Project & Team
Description of Project
Provide a concise narrative that clearly states each of (a)–(e) below.
- (a) Problem the project solves — The problem the project is solving.
- (b) Operational priorities — Provide a high-level description of how the project expects to support ongoing development and operations over time.
- (c) High-level project overview — How the project works at a high level.
- (d) Primary token functions — The primary functions of the token (e.g. gov participation).
- (e) Control surface reliance — If any, briefly describe the anticipated or possible evolution of the protocol's governance/control model.
(a) Problem the project solves
Interoperability between blockchains remains a significant challenge, and developers face hurdles in creating applications that operate across multiple blockchains. Wormhole addresses that problem by providing a generic message-passing protocol that enables secure and efficient communication, plus data and asset transfers, across blockchain networks. (Source: Wormhole protocol introduction)
(b) Operational priorities
The Wormhole Foundation supports teams building secure, open-source, decentralized products within the Wormhole ecosystem through grants, research, and ecosystem programs. Wormhole Labs is a core contributor focused on products, tools, reference implementations, major product launches, cross-chain governance, and native liquidity solutions. Additional contributor teams include xLabs and Asymmetric Research. Following token generation and distribution, onchain governance guides community programs and treasury-related activities. (Source: Introducing the Wormhole Foundation, Core developer grant to Wormhole Labs, W airdrop explained, W tokenomics)
(c) High-level project overview
Wormhole is not a blockchain and not a token bridge. It is a multichain messaging protocol in which source contracts emit messages, Guardians validate those messages and produce Verifiable Action Approvals (VAAs), and relayers or applications deliver the signed messages to target-chain contracts for execution. Wormhole has moved data across more than 30 blockchains and has handled more than 1 billion multichain messages. (Source: Wormhole protocol introduction, Wormhole architecture, W tokenomics)
(d) Primary token functions
W is Wormhole's native token. Tokenholders delegate and stake W to participate in governance. Under the W 2.0 tokenomics upgrade announced September 17, 2025, W also powers a targeted 4% base yield for holders who stake and participate in governance, funded from existing supply and protocol revenues with no new inflation. (Source: W tokenomics, Stake for governance guide, W token 2.0 upgrade)
(e) Control surface reliance
The governance framework shifts decision-making responsibility to the DAO over time, including decisions relating to community programs, treasury activities, blockchain connection adjustments, smart contract upgrades, fee structuring, rate limits, and Guardian-set management. (Source: W airdrop explained, W tokenomics)
Known Project Team
For each existing entity: Labs/DevCo (e.g., Founder, CEO, CTO, COO), Foundation (e.g., President, Executive Director, CFO, COO), and DAO / onchain governance leadership (if applicable) list the: (a) full names, (b) official titles, (c) and prior experience of key team members. For any non-existent entity, explicitly mention it does not exist. External links may be included but they will not factor into the score.
Full Name | Entity | Official Title | Prior Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
Saeed Badreg | Labs | Co-Founder and CEO, Wormhole Lab | Worked in strategic partnerships at Jump Trading and Jump Crypto from 2021 to 2023 and previously served as CEO of application developer Tolemaeus. |
Anthony Ramirez | Labs | Co-Founder and COO, Wormhole Labs | Worked on strategic projects at Jump Crypto and Jump Trading. Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. |
Tony Jin | Labs | Co-Founder and CTO, Wormhole Labs | Co-founded Wormhole Labs in 2023 with Saeed Badreg and Anthony Ramirez, with whom he worked at Jump. IQ.wiki |
Robinson Burkey | Foundation | Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer | Built and led DoorDash's enterprise sales team pre- and post-IPO and previously led Ecosystem Development at Acala. |
Dan Reecer | Foundation | Chief Operating Officer | Held leadership roles at Polkadot, Kusama, Acala, and Wanchain and previously worked in brand marketing and pricing in the pharmaceutical industry. |
Wormhole governance operates through tokenholder voting, delegation, and a ratified proposal process. Wormhole governance does not have named individual officers or onchain-governance leadership positions. | DAO | ||
Blockworks note: Wormhole Labs is an existing independent technology company and core contributor to Wormhole, launched in November 2023 alongside the project's strategic funding round. (Source: Wormhole Labs, Core developer grant to Wormhole Labs, Blockworks) |
DAO Structure
Provide a structured description of the DAO's governance, powers, and economic rights. If a DAO does not exist, state so. Address the lettered items below. Even if there is no DAO, there must be an answer to (d).
