Over the past year, on-chain UX ecosystem WalletConnect has embarked on an ambitious programme of decentralization, establishing the WalletConnect Foundation in 2024 alongside the launch of its WCT token, used for fees, rewards, staking and governance on the network.
WalletConnect founder Pedro Gomes argued that the time was right to launch WCT based on “token-market fit,” explaining that, with multiple SDKs building atop the network, it enabled stakeholders to “find a common ground where we’re incentivized to build together.” The token also encourages node operators to cohere around the network’s mission, he explained, as well as incentivizing the crypto wallets that have onboarded some 40 million users to the network to date.
Finally, he said, there are “developers, users, community members—so many people were involved in bringing WalletConnect to this reality.” Following WCT’s season one airdrop, he said, “We’re seeing them participating more actively through staking and through governance, having discussions and feeling empowered to actually be an owner as well.”
The creation of the WalletConnect Foundation was prompted by the rapid growth of the WalletConnect ecosystem, as it grew to encompass not just WalletConnect’s own network built atop its proprietary SDK, but other SDKs building on the network, Gomes explained.
“We saw an opportunity not only to remove the single point of failure, but also to bring on all of these ecosystem partners to actually collaborate with us,” he said.
Future plans
Looking to the future, Gomes said that the network will take “multiple angles through decentralization to really find a way that we can be as resistant and as global as possible.”
Alongside that push will come changes to the economics of the WCT token, he added. “We have kicked off what I think is a very healthy token ecosystem for WCT,” he explained, but envisions improvements to how rewards are allocated to node operators, wallets and SDKs.
Finally, the introduction of fees on the network will ensure that “all of these rewards are revenue driven,” he explained, adding that, “We’ll not only have a decentralized network, but we might even have a profitable decentralized network.”
Streamlining crypto UX
To date, WalletConnect claims to have enabled over 255 million “seamless, secure connections” for more than 45 million users worldwide, connecting an ecosystem of 600 wallets and 54,000 apps.
As part of its drive to improve user experience in crypto, WalletConnect last year launched its WalletConnect Certified kitemark, which recognizes projects that “meet the highest standards in UX, compliance, security, and feature integration.”
“WalletConnect was born out of standards,” Gomes told Decrypt, adding that the certification helps to align wallets around criteria for “good user experience, good security and meeting interoperability standards.” He explained that, “Obviously, we want every wallet developer to have the freedom to build how they wish—but at the same time, we have to have a baseline where we define a good wallet, and then you build from there.”
For crypto to truly achieve mainstream adoption, wallets need to focus on having “as few clicks as possible,” according to Gomes.
“The number one complaint that people have is that there’s just too many steps,” Gomes told Decrypt, adding that, “if there is a click somewhere, it needs to be removed.”
To that end, Gomes said, WalletConnect’s forthcoming Smart Sessions feature, first teased in 2024, will enable users to “connect and forget.” Crypto wallets can use it to connect to apps with just a single click, he explained, adding that, “you never actually have to return to the wallet ever again to approve transactions—you just connect and you’re done.”
“Smart Sessions change not just how wallets work, but how we interact with dapps,” he said, adding that the impact will be “quite pivotal for the user experience.” Ultimately, Gomes envisions crypto wallets having a “persistent connection that protects you from any malicious activity, and it just happens magically in the background.”
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