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Complete Guide to Walrus Token Airdrop Claiming and Staking Strategies
The Sui community is buzzing with excitement as the highly anticipated Walrus Protocol is officially live on Mainnet. Crypto users now have new and exciting opportunities to engage with a revolutionary, decentralized data storage solution. Walrus Protocol is like Amazon Web Services (AWS) but fully on-chain and decentralized. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about claiming your $WAL token airdrop, staking it, and positioning yourself for future rewards.
What is Walrus Protocol and Why does it Matter?
Walrus is a groundbreaking protocol build on the Sui blockchain that is designed to transform how applications use and interact with data. Now that Walrus is live on Sui Mainnet, users have a chance to participate in a cutting-edge decentralized ecosystem that empowers data ownership.
Walrus Token Airdrop Claiming Process
If you’ve been and active participant in the Sui ecosystem and spent time interacting with Walrus Protocol while it was still on Testnet, then there’s a chance you are eligible for the $WAL airdrop. Check your Slush Wallet to see if you received a Walrus NFT. They were airdropped to eligible Web3 wallets about a month ago. Log into your Sui Wallet and go to Assets to see if you have the Walrus NFT. If so, you’re eligible to claim your portion of the $WAL airdrop and here’s how to do that:
Go to the official Walrus Protocol website and click on the “CLAIM” button at the top right of the homepage. That will take you to the Walrus Claiming Portal.
- Connect your Sui wallet that received the Walrus airdrop NFT.
- Once your wallet is connected to the Walrus Claiming Portal, click the “Claim Airdrop” button.
- Your Sui wallet will open, confirm the transaction and you will get your $WAL token airdrop allocation deposited into your wallet.
* Important Note: Make sure you have at least a small amount of $SUI in your wallet when claiming $WAL to cover the gas fees.
How to Stake $WAL Tokens to Earn Rewards, Secure the Network, and Qualify for Future Airdrop
Now that you’ve claimed your Walrus airdrop, you should consider staking at least a portion of it. Why stake $WAL tokens? Some of the benefits to staking $WAL tokens include; earn rewards, secure the Walrus network, and potentially qualify for a second $WAL airdrop. Speculation of a second round of Walrus airdrops is strong among the crypto community and was also hinted at in an X post by Adeniyi (co-founder of Mysten Labs) the morning of the TGE.
According to the $WAL Tokenomics, 10% of the total supply is allocated to Airdrops but just 4% of that allocation was distributed on the token generation event. That means 6% of the allocated 10% is still pending for future $WAL airdrops. If that is the case, then you’ll most likely want to stake $WAL if your received the airdrop. If you didn’t get the Walrus airdrop, you can simply swap some $SUI or $USDC for $WAL on Cetus, Turbos, 7K aggregator, Hop Aggregator, Aftermath Finance, or any Sui ecosystem decentralized exchange.
How to Stake $WAL Tokens
To stake your $WAL tokens, go to the official Walrus Staking site and connect your Sui wallet. Currently, there are over 100 Storage Nodes you can choose to stake your $WAL tokens with. Personally, I went with the Suilend node but I honestly don’t think it matters much who you choose as the commissions are the same from I can see with all the options. Once you’ve selected a Node, do the following to stake your Walrus Protocol tokens:
- Click the STAKE button for the chosen Storage Node.
- Enter the amount of $WAL you want to stake.
- Click on the “STAKE” button and confirm the transaction in your Sui wallet.
That’s it, your $WAL tokens are now staked, earning rewards, and helping to secure the Walrus network. You’ve also now potentially set yourself up for a second $WAL token airdrop!
* Note: You have the option to un-stake your $WAL tokens at any time.
Additional Strategies to Maximize $WAL Rewards
The Sui DeFi ecosystem offers many ways maximize returns on $WAL and potentially qualify for future airdrops. Below are a few simple strategies to put WAL tokens to work for you.
$WAL Liquid Staking Options
Liquid staking your Walrus tokens is a great option made easy with Haedal Protocol. Stake your $WAL on Haedal and receive the liquid staking token (LST) $haWAL in return. You can then put your haWAL to work on any of the Sui ecosystem DeFi protocols to earn additional yield. This option is essentially a “double-dip” strategy as you get the benefits of staking WAL while also having the ability to actively use $haWAL however your heart so desires.
Lending $WAL on Suilend
Lend your Walrus tokens by depositing them into the $WAL pool on Suilend to earn rewards. The current Deposit APR for WAL on Suilend is a juicy 111%. If you do decide to lend WAL on Suilend, you can then take it a step further and borrow against it to potentially generate even more returns. Just note, borrowing is a more advanced DeFi strategy you need to fully understand and research before diving into.
Provide Liquidity in WAL – Sui Pools on Cetus or Bluefin
Another way to use $WAL to generate yield and potentially qualify for a second airdrop is to provide liquidity. All of the top Sui DeFi protocols such as Cetus, Bluefin, ZO, and Turbos Finance have Liquidity Pools you can deposit your $WAL tokens into. In return for providing liquidity let’s say into the WAL – SUI LP, you earn commission on fees the DEX generates when users swap for that pair.
Walrus Airdrop Highlights Importance of Participating in Sui Ecosystem
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of the Walrus token airdrop, claiming process, staking mechanisms, and strategies to maximize your returns. Just being an active participant in the Sui ecosystem can truly be rewarding as we’ve seen with Walrus, SuiNS, and DeepBook, Ika, and many others. The good news is that there’s still time to position for the speculated next round of Walrus airdrops as well as other highly anticipated Sui ecosystem token launches such as Ika and Karrier One!
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