- (a) IP ownership & control — State what IP the DAO owns or controls (e.g., codebases/repos, trademarks/brands). Note any license if relevant.
- (b) Contract/admin powers — List onchain or administrative authorities and limits: pause/upgrade roles (e.g., multisig pause), governance-executor authorities, and the method of authority for each (e.g., veto, majority, super-majority).
- (c) Locked-token rights (conditional) — If locking/staking for additional rights exists, explain the additional rights and what tokenholders can and cannot decide. If no locking mechanism exists, leave absent.
- (d) Value accrual & holder rights — If any, describe the current rights of tokenholders over revenue distribution and the treasury.
- (e) Dissolution authority — State who can dissolve/wind up the DAO and by what mechanism (e.g., onchain vote threshold, board resolution of a legal wrapper).
(a) IP ownership & control
The Wormhole DAO does not publicly disclose ownership or control of any intellectual property. The Wormhole protocol codebase is published as open source in the wormhole-foundation GitHub organization. (Source: Wormhole GitHub)
(b) Contract/admin powers
MultiGov, Wormhole's governance system, uses a hub-and-spoke architecture in which the hub manages proposal creation, vote aggregation, and execution, while spoke chains use SpokeVoteAggregator for local voting and SpokeAirlock as governance's admin on the spoke. Once a proposal is approved and the timelock period elapses, the hub calls dispatch on HubMessageDispatcher, after which SpokeMessageExecutor receives, verifies, and executes instructions on spoke chains using SpokeAirlock as the msg.sender. The ratified onchain voting process uses Tally powered by MultiGov and requires a 1,000,000 W proposal threshold, a 350,000,000 W quorum, a 2-day voting delay, a 5-day voting period, and a 4-day timelock. Protocol-level governance actions require a 2/3+ Guardian supermajority. The ratified WIP-2 process stated that proposals with onchain execution would not be accepted under that process at the time of ratification. (Source: MultiGov architecture, MultiGov FAQs, WIP-2 governance proposal process, Wormhole security docs, Wormhole security policy)
(c) Locked-token rights (conditional)
W holders stake and delegate tokens for governance participation, including self-delegation or delegation to another participant. Proposals are created on the hub chain using HubEvmSpokeAggregateProposer or HubGovernor, and tokenholders vote from spoke chains through SpokeVoteAggregator. Governance guides community programs and treasury-related activities and takes on increasing responsibility over time for blockchain-connection decisions, smart-contract upgrades, fee adjustments, rate limits, Guardian-set changes, and token utility design. Under W 2.0, holders who stake and participate in governance earn a targeted 4% base yield. The matters that tokenholders cannot decide, beyond the documented thresholds, execution paths, and current process limits, are not publicly enumerated. (Source: Stake for governance guide, MultiGov FAQs, W airdrop explained, W tokenomics, W token 2.0 upgrade, WIP-2 governance proposal process)
(d) Value accrual & holder rights
There is currently no onchain DAO treasury. Wormhole Governance approves or denies grants-program funding proposals, and the Wormhole Foundation handles all disbursements manually. Under WIP-0, the Wormhole DAO's future onchain treasury will be funded by a portion of the Wormhole Foundation's reserve, and the initial contribution has not been determined. Tokenholders hold no current rights to protocol revenue distribution. The W 2.0 upgrade established the Wormhole Reserve, which accumulates onchain and offchain protocol revenues to support the ecosystem and fund the targeted 4% base yield for governance stakers. (Source: WIP-3 grants program, WIP-0, W token 2.0 upgrade)
(e) Dissolution authority
Wormhole has not publicly disclosed any dissolution or wind-up authority or mechanism for the DAO.
Primary Foundation
For the Primary Foundation do the following independently. If an entity does not exist, state that explicitly. Items (a)–(f) apply only if that entity exists; state explicitly that the entity doesn't exist. Definitions: The primary Foundation and DevCo can be explained as those entities which are directly involved in the issuance of the native token at launch.
- (a) Entity — Type and jurisdiction.
- (b) IP ownership & control — What IP the entity owns/controls (repos/code, trademarks/brand; license optional) and an explanation of any subsidiary entities.
- (c) Powers over DAO, treasury, protocol-controlled resources, and token administration — If any, describe the current powers over DAO governance, treasury actions, protocol-controlled resources (e.g. revenue), token administration, or reward parameters, and the method/threshold for each.
