Introducing the Wormhole Foundation

"This piece was originally posted on the Wormhole Foundation blog. You can find the link to the original here."

We are thrilled to officially introduce the Wormhole Foundation to the world. Here at the Wormhole Foundation (WF), we're on a mission to empower passionate people in the research and development of blockchain interoperability technologies. We support teams building secure, open-source, and decentralized products within the Wormhole ecosystem, and our primary aim is to ensure that Web3 is seamlessly connected by Wormhole.  Our end goal is to help pave the way for a decentralized internet where information can move freely and securely, everywhere. We call this the web of Web3.

As stewards of Wormhole, the world's first generalized cross-chain messaging protocol, our commitment is not just about delivering products or technologies; it's about empowering people — passionate, innovative individuals and teams who are committed to crafting the next chapter of the internet.

Wormhole: The Heart of Our Ecosystem

At the center of our vision is Wormhole. Rated the industry’s top cross-chain messaging protocol by Uniswap's Bridge Assessment Committee, Wormhole serves as an infrastructure platform, enabling the secure transfer of messages (data or value) across networks.

Key pillars of the ecosystem include:

Wormhole

Wormhole, at the highest level, is an infrastructure platform composed of modular, open-source technologies that enable the secure transfer of data between networks.

Wormhole Messaging

Wormhole Messaging is a decentralized messaging protocol for blockchain developers to securely and easily enable the flow of information and value with other networks. The modular, open-source protocol allows developers to tailor the tooling to their chain or app’s needs. Learn more about building with products in the Wormhole stack.

Wormhole Guardians

At Wormhole’s core, the Guardians are a decentralized network of 19 world-class validator nodes that monitor each supported blockchain for messages and produce verifiable attestations for messages to be delivered to their destination.

Wormhole Foundation Leadership

The Wormhole Foundation is co-led by Robinson Burkey and Dan Reecer.

Robinson, WF’s EVP and Head of Strategy, comes from a background in operating and scaling traditional startups, having built and led DoorDash’s enterprise sales team pre and post-IPO. He also spent time leading Ecosystem Development at Acala, a Polkadot parachain prior to the WF.

Dan, WF’s EVP and Head of Operations, comes to Wormhole Foundation with over 5 years of crypto experience, having held various leadership roles at networks including Polkadot, Kusama, Acala, and Wanchain. He also spent four years in brand marketing and pricing in the pharmaceutical industry prior to joining the crypto industry.

WF’s Programs

Our commitment to the ecosystem goes beyond supporting the creation of technologies. At the Wormhole Foundation, we:

Drive innovations with our xGrants program, committing resources to open-source software development and research, particularly focusing on cross-chain protocols and applications.

Nurture the next generation of cross-chain startups with the Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund, an initiative by Borderless Capital. This $50 million fund is dedicated to championing the upcoming wave of Web3 applications that integrate the Wormhole Stack.

Build a thriving community of individuals around the world with the Wormhole Fellowship. This group of volunteer Fellows contributes their skills to grow the Wormhole community, submit technical contributions, build educational content, translate and localize information in their regions, organize online and local events, and more.

Join us in Connecting Crypto

The future of Web3 is collaborative. The Wormhole Foundation is already supporting several external organizations, welcoming them as core contributors. These contributing teams will be introduced to the world over the coming months. If your organization aligns with our vision, we encourage you to reach out to join our collective of contributing teams. Connect with us by dropping an email at [email protected].

In summary, the Wormhole Foundation is dedicated to empowering people around the world in their research and development of blockchain interoperability technologies. Among all contributors to Wormhole, our collective efforts aim to deliver a seamlessly connected Web3 ecosystem, with Wormhole playing a pivotal role in enabling this vision.