Wormhole (W)

System: Wormhole — Interoperability and Messaging

Wormhole provides a cross-chain interoperability and messaging system enabling applications, wallets, and chains to transmit verified messages and assets across heterogeneous blockchain environments. Founded in 2020, it uses a hybrid architecture with on-chain verification contracts across supported chains and an off-chain, permissioned Guardian network that observes events, attests to them, and produces signed messages, supported by relayer infrastructure that submits transactions. The system boundary includes Wormhole Core contracts, messaging and token bridge modules, Guardian nodes, relayers and executors, the Wormhole DAO governance framework, the W token, and the Wormhole Foundation as a coordinating governance entity, and excludes underlying L1 and L2 blockchains, their consensus systems, bridged assets, and third-party applications that merely use Wormhole for cross-chain communication as separate systems.

Market Data

Price$0.008144
Market Cap$50.88M
Fully Diluted Valuation$81.50M
30d Change-14.10%
365d Change-89.70%

System Attributes

Operating Model

<p>Wormhole&nbsp;depends&nbsp;on&nbsp;on-chain&nbsp;contracts&nbsp;for&nbsp;message&nbsp;publication,&nbsp;verification&nbsp;and&nbsp;cross-chain&nbsp;execution,&nbsp;but&nbsp;economically&nbsp;critical&nbsp;attestation&nbsp;comes&nbsp;from&nbsp;a&nbsp;permissioned&nbsp;Guardian&nbsp;set&nbsp;and&nbsp;automatic&nbsp;execution&nbsp;depends&nbsp;on&nbsp;off-chain&nbsp;relay&nbsp;providers.</p>

Value Creation

<p>Core&nbsp;product&nbsp;is&nbsp;a&nbsp;cross-chain&nbsp;message&nbsp;that&nbsp;is&nbsp;verified&nbsp;on&nbsp;a&nbsp;destination&nbsp;network&#39;s&nbsp;core&nbsp;contracts,&nbsp;with&nbsp;fees&nbsp;levied&nbsp;by&nbsp;applications&nbsp;built&nbsp;upon&nbsp;it.&nbsp;Verification&nbsp;depends&nbsp;on&nbsp;a&nbsp;signed&nbsp;message&nbsp;from&nbsp;a&nbsp;13-of-19&nbsp;Guardian&nbsp;set&nbsp;supermajority,&nbsp;and&nbsp;automated&nbsp;delivery&nbsp;depends&nbsp;on&nbsp;off-chain&nbsp;relay&nbsp;providers&nbsp;and&nbsp;quoters&nbsp;(even&nbsp;though&nbsp;quotes&nbsp;may&nbsp;be&nbsp;verifiable&nbsp;on-chain).&nbsp;</p>

Value Capture

<p>Value&nbsp;from&nbsp;fees&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp;dedicated&nbsp;front-end&nbsp;&quot;Portal&quot;&nbsp;don&#39;t&nbsp;accrue&nbsp;to&nbsp;any&nbsp;known&nbsp;on-chain&nbsp;participant.&nbsp;Whilst&nbsp;contracts&nbsp;may&nbsp;charge&nbsp;a&nbsp;core&nbsp;message&nbsp;fee,&nbsp;Guardian&nbsp;governance&nbsp;can&nbsp;set&nbsp;that&nbsp;fee&nbsp;and&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;accumulated&nbsp;fees,&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Executor&nbsp;can&nbsp;route&nbsp;delivery&nbsp;payments&nbsp;to&nbsp;a&nbsp;payee&nbsp;address,&nbsp;these&nbsp;are&nbsp;not&nbsp;currently&nbsp;active.&nbsp;</p>

Governance

Entity-Based: <p>Although&nbsp;there&nbsp;is&nbsp;token&nbsp;governance&nbsp;through&nbsp;Multigov,&nbsp;there&nbsp;is&nbsp;no&nbsp;meaningful&nbsp;decision&nbsp;making&nbsp;being&nbsp;delegated&nbsp;to&nbsp;it,&nbsp;with&nbsp;virtually&nbsp;all&nbsp;decisions&nbsp;being&nbsp;made&nbsp;through&nbsp;the&nbsp;foundation/labs&nbsp;entities&nbsp;on&nbsp;product&nbsp;and&nbsp;strategy.</p><p></p><p>Core&nbsp;protocol/security/WTT&nbsp;governance&nbsp;requires&nbsp;a&nbsp;Guardian&nbsp;supermajority.&nbsp;They&nbsp;can&nbsp;upgrade&nbsp;ecosystem&nbsp;contracts&nbsp;and&nbsp;manage&nbsp;governance&nbsp;actions.&nbsp;These&nbsp;guardians&nbsp;are&nbsp;third&nbsp;parties&nbsp;that&nbsp;run&nbsp;their&nbsp;own&nbsp;independent&nbsp;businesses,&nbsp;though&nbsp;it&#39;s&nbsp;not&nbsp;clear&nbsp;if&nbsp;they&nbsp;exercise&nbsp;any&nbsp;decision&nbsp;making&nbsp;authority&nbsp;besides&nbsp;executing&nbsp;changes.&nbsp;</p> Participant-Based: <p>Although&nbsp;there&nbsp;is&nbsp;token&nbsp;governance&nbsp;through&nbsp;Multigov,&nbsp;there&nbsp;is&nbsp;no&nbsp;meaningful&nbsp;decision&nbsp;making&nbsp;being&nbsp;delegated&nbsp;to&nbsp;it,&nbsp;with&nbsp;virtually&nbsp;all&nbsp;decisions&nbsp;being&nbsp;made&nbsp;through&nbsp;the&nbsp;foundation/labs&nbsp;entities&nbsp;on&nbsp;product&nbsp;and&nbsp;strategy.&nbsp;</p><p></p><p>Core&nbsp;protocol/security/WTT&nbsp;governance&nbsp;requires&nbsp;a&nbsp;Guardian&nbsp;supermajority.&nbsp;They&nbsp;can&nbsp;upgrade&nbsp;ecosystem&nbsp;contracts&nbsp;and&nbsp;manage&nbsp;governance&nbsp;actions.&nbsp;These&nbsp;guardians&nbsp;are&nbsp;third&nbsp;parties&nbsp;that&nbsp;run&nbsp;their&nbsp;own&nbsp;independent&nbsp;businesses,&nbsp;though&nbsp;it&#39;s&nbsp;not&nbsp;clear&nbsp;if&nbsp;they&nbsp;exercise&nbsp;any&nbsp;decision&nbsp;making&nbsp;authority&nbsp;besides&nbsp;executing&nbsp;changes.&nbsp;</p>