- (d) Powers over DevCo — Explain whether the foundation can exert direct or indirect influence over decision-making of the DevCo.
- (e) Contract/admin powers — Pause/upgrade/governance-executor authorities and the method/threshold for each (e.g., veto/majority/super-majority; "3/5 multisig").
- (f) Current economic arrangements and distribution policies — Describe any current governance-approved, contractual, or programmatic mechanisms, if any, by which protocol-controlled resources, treasury assets, fees, revenue, rewards, or token distributions may be directed to this entity, its equityholders, contributors, or other participants. If no such mechanism currently exists, state that explicitly. Do not discuss hypothetical future dividends, repurchases, or distributions unless formally adopted.
(a) Entity
Wormhole Foundation is a Cayman Islands entity. The Wormhole websites and services are operated by or on behalf of Wormhole Foundation and its affiliates, and the governing law of the terms of service is Cayman Islands law. The terms of service list a contact address for Wormhole Foundation c/o Highvern Cayman Limited at Second Floor, Elgin Court, Elgin Avenue, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1106, Cayman Islands. The Foundation's privacy policy lists a registered office at Silverside Management Ltd, Whitehall House, 2nd Floor, 238 North Church Street, George Town, PO Box 31489, KY1-1206, Cayman Islands. The Foundation has not publicly disclosed its specific legal entity type. (Source: Terms of use, Foundation terms, Privacy policy)
(b) IP ownership & control
The Wormhole protocol is an open-source message-passing protocol, and protocol code is publicly available under open-source licenses through the wormhole-foundation GitHub organization. The Foundation supports development, grants, research, and ecosystem programs. The Foundation has not publicly disclosed its ownership or control of trademarks, brands, or subsidiary entities. (Source: Terms of use, Introducing the Wormhole Foundation, Wormhole GitHub)
(c) Powers over DAO, treasury, protocol-controlled resources, and token administration
Wormhole Governance approves or denies grants proposals, while the Wormhole Foundation handles administration, KYC/KYB checks, disbursement, and monthly reporting for the grants program because there is currently no onchain treasury. Under WIP-0, the Wormhole DAO's onchain treasury will be funded by a portion of the Wormhole Foundation's reserve, with the initial contribution not yet determined. The Foundation Treasury allocation is 23.3% of total W supply. The Foundation has not publicly disclosed any broader powers over DAO governance, protocol-controlled resources, or token administration. (Source: WIP-3 grants program, WIP-0, W tokenomics)
(d) Powers over DevCo
The Wormhole Foundation awarded a core developer grant to Wormhole Labs, which funds Wormhole Labs' contributor work on the protocol. Beyond that grant relationship, the Foundation has not publicly disclosed any direct or indirect powers over Wormhole Labs' decision-making. (Source: Core developer grant to Wormhole Labs)
(e) Contract/admin powers
The Foundation has not publicly disclosed any pause, upgrade, or governance-executor authorities that it holds over protocol contracts, or the thresholds for any such authorities.
(f) Current economic arrangements and distribution policies
The governance-approved grants program has a budget of up to $250,000 USD or the equivalent amount in W, with a hard cap applying to both denominations. The Wormhole Foundation handles all grants disbursement and reporting manually because there is currently no onchain treasury. The Foundation Treasury holds 23.3% of total W supply under the initial allocation. No publicly disclosed arrangement directs protocol fees, revenue, or treasury assets to the Foundation or its equityholders beyond the Foundation's programmatic grants-administration role. (Source: WIP-3 grants program, W tokenomics)
Primary Dev Co
For the Primary DevCo do the following independently. If an entity does not exist, state that explicitly. Items (a)–(f) apply only if that entity exists; state explicitly that the entity doesn't exist. Definitions: The primary Foundation and DevCo can be explained as those entities which are directly involved in the issuance of the native token at launch.
- (a) Entity — Type and jurisdiction.
- (b) IP ownership & control — What IP the entity owns/controls (repos/code, trademarks/brand; license optional) and an explanation of any subsidiary entities.
- (c) Powers over DAO, treasury, protocol-controlled resources, and token administration — If any, describe the current powers over DAO governance, treasury actions, protocol-controlled resources (e.g. revenue), token administration, or reward parameters, and the method/threshold for each.
- (d) Powers over Foundation — Explain whether the DevCo can exert direct or indirect influence over decision-making of the Foundation.
- (e) Contract/admin powers — Pause/upgrade/governance-executor authorities and the method/threshold for each (e.g., veto/majority/super-majority; "3/5 multisig").
