Introduction: Why Protocols Matter More Than Apps
When people talk about crypto, they usually focus on the exciting parts—prices pumping, NFTs going viral, or some new meme token that promises the next 100x. But the truth is, the real revolutions in technology almost never happen where the noise is. They happen quietly, in the background, in the form of protocols.
Nobody logs onto the internet and brags about TCP/IP. Nobody flexes that they just used HTTPS. But these are the invisible rails that make everything else possible. They’re boring, but they’re essential.
In Web3, one of the most important invisible protocols is already here. It’s not glamorous. It doesn’t shout. But it runs underneath almost everything you do. That protocol is WalletConnect.
And now, with its token WCT, WalletConnect is making the final leap: from a handy tool to a decentralized, community-governed standard that could define how billions of people interact with Web3 in the years ahead.
This isn’t a hype story. It’s a story about how invisible infrastructure quietly wins—and why that makes WCT one of the most interesting tokens in the market right now.
The Pain That Needed Fixing
Let’s rewind to 2018. If you wanted to use a decentralized application back then, you needed a PhD in patience.
You had to:
Install clunky browser extensions like MetaMask.
Copy and paste ridiculously long wallet addresses.
Navigate confusing signing flows.
Pray you didn’t mess up, because one wrong step could mean losing funds forever.
The UX was so painful it scared away everyone except hardcore enthusiasts. And that was a problem. Web3 was never going to scale to millions of people if connecting a wallet felt like solving a Rubik’s cube in the dark.
That’s when Pedro Gomes had a simple but brilliant idea.
What if, instead of all this hassle, users could just scan a QR code?
The app would display a code. The user would scan it with their mobile wallet. The wallet and the app would establish an encrypted channel. Private keys would never leave the device. And the user could sign transactions securely, without ever copying an address.
That was it. No magic. No rocket science. Just a tiny UX shift that removed the single biggest barrier to adoption.
The Hack That Became a Standard
At first, WalletConnect was just a clever hack. But the thing about clever hacks is, when they solve a fundamental problem, they spread.
Wallet developers realized: “If we integrate WalletConnect, our users instantly get access to thousands of dApps without us building custom connections.”
Developers realized: “If we integrate WalletConnect, our apps instantly become compatible with hundreds of wallets without us writing extra code.”
Users realized: “I don’t have to deal with addresses anymore. I just scan and approve. Done.”
The network effect kicked in immediately. More wallets integrated it, which made more dApps integrate it, which made more wallets integrate it again. Before long, WalletConnect wasn’t just a cool option. It was the default.
By 2025, WalletConnect had facilitated:
300+ million sessions
47+ million unique wallets
66,000+ dApps
700+ wallet providers
That’s not a niche. That’s ubiquity.
Today, WalletConnect is embedded into the biggest wallets—MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, Binance Web3 Wallet, Rainbow—and into nearly every serious dApp in DeFi, NFTs, or gaming.
Like TCP/IP in the early internet, it disappeared into the background. You don’t notice it. You just use it.
From Version 1 to Version 2: Growing Up
But growth brought growing pains.
The first version of WalletConnect was groundbreaking, but limited:
Sessions were limited to a single chain.
Pairings had to be repeated constantly.
Relays were centralized bottlenecks.
If WalletConnect was going to be the wallet-to-app protocol for all of Web3, it needed a bigger upgrade.
WalletConnect v2 was that upgrade. It introduced:
Multi-chain sessions → one connection, multiple chains (Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, Polkadot, Bitcoin).
Persistent pairings → connect once, reuse sessions.
Granular permissions → wallets could approve/reject specific JSON-RPC methods.
Decentralized relays → powered by Waku/libp2p, not a single centralized server.
This turned WalletConnect into something much more than a convenience tool. It became resilient infrastructure—chain-agnostic, future-proof, and capable of scaling across the entire crypto ecosystem.
But with that maturity came a question: who pays for this?
Relays don’t run themselves. Engineers don’t work for free. And if WalletConnect was to stay neutral, it couldn’t rely on one company forever.
The answer was to introduce a token: WCT.
$WCT: The Economic and Governance Layer
Most tokens come before the product. WalletConnect flipped the script: first came mass adoption, then came the token.
So what is WCT actually for? Three things:
1. Governance – WCT holders decide the protocol’s future. They vote on proposals, elect councils, and shape upgrades. Power is distributed, not centralized.
2. Incentives – Relay operators earn WCT rewards. Wallets and apps that help grow adoption get incentivized. The token makes sure the people powering the protocol are aligned.
3. Fees – Over time, apps will pay to use WalletConnect. Those fees will be denominated in WCT, creating sustainable demand.
The rollout was cautious:
WCT launched non-transferable, so people couldn’t just flip it for quick profit.
