WalletConnect

• WalletConnect is the protocol that connects cryptocurrency wallets to decentralised applications, used across most major wallets.

• WCT is the token for its network, covering staking, governance and rewards for node operators.

• The protocol is being decentralised from company-run relays to a permissionless network.

• Supply allocated across community, ecosystem, team and rewards.

• Staked by node operators who relay connection messages.

Pros:

• Near-universal adoption; most wallet-to-application connections in crypto use it.

• Decentralising a piece of infrastructure that already has distribution rather than seeking adoption after launch.

• Node operator rewards give the token a function beyond governance.

Cons:

• Monetising infrastructure that has been free for years is difficult without pushing integrators to alternatives.

• The relay network is still transitioning from company-operated to permissionless.

• Token value depends on fees that do not yet exist at scale.

• Exposure to infrastructure with genuine universal adoption, which is rare.

• Decentralisation is happening from a position of established usage.

• Weigh the unresolved question of how the network is monetised.

• Standard adoption across almost every major wallet and application, meaning the network already has the distribution most protocols spend years pursuing.

• Wallets and applications need a secure way to connect without exchanging private keys.

• A shared relay standard solves it once, but concentrated relay operation is a single point of control.

• Founded by Pedro Gomes.

• Governed by the WalletConnect Foundation with Reown as a core contributor.

• No public ICO. WCT was distributed via airdrop and ecosystem allocations in 2025.

• Introducing fees to previously free infrastructure risks driving integrators elsewhere.

• Relay decentralisation is incomplete.

• Token economics depend on fee revenue that is not yet established.

• Alternative connection standards could emerge if monetisation is heavy-handed.