Wormhole, the cross-chain messaging protocol, has achieved a significant milestone by sending over 1 billion messages since its launch in September 2021. As of February 13, the protocol processes approximately 110,640 messages per day, facilitating the transfer of $30 million in funds, oracle feeds, and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) across 30 different blockchains. The cumulative volume of transactions on Wormhole amounts to a staggering $39.6 billion.
In January, Wormhole reached a total value locked (TVL) of $1 billion, with assets such as Ether (ETH), Fantom (FTM), and Solana (SOL) dominating the top spots with $675 million, $174 million, and $96 million respectively. However, the protocol’s TVL reached its peak at $3.8 billion in May 2022, but suffered a decline due to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which marked the beginning of the crypto winter.
Currently, a significant portion of transactions on the cross-chain bridge occur between Polygon and Celo, as well as between Solana and Polygon. Pyth Network, a decentralized exchange on Solana, is one of Wormhole Messaging’s largest users, accounting for 48% of blockchain-oracle-mediated trading volume. Other notable decentralized applications that utilize Wormhole include Uniswap, Circle, Lido, and Synthetix.
On February 7, Wormhole released its tokenomics white paper, announcing plans to airdrop 17% of its 10 billion tokens to the community. However, an exact date for the airdrop has not been specified. The developers stated that a token-based governance system will allow token holders to influence the protocol’s direction. After the token generation and distribution events, on-chain governance will play a significant role in guiding community programs and treasury-related activities.
Furthermore, on November 29, 2023, Wormhole announced a successful fundraising round, raising $225 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion. The round was led by prominent investors such as Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, and Arrington Capital.
In related news, Wormhole has integrated native USDC transfers for four blockchain networks, further expanding its capabilities and interoperability.