Wormhole has announced a significant update to its tokenomics, centered around a new model called the Strategic Wormhole Reserve. This redesign aims to create a more sustainable and predictable value system for its native W token.
Centralized Revenue and Sustainable Rewards
The core of the new system is the Strategic Wormhole Reserve, which will collect revenue from various parts of the ecosystem, including the core protocol and its applications. This centralized approach ensures that rewards for stakers and other participants are funded by real protocol income, not token inflation. The total supply of W tokens will remain capped at 10 billion.
The new model introduces a baseline staking yield of 4% for W token holders, with opportunities to boost returns through a points system. This system is designed to incentivize both governance participation and active use of Wormhole’s multi-chain products.
Smoothing Out Supply and Market Unlocks
To address previous market pressure from large token unlocks, the new tokenomics will replace the old annual “cliff” releases with smaller, more frequent bi-weekly unlocks. This change is intended to create a more predictable and stable supply flow.
The distribution of tokens will continue to go to guardian nodes, community backers, and strategic partners, and tokens held by core developers will remain locked to ensure a long-term commitment to the project’s success. The updated tokenomics are scheduled to go live in October.
September 2025, Cryptoniteuae
