"WalletConnect is just a free tool, the token ($WCT) is useless." I hear this all the time. And honestly? They were right For years, @WalletConnect was a clunky, open-source QR code. It was a cost center, not a business, but that bear case is now dangerously outdated. While everyone was distracted watching memes, @WalletConnect raised over $38M from Shopify, Kraken, and USV then rebuilt its entire protocol, and captured 51 million users The "free tool" just became the most valuable, tokenized network in Web3. Here’s the breakdown of what happened and why $WCT is the bet on everything. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<------------------->>>>>>> First, let's kill the "free tool" narrative, because that died when they professionalized. The structure is now split in two: → The Foundation Run by founder @pedrouid This non-profit protects the core protocol, keeping it open-source and neutral. This is what everyone thinks WalletConnect is. →The Company (Reown) Run by CEO @jesshoulgrave (ex-TradFi, Checkout(.)com). This is the $38M+ venture-backed company that builds the SDKs and services that drive adoption This is a genius move, the Foundation ensures trust while the Company ensures growth. <<<<<<<<<<<<------------------->>>>>>>>>> The second bear case: "It's clunky and sessions always drop." Again, this was true. v1.0 was a pain, but the team just forced the entire industry through a painful, mandatory upgrade to Protocol v2.0. Why? because v2.0 is a "persistent communication layer." It’s multi-chain (EVM, Solana, etc.) and it enables "Smart Sessions." This new tech allowed them to build their killer product: Web3Inbox. Think about it, how do dApps contact you now? Web3Inbox is a decentralized push notification system "Your Aave loan is about to be liquidated." "Your NFT mint is live." "A new DAO vote is active." This is the shift, as WalletConnect is no longer a "dumb pipe" for logins. It's the "smart network" for all onchain communication. <<<<<<<<<<<<------------------->>>>>>>>>> This brings us to the biggest bear case: "The $WCT token is useless." This is the most dangerously wrong take as the $WCT token was created to solve the single biggest weakness of v1.0: centralization. The old network ran on servers owned by the company, which is a single point of failure. The new v2.0 network runs on a decentralized network of independent nodes. And how do you power that new, decentralized network? You create an economy and that is $WCT. The token's utility is simple and brilliant → Staking (The Demand) To become a node operator and route all these new messages (from v2.0 and Web3Inbox) You MUST buy and stake $WCT, this is the economic "cost of entry" to the network. → Rewards (The Incentive) Why would you run a good node? Because you get paid in $WCT for high uptime and low latency. 17.5% of the total supply is for these rewards. → Future Fees (The "Cash Flow") The $WCT DAO will vote to turn on fees for new services like Web3Inbox. Imagine 71,000+ dApps paying micro-fees in $WCT to send millions of notifications. That revenue flows to the network, captured by the token and the "free tool" just got a "cash flow" engine. Now, let's take a look at the ecosystem, the network effect is a deep, uncrossable moat. → 51M+ unique wallets → 71,000+ dApps → 600+ wallets You cannot launch a dApp or wallet today and ignore WalletConnect, the war for connectivity is over and @WalletConnect won. <<<<<<<<<<<<<------------------->>>>>>>>> My Final Thesis: @WalletConnect is a high-growth, venture-backed, tokenized network with a user monopoly and backing from the biggest names in tech and finance The $WCT token is the staking and payment asset for the core communication layer of the entire onchain economy. A bet on $WCT is a bet on the growth of everything in Web3