uneas uneasy money because what happens on chain never stays on chain with
0:57.0	Lucan Nets, Kane Warwick, and Taylor Monaghan. Three OG-DFI builders unpacking everything
1:03.2	happening on chain, from tokenomics to dows, from hacks to yields. It airs Wednesdays at 3pm
1:10.5	ET. And finally, Bits and Bips the interview,
1:14.7	an addition to our group chat show, in which our executive editor, Stephen Erlich, takes you
1:20.2	deeper with one-on-one conversations. This streams on Thursdays at 12 p.m. ET. To catch the live
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1:40.2	will show up in your podcast feed the very next day. Thanks, as always, for your support.
1:46.2	If I was another investor in Barrowchain Series B, and I wasn't told that Nova Digital was given a
1:52.0	refund right, I'd feel a little bit left out to dry, right? Like, they get this unlimited
1:57.0	downside risk, but I have to actually risk my capital. And, you know, if I was a
2:01.0	Series B investor and I spent $3 per token, I could be down quite a bit at this point in time. And so
2:06.3	that's really what's unique here. I'm executive editor Steve Rilich here at Unchained. I have
2:14.0	Jack Kouvenak with me who published a really interesting story about Darcane's
2:20.0	Series B fundraised and some unusual terms offered to a very big name investor.
	...

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