Wormhole is an interoperability platform facilitating communication and asset transfers across over 30 blockchain networks. It’s often called the "Web of Web3" by the crypto community, as it enables developers to build multichain applications and bridges at scale.
Wormhole operates as a cross-chain messaging protocol that allows blockchains to transfer different types of data like crypto tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and governance actions. The protocol leverages its security from the Guardian Network, a set of trusted nodes that validate and sign messages to ensure platform integrity.
It works quite simply: when most Guardians approve a message, it is encapsulated into a Verified Action Approval (VAA), a cross-chain data packet that finalises transactions on destination blockchains.
Wormhole’s ecosystem is powered by the W token, a multichain-native token with a total supply capped at 10 billion. Initially launched on the Solana network under the SPL standard, it quickly expanded to Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains using Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers (NTT) feature.