1. Staking eligibility: Open to all WCT holders, with no minimum threshold.
2. Governance empowerment: Obtain voting rights after staking, allowing participation in key decisions such as protocol upgrades and fee models (e.g., voting on Smart Sessions features).
3. Earnings incentives: Stakers receive rewards based on lock-up period and quantity, with an annualized return of approximately 15–20% (based on on-chain data estimates).
🔍 In-depth analysis of staking mechanisms
1. The core objectives of staking
- Promotion of decentralized governance: By staking and locking tokens, users become network node participants, jointly deciding the protocol's development direction (e.g., fee structure, node operator access).
- Reduce market selling pressure: As of May 2025, 120 million WCT have been staked (accounting for 6.5% of circulation), significantly alleviating token inflation pressure.
2. Earnings structure
Basic staking rewards distributed weekly, calculated based on the amount staked and the lock-up period (e.g., first week return of 0.5–1% for 1.2 million WCT)
Governance weight bonus increases with a longer lock-up period, with voting weight increasing by 30% for a 2-year staking period.
Airdrop priority: Stakers may receive ecosystem airdrops preferentially (e.g., 5 million WCT airdrop quota on the Solana chain)
3. Participation process
1. Connect wallet: Link supported wallets (such as MetaMask, Trust Wallet) via WalletConnect protocol.
2. Choose nodes: Stake to third-party verification nodes (such as Consensys, Ledger, and 16 other certified nodes).
3. Set a lock-up period: Flexible choices from 1 week to 2 years, with the lock-up period affecting returns and governance weight.
4. Claim rewards: Automatically allocated weekly, must be manually claimed to the wallet.
⚠️ Risk and opportunity assessment
1. Market volatility risks
- WCT price is highly volatile (historical peak $1.37 → current $0.4), staking earnings may be offset by a decline in token price.
- Hedging advice: Short WCTUSDT perpetual contracts on platforms like OKX to hedge against price risk during staking.
2. Staking liquidity risks
- Tokens are frozen during the staking period; in emergencies, a cooling period (usually 1–7 days) must be waited to unlock.
- Strategic advice: Short-term funds can participate in high-yield activities on exchanges (e.g., Gate.io 335% annualized mining pool); long-term funds should choose native staking.
3. Participation threshold and operational risks
- Need to be familiar with wallet operations and on-chain interactions (such as Gas fee payments); beginners may lose assets due to operational errors.
- Solution: Use the Optimism network (WCT main chain) to reduce Gas fees and choose low peak operation times.
💎 Summary: The value of WCT staking activities
- Governance Meaning > Short-term Benefits: The tweet emphasizes that the core of staking is 'participating in network decision-making', which aligns with WalletConnect's decentralized roadmap (such as open-source code and transferability unlock after node certification is completed).
- Ecological Synergy Opportunities: Staking and Solana airdrop (JupDAO stakers priority), Binance content mining (prize pool of 500,000 WCT) interaction, forming multidimensional incentives.
- Long-term holders benefit: If the protocol activates a Gas fee model in the future (requiring WCT payments), stakers may enjoy dual benefits (staking rewards + token demand growth).
The staking activities mentioned in the tweet are suitable for two types of users: one is long-term holders optimistic about Web3 infrastructure, who can influence protocol development through governance rights; the other is yield-sensitive users who need to combine high annualized activities on exchanges (e.g., Bybit prize pool) with native staking to optimize overall returns. It is essential to confirm the safety of nodes and the restrictions of the lock-up period before operating to avoid liquidity risks.