Walrus Protocol, backed by a16z, to debut on Gate.io and KuCoin: An Introduction to WAL

Gate.io, KuCoin, and MEXC will list Walrus's WAL token later today, after its mainnet launch and token generation event.

An official announcement revealed that Gate.io will list Walrus (WAL) for spot trading against USDT on March 27 at 10:00 AM UTC, exclusively on the Sui network. Users can make deposits now, and withdrawals will be available starting at 10:00 AM UTC on March 28, 2025. Between March 27 and April 8, users can stake their tokens to earn more WAL hourly, based on the proportion of assets they have staked, from a total airdrop pool of 200,000 WAL tokens.

The Gate.io listing will follow the Token Generation Event for the WAL token, which is also scheduled for today. The TGE coincides with the launch of the Walrus mainnet, allowing users to utilize WAL tokens within the Walrus ecosystem. 

The Walrus Protocol public testnet was launched in October last year.

At press time, the launch price is unclear. WAL will also be listed on major exchanges like KuCoin, MEXC, Bitget, and Bithumb, simultaneously with the Gate.io launch.

WAL will have a maximum supply of 5 billion tokens, with over 60% going to the community to help bootstrap adoption and growth. This includes 10% for airdrops to early users, 43% reserved for grants, developer support, and incentive programs, with the rest set aside as subsidies for storage node operators.

The remaining allocation consists of 30% for core contributors and 7% for early investors who backed the project during fundraising.

With no vesting on airdropped tokens, WAL’s launch might see early volatility as recipients take profits.

What is Walrus Protocol?

Developed by Mysten Labs, Walrus is a decentralized storage and data availability protocol on the Sui blockchain, focusing on large binary objects, also known as blobs. It aims to address scalability, cost, and fault tolerance challenges for decentralized storage networks.

Backed by heavyweights like a16z crypto, Electric Capital, and Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, Walrus recently raised $140 million in a funding round led by Standard Crypto.

Walrus is designed to provide a blob storage layer optimized for decentralized applications. It distributes data across a global network of nodes, each competing for stake from users. This system improves resilience and cost-efficiency while ensuring high availability for storing large, unstructured files, ideal for use cases like NFTs, decentralized social media, and AI datasets.

The WAL token has several roles within the ecosystem. It's used to pay for storage, secure the network through staking, and participate in protocol governance. Users can delegate WAL to node operators to earn rewards or vote on network changes.