Distribution prioritized wallets, dApps, and contributors.
Only in April 2025 did transferability unlock, with just 18.6% circulating.
And staking is the glue:
Holders stake to gain voting rights and earn rewards.
Node operators stake to run relays.
Longer lock-ups mean more voting power, aligning governance with commitment.
Once fees are introduced, staking will be backed by real revenue, not just token inflation. That closes the loop: adoption → fees → rewards → governance → growth.
Adoption in Action: Case Studies
WalletConnect’s dominance isn’t abstract—it shows up in real integrations.
Binance Web3 Wallet: Instead of building thousands of custom connections, Binance plugged into WalletConnect. Instantly, its millions of users had access to tens of thousands of dApps.
Phantom on Solana: Solana wallets used to be fragmented. By adding WalletConnect v2, Phantom became cross-chain—suddenly connecting not just to Solana apps but also Ethereum and Cosmos.
Twitter NFT Profile Pictures: When Twitter wanted to let users verify NFT ownership, it used WalletConnect. Supporting multiple wallets and chains manually would have been a nightmare. With WalletConnect, it was just “scan, approve, verify.”
These examples show WalletConnect isn’t just for crypto-native apps. It’s becoming the universal connector for any platform that wants to touch blockchain assets.
The Competition Question
Are there competitors? Yes.
MetaMask Snaps lets developers add non-EVM support—but it’s limited to one wallet ecosystem.
RainbowKit offers polished onboarding—but under the hood, it still relies on WalletConnect.
Other experiments pop up from time to time, but none have achieved the same network effect. To replace WalletConnect, you’d need to convince hundreds of wallets and thousands of apps to switch simultaneously. In practice, that’s almost impossible.
WalletConnect’s moat isn’t technology alone. It’s adoption. And adoption is sticky.
Security and Trust
WalletConnect’s design is secure:
End-to-end encryption ensures relays can’t read messages.
Private keys never leave the user’s device.
Relays are just transporters, not validators.
But the biggest risks are social: phishing dApps, fake wallets, malicious signing requests.
WalletConnect’s response has been:
Verify API → lets wallets confirm a dApp’s authenticity before connecting.
UI improvements → clearer permissions, better warnings.
Audits and bug bounties → incentivizing community security.
The protocol itself is robust. The challenge is protecting humans from human mistakes.
Market Dynamics and Valuation
As of mid-2025, WCT trades around $0.30. Its circulating market cap is small compared to protocols with far less usage. Its fully diluted valuation is higher, reflecting future unlocks.
This dynamic creates opportunity and risk:
If WalletConnect successfully rolls out fees and demonstrates token utility, WCT could rerate upwards dramatically.
If unlocks outpace demand, price pressure could weigh on it.
Infrastructure tokens often lag in hype cycles because they’re not sexy. But when investors realize that nearly every wallet and dApp depends on WalletConnect, the narrative could flip.
WCT isn’t about speculation—it’s about owning a piece of an invisible standard.
The Governance Experiment
The biggest open question is governance.
Too many governance tokens have failed because participation was low or dominated by whales. WalletConnect is trying to do better by:
Tying governance weight to staking and lock-ups.
Creating specialized councils (technical standards, ecosystem growth, partnerships).
Actively stepping back the foundation’s role.
If this works, WCT could be a model for sustainable protocol governance. If it fails, it risks being another token where real decisions are made by a small group while holders stay passive.
The next few years will test whether decentralization is more than a slogan.
The Bigger Picture
WalletConnect’s story mirrors a larger Web3 pattern:
ENS turned naming into a community-owned protocol.
Lens is trying to do the same for social graphs.
WalletConnect is doing it for wallet interactions.
These aren’t flashy apps. They’re the invisible standards that make everything else possible. And they’re the real building blocks of a decentralized internet.
WalletConnect matters not because it makes QR codes work. It matters because it creates a universal way for users and apps to interact safely, across chains, across wallets, across ecosystems.
And WCT ensures that standard isn’t dependent on one team’s goodwill—it’s governed and sustained by the community that uses it.
Conclusion: Why WCT Matters
WalletConnect started as a hack to fix wallet UX. Today, it’s the invisible standard running Web3. With WCT, it’s evolving into a decentralized ecosystem with real governance, real incentives, and real staying power.
The risks are clear—token unlocks, governance apathy, rising user expectations. But the foundation is stronger than most tokens could dream of:
Adoption is already universal.
The protocol is indispensable.
The token is designed to align incentives long-term.
If Web3 is ever going to reach billions of users, it will need invisible standards that just work. WalletConnect is already one of them.
$WCT may not be the loudest coin in your portfolio. But it could be one of the most important. Because protocols are where the real revolutions happen—and WalletConnect has already become one of Web3’s invisible rails.
