Wormhole, the cross-chain messaging protocol, has achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing 1 billion messages sent since its launch in September 2021. According to data from Wormhole Scan on February 13th, the protocol currently handles approximately 110,640 messages per day, facilitating the movement of $30 million in funds, oracle feeds, and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) across 30 different blockchains. The cumulative transaction volume on Wormhole amounts to an impressive $39.6 billion.
In January, Wormhole achieved a total value locked (TVL) of $1 billion, with Ether (ETH), Fantom (FTM), and Solana (SOL) assets dominating the top spots with values of $675 million, $174 million, and $96 million, respectively. However, the TVL reached its peak at $3.8 billion in May 2022, prior to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which marked the beginning of the crypto winter.
Currently, a significant portion of the transactions facilitated by Wormhole’s cross-chain bridge are between Polygon and Celo, as well as between Solana and Polygon. Notably, Solana decentralized exchange Pyth Network, responsible for securing 48% of blockchain-oracle-mediated trading volume, is one of the largest users of Wormhole Messaging. Other prominent decentralized applications such as Uniswap, Circle, Lido, and Synthetix also utilize the Wormhole protocol.
On February 7th, Wormhole released its tokenomics white paper, announcing its intention to airdrop 17% of its 10 billion tokens to the community. However, no specific date has been set for the airdrop. The developers emphasized the importance of a token-based governance system, stating that it allows token holders to have a say in the protocol’s direction. They further mentioned that after the token distribution events, on-chain governance will play a significant role in guiding community programs and treasury-related activities.
In a significant development, Wormhole announced on November 29th, 2023, that it had raised $225 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion. The funding 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 reach.