- (f) Current economic arrangements and distribution policies — Describe any current governance-approved, contractual, or programmatic mechanisms, if any, by which protocol-controlled resources, treasury assets, fees, revenue, rewards, or token distributions may be directed to this entity, its equityholders, contributors, or other participants. If no such mechanism currently exists, state that explicitly. Do not discuss hypothetical future dividends, repurchases, or distributions unless formally adopted.
(a) Entity
Wormhole Labs is an independent technology company specializing in blockchain interoperability and a core contributor to Wormhole. It launched in November 2023 and is led by co-founders Saeed Badreg, Anthony Ramirez, and Tony Jin. Wormhole Labs has not publicly disclosed its entity type or jurisdiction of incorporation. (Source: Wormhole Labs, Core developer grant to Wormhole Labs, Blockworks)
(b) IP ownership & control
Wormhole Labs specializes in building products, tools, and reference implementations and is committed to open-source development. Wormhole Labs has not publicly disclosed the IP, trademarks, brands, or subsidiary entities that it owns or controls. (Source: Core developer grant to Wormhole Labs, Wormhole Labs)
(c) Powers over DAO, treasury, protocol-controlled resources, and token administration
Wormhole Labs has not publicly disclosed any powers over DAO governance, treasury actions, protocol-controlled resources, token administration, or reward parameters.
(d) Powers over Foundation
Wormhole Labs has not publicly disclosed any direct or indirect influence over decision-making of the Wormhole Foundation.
(e) Contract/admin powers
Wormhole Labs has not publicly disclosed any pause, upgrade, or governance-executor authorities over protocol contracts, or the thresholds for any such authorities.
(f) Current economic arrangements and distribution policies
The Wormhole Foundation awarded a core developer grant to Wormhole Labs to fund its contributor work on products, tools, reference implementations, cross-chain governance, and native liquidity solutions. The size and terms of the grant are not publicly disclosed. No other publicly disclosed mechanism directs protocol-controlled resources, treasury assets, fees, revenue, rewards, or token distributions to Wormhole Labs, its equityholders, or its contributors. (Source: Core developer grant to Wormhole Labs)
Token Supply & Allocations
Initial Allocation
Disclose launch and initial supply details in a single initial allocation schedule covering the token's launch.
- (a) Launch supply totals — The total number of tokens issued at launch, the total number of tokens locked at launch or the total number of tokens unlocked at launch.
- (b) Recipient categories & use of funds — The recipient categories with brief explanations as to how the category will use the tokens so an auditor can distinguish each bucket.
- (c) Initial price per token (if applicable) — The initial price per token at TGE. If the token launched via a liquidity bootstrapping mechanism, auction, or other price-discovery process rather than a fixed offering price, describe that mechanism and the final market set price instead. If no fixed price was set, state so.
- (d) Ticker / market symbol — The ticker/market symbol.
- (e) Total supply & supply regime — The total supply and whether the supply is fixed (if not explain inflation rate or deflation rate).
- (f) Initial vesting / release schedules — The initial vesting/release schedules (identify which categories/recipients are subject to vesting and the high-level timing logic).
(a) Launch supply totals
10,000,000,000 W were issued at the April 3, 2024 token generation event. 1,800,000,000 W (18% of supply) were unlocked and entered circulation at launch, and 8,200,000,000 W (82%) were locked at launch.
(b) Recipient categories & use of funds
Six categories received the launch supply. Ecosystem & Incubation received 31% (3,100,000,000 W) to fund ecosystem growth and incubation initiatives across the network. Foundation Treasury received 23.3% (2,330,000,000 W), held by the Wormhole Foundation, with post-TGE onchain governance directing community programs and treasury-related activity. Community & Launch received 17% (1,700,000,000 W) to support early distribution and the early stages of Wormhole's decentralized and permissionless future, including the TGE airdrop. Core Contributors received 12% (1,200,000,000 W) as compensation to contributors building the protocol. Strategic Network Participants received 11.6% (1,160,000,000 W), allocated to strategic stakeholders within the Wormhole network and ecosystem. Guardian Nodes received 5.1% (510,000,000 W), allocated to Guardian node operators securing the network.
(c) Initial price per token (if applicable)
Wormhole did not set a fixed initial offering price for W. The token entered circulation through the community airdrop and direct spot listings on exchanges including Binance, Kraken, OKX, Bitget, Backpack, and Gate.io on April 3, 2024, with the market setting the initial price through exchange trading.
