If you've ever tapped "Connect Wallet" and scanned a QR code to link your wallet to an app, you've used the WalletConnect Network, whether you realized it or not. Fewer people know about the organization behind that Network’s roadmap: the WalletConnect Foundation.
If you’re a network participant—someone that uses the WalletConnect network as an end user, a wallet, an app or institution—you may be wondering what exactly the WalletConnect foundation is and how it relates to the ecosystem. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know, from what the WalletConnect Foundation is, the role it plays and its history since launch.
Let’s dive in.
What Is the WalletConnect Foundation?
The WalletConnect Foundation is the organization that stewards the WalletConnect Network. Its mission is to foster the network’s adoption and security while providing direction to achieve its aims.
Who created the WalletConnect Foundation?
Established in 2024 and led by WalletConnect founder Pedro Gomes, the WalletConnect Foundation was created to grow the network and adapt to the ever-changing onchain landscape. At its inception, the WalletConnect network was simply the original connectivity standard—providing the much needed connectivity layer between onchain apps and crypto wallets.
Today, both the WalletConnect network and the onchain landscape have evolved. The WalletConnect network is now a trusted network used by wallets, apps, and institutions for much more than just connections. It also facilitates money movement, serving financial institutions and neobanks as well as the DeFi apps and onchain wallets it was originally intended for.
That shift to serve onchain finance better was ushered in by the WalletConnect Foundation; the key to moving towards a roadmap that serves every type of network participant in the evolving landscape.
What is the WalletConnect Foundation for?
The WalletConnect foundation drives the Network's technical, community, partnerships, and administrative decisions. There are three key areas within the WalletConnect ecosystem where the Foundation plays a key role:
1. Grants & ecosystem support
The WalletConnect Foundation oversees grants to stakeholders and supports the teams building on the WalletConnect Network. Some grants and support are issued to teams that create applications on the network, build SDKs that foster the network’s adoption, and those building wallets that benefit the network or protocol.
2. Ecosystem Partnerships
The WalletConnect Foundation manages the relationships that grow adoption across wallets, apps, chains, and institutions, aiming to expand the WalletConnect network’s usage.
3. Governance stewardship
Possibly most importantly, the WalletConnect network is also responsible for stewarding Governance. Working in tandem with the community, it proposes and manages upgrades and improvements to the WalletConnect network.
The WalletConnect Foundation: Now and Into the Future
The WalletConnect Foundation's job is to lead the direction of the WalletConnect network, fostering adoption and proposing improvements with their expert insight. As founder and director of the WalletConnect foundation puts it:
"The WalletConnect Network has grown rapidly over the years. The Foundation's role is to make that growth sustainable over the long term. That means working closely with wallets, apps, chains, tokens and institutions to bring more utility to the network and make sure it keeps evolving around what their users need.”
— Pedro Gomes
Under the foundation’s leadership, the WalletConnect network continues to grow. While it already facilitates industry leading apps and wallets such as Uniswap, Morpho, Polymarket, Aave and Metamask, Ledger, and many more; it’s also improving its capabilities to serve financial institutions, Neobanks and fintechs, aiming to make onchain finance accessible to the entire industry. For that reason, the WalletConnect foundation is integral to the evolution of the WalletConnect network, and the onchain landscape as a whole.