WalletConnect Launches WCT Token on Solana, Airdropping 5M Tokens to Active Users

WalletConnect, a protocol that connects crypto wallets to apps, has launched its WCT token on Solana — its third chain after Optimism's OP Mainnet and Ethereum

WalletConnect, the protocol that connects crypto wallets to apps, has launched its WCT token on Solana, its third chain after Optimism’s OP Mainnet and Ethereum, and will airdrop 5 million tokens to active Solana users, the Foundation said.

The Solana expansion uses Wormhole’s native token transfers (NTT) framework, allowing WCT to move natively, not as a wrapped token, across all three supported chains. The Solana launch comes less than a month after WCT went live on Ethereum, also via NTT, following its original debut on Optimism’s OP Mainnet.

To support the launch, the Foundation will be actively engaging with major Solana Web3 companies to credit active users with WCT.

The 5 million tokens are part of the 185 million WCT the foundation earmarked for airdrops last September, founder and director Pedro Gomes told The Block. This will be the second major WCT airdrop, following the 50 million tokens distributed to the WalletConnect community in the first season last November, the foundation said.

WCT is currently trading at around $0.60, valuing the airdrop for Solana users at about $3 million, according to The Block’s WCT price page.

Airdrop claims for Solana users will open this summer, with eligibility criteria, distribution timelines, and claiming instructions to be announced in the coming weeks, Gomes said.

Launching WCT on Solana will provide users with faster and cheaper transactions and make WalletConnect easier to use across Solana apps, said Gomes. “It will eventually open new governance opportunities and further connect WalletConnect to one of the most vibrant onchain communities.”

Currently, WCT staking and governance are available only on Optimism’s OP Mainnet. But as part of the Solana launch plans, the Foundation is also exploring options for launching WCT governance on Solana in the second half of 2023, he added.

WCT is expected to start trading on Solana decentralized exchanges soon, and users will be able to move tokens via Wormhole’s Portal Bridge once support goes live, Gomes said.

It’s worth noting that several Solana apps, including Backpack, Drift, Kamino, and Marinade, already use Reown’s AppKit—a software development kit built on top of the WalletConnect protocol—to connect their dapps with wallets. And many Solana projects have already integrated the AppKit to introduce WalletConnect connectivity.

But with the Wormhole NTT integration, these apps can now also support the WCT token directly, including listing, trading, and eventually staking and governance features, said Gomes. Reown, formerly known as WalletConnect Inc., is the core team behind both the protocol and its developer tools.

The expansion to Ethereum and Solana does not affect WCT’s total supply, which remains unchanged.

For both deployments, WalletConnect used Wormhole’s “burn-and-mint” model, where tokens are burned on the source chain and minted on the destination chain—keeping the supply consistent across the three networks, according to the foundation.

As part of its broader expansion plans, WalletConnect is also planning to expand WCT to more chains in the future.

The team is actively working with several networks in the Optimism Superchain ecosystem and is prioritizing chains that have a strong focus on wallet user experience and onchain content, said Gomes.

“We want to go where the builders and users are.”