(d) Ticker / market symbol
W trades under the ticker W.
(e) Total supply & supply regime
Total supply is fixed at 10,000,000,000 W with no inflation, and the W 2.0 upgrade introduced no new minting. Circulating supply is approximately 6.29 billion W as of August 2026, and this figure must be refreshed at publication.
(f) Initial vesting / release schedules
The original release schedule unlocked the locked supply over four years using annual cliff unlocks. Under the W 2.0 upgrade, those annual cliffs were replaced with bi-weekly unlocks beginning October 3, 2025. At TGE, Community & Launch unlocked 11% of total supply with the remaining 6% unlocking four months later; Ecosystem & Incubation unlocked 500,000,000 W (5% of total supply) with the remainder moving to bi-weekly unlocks from October 3, 2025; and Foundation Treasury unlocked 2% of total supply and retains its existing contractual schedule under W 2.0. Core Contributors, Strategic Network Participants, and Guardian Nodes unlocked nothing at TGE. Core Contributor tokens release bi-weekly to the Wormhole Foundation while original contractual agreements remain in place. Strategic Network Participants and Guardian Nodes are on bi-weekly unlocks from October 3, 2025, with locks extended until October 2028 under W 2.0.
Blockworks note: W launched as a native Solana SPL token and later expanded to native ERC-20 form through Wormhole Native Token Transfers, so the same fixed supply is represented natively across chains rather than through wrapped representations. Lock schedules for investors and Guardian validators were extended by six months to October 2028 as part of the W 2.0 upgrade.
(Source: Wormhole (W) tokenomics, Wormhole announces W Token 2.0 upgrade, W airdrop explained, W launch roadmap, Decrypt: Wormhole airdrop on Solana just hours away as Binance, Kraken prep listings, CoinGecko: Wormhole (W))
Airdrop Process
Address each of the following sub-items based on the project's airdrop status. If a sub-item does not apply to the project's situation, state that explicitly.
- (a) Planned but not yet executed airdrop — If the project has planned but not yet airdropped, commit to publishing a recipient wallet list in a public channel and provide it to Blockworks quarterly until the initial TGE airdrop is fully completed. Additionally, generally state the possible target user segments (e.g., "stakers of X," "Aave users") and the allocation method (e.g., proportional to ve-balance or net position).
- (b) Executed airdrop — If the project has already airdropped, point to a per-address source such as CSV/TSV/JSON files, a Dune table, a full Merkle dump, GitHub repo files embedding per-address allocations, or RPC endpoints that expose claim/amount data; explorer links alone do not count. Additionally, clearly state covered user segments (e.g., "stakers of X," "Aave users") and the allocation method (e.g., proportional to ve-balance or net position).
- (c) No airdrop planned or conducted — If the project does not plan to conduct an airdrop for TGE and has never conducted one, state so plainly (e.g., "We have never conducted an airdrop to date and do not plan to execute one").
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Planned but not yet executed airdrop: Not applicable. Wormhole's initial TGE airdrop was executed on April 3, 2024, and the claim period has closed. There is no planned-but-unexecuted TGE airdrop to which this sub-item applies.
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Executed airdrop: Per-address source: Wormhole has not published a per-address allocation dataset for the executed airdrop. Official airdrop materials state that Wormholescan and third-party APIs do not contain all information used to calculate eligibility, and eligibility was checkable only per wallet through the claim portal at airdrop.wormhole.com. Unclaimed tokens were returned to a multisig after the claim period and reserved for future community initiatives. (Source: Airdrop deep-dive, How to claim W airdrop)
Covered user segments and allocation method: The airdrop allocated 678,823,000 W, representing 6.78% of total supply, across more than 400,000 qualified wallets. Approximately 81% of the airdrop, roughly 549,000,000 W, went to onchain users of Wormhole-based multichain applications and bridges across more than 30 chains. Approximately 19%, roughly 129,000,000 W, went to community groups consisting of active Wormhole Discord members holding the Spacewalker, Extraterrestrial, or Wormhole Fellows roles, the top 500 Zealy participants, the top 10,000 PYTH stakers, DeGods and y00ts holders, Bad Kids holders, Mad Lads holders, and 1,081 Monad community members. The methodology used a February 6, 2024 23:59 UTC snapshot, ownership clustering across linked wallets, a median qualifying threshold of approximately $1,500 in adjusted cumulative transfer value, bonus multipliers for engagement length, timing, cumulative volume, and asset type, and anti-sybil analysis performed in partnership with Allium. (Source: Airdrop deep-dive, W airdrop explained)
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No airdrop planned or conducted: Not applicable. Wormhole has conducted an airdrop.
