Infrared 2026 roadmap revealed! Native stake and Dutch auction reshape the BGT market.

The Berachain liquid staking protocol Infrared has announced its roadmap for 2026, with the launch of the IR rewards vault, supporting USDT0-IR and IR-WBERA trading pair staking. In January next year, native IR staking will be launched, allowing users to stake IR in exchange for sIR and generate income through protocol revenue buybacks. In Q1, a Dutch auction system will be launched, allowing third-party protocols to use IR to bid for BGT emission rights.

Dutch auction system creates BGT liquidity bidding market

The Dutch auction system that Infrared plans to launch in Q1 2026 is the most revolutionary design in this roadmap. This system allows third-party protocols to bid for the issuance rights of BGT using IR tokens, creating a brand new liquidity distribution mechanism for the Berachain ecosystem. In the traditional model, BGT emissions are usually determined by the protocol team or governance mechanisms, lacking a market-oriented pricing mechanism. The Dutch auction system transforms this process into a public bidding, allowing the market to autonomously discover the true value of BGT issuance rights.

The operation mechanism of the Dutch auction starts at a high price and gradually lowers the price until a buyer is willing to accept the current price. The advantage of this mechanism is that it can quickly reach a transaction and usually reflects the true payment willingness of buyers. For protocols that wish to secure stable BGT emissions for their liquidity providers, participating in such auctions means they are willing to spend real money to ensure liquidity incentives.

The handling of the winning funds demonstrates Infrared's long-term thinking. These funds will be deposited into the “Red Fund” and locked for one year, and will be used for other protocol projects in the future. This design creates a dual effect: on one hand, the locking mechanism reduces the circulating supply of IR, providing support for the token price; on the other hand, the accumulated funds provide a war chest for Infrared's long-term development, which can be used for ecological expansion, technological development, or strategic investments.

This system aims to optimize liquidity allocation on Berachain, ensuring that BGT emissions are used for the most valuable and efficient purposes. For the Berachain ecosystem, this means that liquidity will naturally flow to those protocols willing to pay the highest prices, which are typically the projects that need liquidity the most or are most confident in generating high returns. This market-driven mechanism achieves more effective resource allocation than centralized decision-making.

IR Native stake builds a sustainable yield cycle

The IR native staking feature launched in January 2026 is a core component of the IR token's utility, directly linking the success of the protocol to the value gained by token holders. Users can stake IR tokens to receive staked IR (sIR) and profit from the protocol's revenue. This design is not uncommon in the DeFi space, but Infrared's innovation lies in its deep binding to the protocol's income.

The earnings of IR stakers come from the protocol's revenue. A portion of the protocol's revenue will be used to repurchase IR and redistribute it to IR stakers. This repurchase mechanism creates a sustainable feedback loop: as Infrared's business grows and generates more revenue, more IR will be repurchased, which reduces the circulating supply in the market and directly increases the earnings of stakers. As the protocol develops and revenue increases, this positive cycle will create a snowball effect, thereby rewarding long-term holders.

The design of the sIR token is also worth noting. As a staking certificate, sIR not only represents the user's rights in the protocol but may also be used for governance voting or other functions in the future. Holding sIR means that users become deep participants in the Infrared ecosystem, rather than just token speculators. This design helps to cultivate a loyal community and reduce short-term volatility of the token.

Unlike traditional staking, the staking rewards of Infrared come directly from the actual operating income of the protocol, rather than from inflation. This means that the sustainability of staking rewards depends on whether Infrared can continue to attract users, process transactions, and generate fee income. This model places higher demands on the protocol team but also provides token holders with more genuine value support.

Infrared 2026 Three Major Function Timeline

Launched: IR rewards vault (December 2025)

Supported Trading Pairs: USDT0-IR, IR-USDT0, IR-WBERA, WBERA-IR

Function: Stake IR LP tokens to earn PoL rewards

Platform: Kodiak and Charm

Coming Soon: IR Native Stake (January 2026)

Mechanism: stake IR to earn sIR

Source of Income: Protocol revenue buyback and redistribution

Features: Long-term holders receive continuous rewards.

Q1 Launch: Dutch Auction System (Q1 2026)

Function: Third-party protocol uses IR auction BGT emission rights

Fund Handling: Winning funds are locked for one year into the Red Fund

Goal: Optimize Berachain liquidity allocation

Strategic Positioning in the Berachain Ecosystem

The vision of Infrared is to make the IR token an important driver of economic activity on Berachain. This positioning is highly ambitious, as Berachain, as an emerging high-performance Layer-1 blockchain, is attracting a large number of DeFi protocols and developers. In this competitive ecosystem, Infrared is attempting to establish its own moat by controlling the distribution of BGT emissions.

BGT (Berachain Gas Token) is the core incentive token of the Berachain ecosystem, and its emission distribution directly determines how much liquidity each protocol can attract. Traditionally, this distribution power is held by the protocol team or governance body. Infrared, through a Dutch auction system, is essentially establishing a secondary market for BGT emission rights, which will give the IR token unique utility value.

The protocol believes that the IR token will provide a mechanism for guaranteed liquidity for the protocol and offer users a way to earn rewards, thereby playing a core role in the future development of Berachain. The Dutch auction system will create a competitive market for BGT emissions controlled by Infrared, allowing the protocol to attract liquidity more effectively and pass on higher rewards to users.

Infrared is committed to establishing a sustainable protocol that brings long-term value to the community, partners, and the entire Berachain. The IR token is the core of this new era, directly tying the demand for IR to the growth of Berachain.