4 APIs, 10 Chains, 2 Raises, and A Whole Lot More: A Look Back at WalletConnect’s 2022
2022 has been a year of exponential growth for WalletConnect. From new product launches to an expanded backend to multiplying integration partners (that now span 10 chains!), we have seen WalletConnect scale in just about every sense.
As we say goodbye to 2022, I would like to thank our community, our partners, and the WalletConnect team for an unforgettable year. And get ready for 2023 — we have plenty in store!
WalletConnect in 2022: Our major milestones and highlights
Our integration partners have now grown to 210+ wallets and 450+ apps — across 10 chains!
This was the year that WalletConnect went truly multi-chain. Not only did we onboard partners from new ecosystems, but we also helped our existing ones roll out multi-chain support thanks to WalletConnect Sign v2.0. Today, you can use WalletConnect in the EVM, Solana, NEAR, Neo, Stellar, Algorand, Elrond, Alephium, Celo, and Cosmos ecosystems. We expect our coverage to widen even more next year.
In 2022, the adoption of WalletConnect also diversified beyond wallets and dapps. Our SDKs were integrated to support NFT features (Twitter and Instagram), crypto payouts (Stripe), and developer solutions (Plaid).
WalletConnect Sign v2.0 entered production, kickstarting the migration to WalletConnect v2.0. We also shipped WalletConnect Auth, released WalletConnect Chat and WalletConnect Push in alpha, and redesigned our approach to protocol development with the Pairing API.
WalletConnect Sign v2.0 progressed from beta to production this year in what was a major milestone more than a year in the making. As a result, we began and concluded the first phase of the migration from WalletConnect Sign v1.0 to WalletConnect Sign v2.0, which was for wallets. Starting in January, we’ll be kicking off the second and final phase — for dapps!
Besides being a big year for WalletConnect Sign, we launched WalletConnect Auth, a brand-new API that logs users into apps with just a click. We also implemented a major change to our protocol design with a new, under-the-hood Pairing API, which helps you build custom protocols alongside WalletConnect APIs with ease, flexibility, and efficiency.
In line with our ambition to realize richer user experiences, we shipped the alpha for both WalletConnect Chat and WalletConnect Push. We’re building fast on both ends, with a major update to come in early 2023.
We redesigned Web3Modal from the ground-up, reimagining both the developer and user experience.
In 2022, we took on the mission to make Web3Modal bigger and better in every way. Besides a stunning new interface, plenty of thoughtful features have been threaded throughout, from a built-in RPC to ENS name resolution. Expect the stable release early next year!
We also purposefully redesigned Web3Modal to be multi-chain ready. With the EVM-compatible world as our first step, we followed up with the release of Solib, Web3Modal’s Solana toolkit, this fall. Web3Modal with native Solana support will come early next year — with new chains to follow soon after.
We embraced Sign-in with Ethereum, integrating it into WalletConnect Auth and the WalletConnect Cloud experience.
This summer, we made it possible for you to log-in to the WalletConnect Cloud with your wallet, thanks to our SIWE integration. We also simplified the SIWE flow for WalletConnect Auth to just one click, making it the most seamless SIWE experience available today.
We simplified and regionalized our architecture, and have begun working towards the decentralization of our infrastructure. You can also now check the health of our services on the WalletConnect Status site!
In addition to all that’s happening on the product front, the WalletConnect team has been working hard to simplify and regionalize our backend infrastructure, expanding our data center coverage from one region to three. As a result, WalletConnect v2.0 has become faster on the order of seconds for our non-EU users.
We have also begun to take our first tangible steps towards decentralizing our infrastructure, following a months-long design process with external reviewers. This will lay the foundation for the future WalletConnect Network, a decentralized community of infrastructure providers who, together, maintain the WalletConnect protocol.
Key in all of this is transparency and trust. As an infrastructure provider, we need to provide visibility into the status of our services. That’s why we launched the WalletConnect Status website, which lets you check the real-time health of WalletConnect v2.0.
Moreover, we raised two rounds this year — our Series A in March, followed by an ecosystem round in October.
Our incredible momentum was underpinned by two successful raises. Our Series A, co-led by Union Square Ventures and 1kx, was dedicated to scaling our product pipeline. Our ecosystem round, which brought together a wide and diverse range of investors, sought to lay the groundwork for the creation of the decentralized WalletConnect Network. We are now progressing on this swiftly.
The team grew from 10 to 25-strong this year, repping WalletConnect at one virtual hackathon and 10 IRL hackathons and conferences.
Last but not least, the WalletConnect team! In just one year, we’ve expanded from a team of 10 to 25 around the world. We’ve held three spectacular hack weeks in Barcelona, Koh Samui, and Medellin, and have come together for events and conferences. Besides one virtual hackathon, the team was on-hand to represent WalletConnect at a whopping 10 IRL hackathons and conferences across Europe, North America, Asia, and South America.
We’ll be coming together very soon, once again. This time, it will be with an amazing community of thinkers, builders, and more in what will be a first for the wallet ecosystem. You’ll find out more in early 2023 and how you can participate!
To keep up with our announcements, join our Discord and follow us on Twitter. If you are a wallet or an app that is interested in integrating WalletConnect, head over to our website and explore our documentation.