Transactions & Market Structures
Market Maker Agreements & Deals
Projects must disclose all material terms of market-making arrangements that affect token liquidity. If the project has no agreements or deals with market makers, state that explicitly; doing so earns full credit. For each market maker, include in a table:
- (a) Market maker's name — the market maker's name;
- (b) Token allocation or loaned amount — the token allocation or loaned amount as a percentage of total supply;
- (c) Duration/term of agreement — the duration/term of the agreement; and, where applicable,
- (d) Name of agreement structure — label the financial vehicle being used in the agreement (i.e. loan, option/call, retainer model) without describing trading strategy or expected outcomes.
If the project has no agreements or deals with market makers, state that explicitly; doing so earns full credit. If no native tokens were loaned or allocated to market makers, state that explicitly; cash/fiat retainers or fees are not required for this item.
Blockworks note: Wormhole has not publicly disclosed any market maker agreements, token allocations or loans to market makers, or the terms of any such arrangements.
CEX / DEX Agreements & Deals
Projects must disclose all material terms of centralized or decentralized exchange listings that affect token liquidity. For each listing, include in a table:
- (a) Exchange name / DEX pool — the exchange name (and, for DEX, the specific pool/pair);
- (b) Token allocation for listing — the token allocation supplied or committed for listing as a percentage of total supply;
- (c) Term Duration — the duration/term of any listing lockups, liquidity, or incentive programs; and, where applicable,
- (d) Native-token listing fees — whether any listing fees were paid in native tokens, with amounts (tokens or % of supply), recipients, and any vesting or lock terms tied to the partnership.
If the project has no agreements or deals with CEX or DEX, state that explicitly; doing so earns full credit; cash/fiat fee amounts are not required for this item.
Blockworks note: W listed for spot trading on Binance, Kraken, OKX, Bitget, Backpack, Gate.io, and other exchanges at 12:00 UTC on April 3, 2024. Wormhole has not publicly disclosed the terms of any listing arrangements, any token allocations supplied or committed for listings, any listing lockups or incentive programs, or any listing fees paid in native tokens. (Source: Decrypt listing coverage)
Financial Disclosures & Risks
Prior Token Sales & Fundraising
Disclose all prior token sales by the Project — including fundraising rounds, any material OTC sales to investors, and any discounted market-maker sales. For each sale, provide:
- (a) Series Name
- (b) Early-Stage Investment Instrument used (i.e. SAFT, STAMP, SAFE, SAFE+Token Warrant, etc.)
- (c) Date of sale (at least month & year)
- (d) Number of tokens sold (or % of total supply)
- (e) Vesting schedule
If no prior sales occurred, state that explicitly (e.g., "No prior fundraising, OTC, or discounted MM sales have occurred.").
- Series Name: Strategic fundraising round (Source: Fortune via Yahoo Finance, CoinDesk, Blockworks)
- Investment Vehicle: Token Warrant
- Date Of Sale: The round was announced on November 29, 2023. (Source: CoinDesk)
- Number of tokens sold: The round raised $225,000,000 at a $2.5 billion valuation. Wormhole has not publicly disclosed the number of tokens or the percentage of total supply sold to investors in the round. (Source: Fortune via Yahoo Finance, Blockworks)
- Vesting Schedule: Wormhole has not publicly disclosed investor-specific vesting terms. Under the published token release schedule, the Strategic Network Participants category, covering strategic stakeholders in the Wormhole network and ecosystem, had zero unlock at TGE, moved to bi-weekly unlocks beginning October 3, 2025 under W 2.0, and had its lock schedule extended by six months until October 2028. (Source: W tokenomics, W token 2.0 upgrade)
Previous Exploits Affecting The Native Token
If any, list prior exploits or incidents that directly affected the token, token supply, tokenholder balances, token contract, minting controls, burn mechanics, or custody of token supply. This question is not asking about general protocol, application, or smart contract exploits unless the incident directly affected the native token itself. If no prior incidents, state this explicitly (e.g., "No exploits affecting tokenholders or protocol funds as of YYYY-MM-DD").
- (a) Date & component affected — Date (YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD), chain(s)/component affected.
- (b) Exploit vector summary — Plain-language summary of the exploit vector (what the hack was).
