W Airdrop Explained

Wormhole is the leading interoperability platform powering multichain applications and bridges at scale — the Web of Web3. The suite of open source protocols is used by developers of over 200 applications and more than 1 million unique wallets to move various types of data across over 30 blockchains. In total, the platform has handled over 1 billion cross-chain messages for applications and teams like Uniswap, Circle, Lido, Synthetix, Pyth, and more. In 2023, the Uniswap Foundation’s Bridge Assessment Committee conducted a third-party multi-month report that resulted in Wormhole being named the only unconditionally approved cross-chain protocol for use by the Uniswap DAO, based primarily on security and decentralization practices.

The Wormhole platform is being developed by a decentralized set of teams contributing to security, engineering, research, product development, ecosystem growth, and community. These teams include Wormhole Foundation, Wormhole Labs, xLabs, and Asymmetric Research, as well as other contributors like Wormhole China, Superteam, Lurk (ZK engineering), Zpoken (ZK engineering), and Succinct (ZK engineering), among others.

The Wormhole protocol is now further decentralizing. This post provides more information about the upcoming airdrop of Wormhole’s native token, W. It includes the Token Release Schedule, allocation to strategic stakeholders within the Wormhole network and ecosystem, as well as a description of its current and future utility. The token generation event (TGE), broad distribution, and usage of W are crucial steps in advancing Wormhole toward a decentralized and permissionless future.

If you’re new to Wormhole, you can learn more about the platform at the following links:

• Wormhole Homepage
• Wormhole ecosystem (200+ apps)
• Wormhole Stats
• Platform:
  • Wormhole Messaging
  • Wormhole ZK
  • Wormhole Queries
  • Wormhole Gateway
  • Wormhole NTT
  • Wormhole Connect
  • Wormhole Guardians
• Developer Documentation
• Wormhole Github
• Wormhole Social Links

Tokenomics and Airdrop Details

With the recent announcement of W, the Wormhole protocol has embarked on a road of further decentralization. This launch airdrop is constructed to support that vision and meaningfully decentralize protocol stakeholders from the start.

W has a supply of 10 billion tokens, with an initial circulating supply of 1.8 billion, distributed as SPL tokens on Solana. The token will be allocated across six main categories: Guardian Nodes, Community & Launch, Core Contributors, Ecosystem & Incubation, Strategic Network Participants, and the Foundation Treasury, with 82% initially locked and set to unlock over four years. The tokenomics structure is designed to support Wormhole's long-term success, stability, and progressive decentralization.

W will initially launch as a native Solana SPL token. ERC20 functionality will be enabled post-launch through Wormhole's Native Token Transfers (NTT), allowing seamless transfers across any Wormhole-connected network.

6.75% (674,800,000) (*Updated April 2) of the W supply has been allocated from the Community & Launch category in connection with this airdrop across 400,000+ wallets following anti-sybil measures. The airdrop included 549,000,000 W for onchain activity for users who used Wormhole ecosystem applications across the 30+ Wormhole-connected blockchains, including ecosystem developer teams, as well as approximately 129,000,000 W for community users, such as Wormhole Discord users, various NFT communities, Monad community, and the top 10,000 Pyth stakers. This Wormhole airdrop is designed to acknowledge and reward the contributions of dedicated users and developers of multichain applications built on Wormhole, as well as community members who have played a significant role in development and engagement within the Wormhole ecosystem. The snapshot to determine recipients for this airdrop has already been taken.

Read more details about W tokenomics.

Eligibility Criteria and How Eligibility Was Determined

Eligibility for this W airdrop may apply to you if you've interacted with ecosystem chains, applications, or the community within the Wormhole ecosystem in the past. Priority was allocated to users based on the length of their engagement with the Wormhole protocol, the cumulative volume of messages and transfers, and consistency of use throughout the protocol's lifespan, as well as participation in applications within the ecosystem.

A snapshot of users' on-chain activity within the Wormhole ecosystem applications to determine eligibility was taken on February 6, 2024 23:59 UTC. At the time of the snapshot, Wormhole was connected to nearly 30 blockchains and over 200 ecosystem applications, facilitating one billion messages reaching more than a million unique wallets across all its ecosystem applications. This eligibility assessment was informed by nearly three years' worth of data, offering a comprehensive understanding of user engagement and interaction. Frequent and long-time users of Wormhole’s decentralized app ecosystem were eligible for this airdrop to receive a W token allocation.

Please note that Wormhole core contributors are not permitted to participate in any aspect of this initiative, regardless of prior circumstances or use of the platform and ecosystem applications. This airdrop is exclusively for the Wormhole community who have supported the ecosystem for the last 3+ years.

How to Check Your Eligibility 

The eligibility checker allows users to determine if they are eligible for this W airdrop. Using its intuitive interface, users can connect wallets and review rewards. Once reward claiming is enabled, users will be able to use the same interface to claim their airdrop rewards. 

Check eligibility now. For users who believe their wallet activity should have qualified for this airdrop, this form can be submitted with detailed information.

Wormhole DAO Governance

Wormhole's adoption of a token-based governance system is set to empower W holders with the ability to shape the protocol's future, marking a strategic move towards further decentralizing governance. Upon W launch, holders will be able to delegate their tokens in order to later vote on Wormhole governance proposals. Token holders can delegate W to themselves (similar to “registering to vote”) or to someone else to whom they are delegating their voting power. The delegation will be available on EVM chains at launch, with Solana to follow soon after.

Upon initiation of live governance proposals, on-chain governance will play a central role in directing community programs and managing treasury activities, expanding to other responsibilities in the future. The governance framework is designed to gradually shift more decision-making responsibilities to the DAO, potentially covering a range of functions, including blockchain connection adjustments (i.e. adding/removing chains on Wormhole), smart contract upgrades, fee structuring, and rate limit adjusting. More information on Wormhole’s progressive decentralization and vote delegation will be provided in the coming days. Incorporating feedback from both core contributors and the wider community is critical to ensuring the journey towards a more autonomous and community-driven governance model is both transparent and inclusive.

Safety Notice

Users and readers are advised to be cautious and remain vigilant against potential scams. Verifying that any webpage linked to Wormhole is hosted under the wormhole.com domain is crucial to staying safe from scams and phishing attempts. All official community and social channels are also listed on official web pages. Wormhole-affiliated moderators and team members will never reach out to you first or solicit any kind of personal information. 

THIS IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO PURCHASE ANY W, AND IS NOT AN OFFERING, ADVERTISEMENT, SOLICITATION, CONFIRMATION, STATEMENT OR ANY FINANCIAL PROMOTION THAT CAN BE CONSTRUED AS AN INVITATION OR INDUCEMENT TO ENGAGE IN ANY INVESTMENT ACTIVITY OR SIMILAR. YOU SHOULD NOT RELY ON THE CONTENT HEREIN FOR ADVICE OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING LEGAL, INVESTMENT, FINANCIAL, TAX OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE, AND SUCH CONTENT IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR ADVICE FROM A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL.

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS HYPOTHETICAL, FORWARD-LOOKING AND/OR PROJECTED FIGURES WHICH ARE NOT GUARANTEED AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE; ACTUAL NUMBERS MAY VARY. WORMHOLE MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE COMPLETENESS, RELIABILITY, VALIDITY, OR ACCURACY OF THIS INFORMATION. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS NOT ERROR-FREE AND MAY CONTAIN INCORRECT INFORMATION. YOU AGREE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED FROM WORMHOLE FOUNDATION, WILL BE CONSTRUED TO CREATE ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE REFER TO THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND THE AIRDROP TERMS.