Why are institutional investors starting to pay attention to the #WalletConnect token?

The @WalletConnect token ($WCT ) has recently become the focus of institutional investors, with its appeal primarily stemming from the following three aspects:

1. The irreplaceability of infrastructure

The WalletConnect protocol has become the industry standard for connecting wallets and DApps, supporting over 600 wallets and more than 40,000 DApps, and completing over 150 million cross-chain connections cumulatively. Its end-to-end encryption technology and decentralized relay network (such as Waku) provide institutions with a secure and compliant interaction framework, particularly suitable for custodial service providers (like Fireblocks) and exchange integrations.

2. Long-term value capture of the token economic model

The fixed total supply of 1 billion $WCT and its deflationary design (such as the future MAU billing destruction mechanism) provide a foundation for value storage. Institutions especially value its staking returns (APY linked to lock-up periods) and governance rights, such as deciding network fee distribution through proposals, which is similar to shareholder rights in traditional finance.

3. Strategic financing and ecological expansion

The project has raised a total of $46.5 million, with investors including top institutions like Coinbase Ventures and Union Square Ventures. It has also recently entered the Solana ecosystem and launched an airdrop, further enhancing cross-chain interoperability and application scenarios. Institutions view it as an "infrastructure asset" in the Web3 entry track, similar to early Chainlink.

Risks and opportunities coexist: Although the signal for institutional entry is clear (such as Binance contract launch), $WCT still needs to address challenges in the implementation of the fee model and the decentralization process of the DAO.