- (c) Quantified impact — Quantified impact (assets/tokens affected or a clear "no loss of funds" statement).
- (d) Remediation/response taken — Remediation/response taken (patches, upgrades, governance actions, compensation).
- (e) Current status — Current status (resolved, in litigation, under investigation, refunded, etc.).
- (f) References (optional) — References (optional): link(s) to post-mortem/advisory/PR.
(a) Date & component affected
February 2, 2022. Solana-side Wormhole contract and Portal bridge.
(b) Exploit vector summary
An attacker exploited a signature-verification bug that allowed forged Guardian messages and minting of uncollateralized Wormhole-wrapped ETH on Solana.
(c) Quantified impact
The attacker minted 120,000 uncollateralized Wormhole-wrapped ETH, bridged 93,750 of those tokens to Ethereum, and withdrew the native ETH.
(d) Remediation/response taken
Node operators temporarily stopped relaying messages, the contract was upgraded to fix the vulnerability, safeguards were added, governance reached 2/3+ consensus on the upgrade, and Jump Crypto replenished the contract with 120,000 ETH to restore full collateral.
(e) Current status
Resolved. The network and Portal bridge came back online on February 3, 2022 and the contract was recapitalized so Wormhole-wrapped ETH was fully backed.
(f) References (optional)
(Source: Incident report, Security docs)
Blockworks note: The February 2022 incident predates the W token, which launched April 3, 2024, and did not affect W token supply, staked W balances, or W reward issuance. No exploits have affected W tokenholders or W token supply since the token launched. (Source: Incident report, W airdrop explained)
Material Risk Factors (Regulation, Technology, Token Economics)
Describe material risk factors across the three categories below. Each category includes prompts to address at a minimum.
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(a) Regulatory, Legal & Tax Risks — Describe how evolving laws and regulations could affect the project by answering, at a minimum, questions like:
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Impact of Regulatory Change on TGE and Listings: (If applicable) How could evolving or conflicting laws and regulations affect your ability to complete the TGE, deliver tokens to purchasers, and list or maintain the token on trading venues in key jurisdictions?
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Entity-Level Regulatory Impact: (If applicable) How could regulatory or legal changes impact your core entities (Foundation, DevCo, DAO, affiliated service providers), including enforcement actions, licensing requirements, or forced changes to structure or operations?
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Tokenholder Tax Treatment: (If applicable) What uncertainties exist around how tokenholders may be taxed, and make clear that tokenholders are responsible for understanding their own tax obligations?
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Jurisdictional & User Access Restrictions: (If applicable) If the project restricts access for certain jurisdictions or user types (e.g., U.S. persons, sanctioned countries, retail vs. professional), what are those restrictions and what risks do they create for users and for the project?
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(b) Protocol, Technology & Security Risks — Describe risks to network and contract reliability, correctness, and safety by answering, at a minimum, questions like:
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Bugs and Design Flaws: (If applicable) What bugs, design flaws, or implementation errors could exist in your core protocol code, smart contracts, and any bridges, rollups, or oracles that you depend on, and how could these lead to loss of funds or disruption of the protocol?
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Security Measures & Their Limitations: (If applicable) What security measures have you taken (audits, formal verification, bug bounties), and what types of failures might these measures still fail to detect or prevent?
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(c) Token Economics, Unlocks & Incentive Risks — Describe how the token's economic design and supply schedule could affect holders by answering, at a minimum, questions like:
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Critical Economic Assumptions: (If applicable) Which economic assumptions (e.g., staking yields, fee revenue, liquidity incentives, MEV capture, demand for blockspace) are critical for protocol security, utility, and governance, and what happens if those assumptions fail?
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Governance Control over Monetary Policy & Rewards: (If applicable) To what extent can governance change monetary policy, fee parameters, or reward allocations (e.g., inflation rate, treasury flows, incentive programs), and how could such changes adversely affect tokenholders?
(a) Regulatory, Legal & Tax Risks
The Wormhole websites and services are operated by or on behalf of Wormhole Foundation and its affiliates, the services are operated in the United States, and the governing law of the terms is Cayman Islands law. Foundation policies cite a Cayman Islands registered office, and the published legal documents reference two different Cayman office addresses, a Highvern Cayman contact address in the terms of service and a Silverside Management registered office in the privacy policy. Token-launch disclosures state that they contain forward-looking figures, that they can contain incorrect information, and that they are subject to change without notice. Legal and regulatory changes could require changes to launch communications, service access conditions, and entity operations, and the differing public office references create entity-level diligence risk around current legal-surface disclosures. (Source: Terms of use, Foundation terms, Privacy policy, W airdrop explained, W launch roadmap)
Users must not be Prohibited Persons, must not be located in U.S.-embargoed countries or designated terrorist-supporting countries, and must comply with applicable laws in the jurisdictions from which they access the services. Airdrop claimants were required to accept supplemental airdrop terms before claiming. These restrictions exclude users in restricted jurisdictions from the services and create compliance obligations for the project in enforcing them. (Source: Terms of use, Foundation terms, How to claim W airdrop)
Wormhole has not published tokenholder-specific tax guidance. Tax treatment of W acquisition, staking rewards, and disposals varies by jurisdiction, and tokenholders are responsible for determining their own tax obligations under applicable law. (Source: Terms of use)
(b) Protocol, Technology & Security Risks
MultiGov uses a hub-and-spoke design in which the hub manages proposal creation, vote aggregation, and execution, HubMessageDispatcher relays approved executions to spoke chains, SpokeMessageExecutor verifies and executes instructions, and SpokeAirlock acts as governance's admin on the spoke. Wormhole relies on a 13-of-19 Guardian supermajority for valid messages and governance actions, and delegated-chain observation can depend on fewer nodes before canonical signing occurs. Failures in signature verification, Guardian observation, proposal-execution relaying, airlock-admin logic, or contract implementation could lead to message disruption or incorrect cross-chain execution. The February 2, 2022 incident provides a concrete example. A Solana-side signature-verification bug allowed forged Guardian messages and the minting of 120,000 uncollateralized Wormhole-wrapped ETH. (Source: MultiGov architecture, MultiGov FAQs, Wormhole security docs, Guardian infrastructure docs, Incident report)
Wormhole has completed 29 third-party audits, publishes completed audit reports after issues are sufficiently addressed, and operates bug bounty programs through Immunefi. HubProposalExtender allows trusted actors to extend voting periods, and a timelock period exists between proposal approval and execution for additional security checks and community review. Wormhole did not introduce an emergency shutdown mechanism and instead relies on upgrade authority via governance to patch affected contracts, so remediation speed remains limited by governance and implementation timelines. The 2022 exploit demonstrates that audited systems still fail if a defect is missed or introduced between audit and deployment. (Source: Wormhole security docs, Wormhole security policy, MultiGov architecture, MultiGov FAQs, Incident report)
(c) Token Economics, Unlocks & Incentive Risks
W has a capped 10,000,000,000 supply, 82% of supply was locked at launch, and the locked supply unlocks over the published release schedule. W 2.0 introduced the Wormhole Reserve, funded from protocol revenues and ecosystem value flows, and a targeted 4% base yield sourced from existing supply and protocol revenues without adding inflation, while unlock optimization replaced annual cliffs with bi-weekly unlocks beginning October 3, 2025. The staking rewards program rewards W holders, and Reward Period #1 provides a minimum pool of 50,000,000 W. Governance participation, staking incentives, sufficient protocol revenue to fund the Reserve and yield, and the market's ability to absorb ongoing bi-weekly unlocks through October 2028 are material assumptions for tokenholder outcomes. If protocol revenues fall short, the Reserve and yield draw more heavily on existing supply, and if market demand fails to absorb the unlock cadence, holders face sustained supply pressure. (Source: W tokenomics, W token 2.0 upgrade, W staking rewards program)
Post-TGE onchain governance guides community programs and treasury-related activities and takes on increasing responsibility over time for blockchain-connection decisions, smart-contract upgrades, fee adjustments, rate limits, Guardian-set changes, and token utility and design. Proposals are created on the hub, votes are aggregated across spoke chains, and approved proposals execute cross-chain through MultiGov. Wormhole Governance approves or denies grants funding proposals, but the Wormhole Foundation currently handles KYC/KYB, disbursement, and reporting because there is no onchain treasury, and WIP-0 states that the future onchain treasury contribution is not yet determined. Governance therefore materially influences treasury flows, operational parameters, and incentive design, while part of the treasury-administration surface remains offchain and dependent on Foundation administration. (Source: W tokenomics, MultiGov FAQs, MultiGov architecture, WIP-3 grants program, WIP-0)
This Token Transparency Filing is provided for general informational purposes only and does not verify or warrant the accuracy of individual answers.