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WalletConnect began in 2017, when Portuguese developer Pedro Gomes was working on an Ethereum interface called Balance in Medellín, Colombia. As both a developer and a user, he saw a gap in Web3 infrastructure: mobile wallets could not safely connect to browser-based dApps without exposing private keys. MetaMask worked mainly through a desktop browser extension, while mobile wallets remained isolated.

Gomes proposed an open connection layer using a QR code and an encrypted channel between the wallet and the dApp, closer to an industry protocol than to a single product. In May 2018, the Ethereum Foundation gave the project a $150,000 grant. He left Balance and promoted WalletConnect at EthCC, Devcon, ETHDenver, and other developer events. Coinbase later explored a competing approach, making broad industry support essential.

By 2019-2020, WalletConnect v1.0 had gained adoption from MetaMask, Uniswap, OpenSea, Aave, and hundreds of dApps. A dApp generated a QR code; the user scanned it with a mobile wallet, and an encrypted session was routed through a central Bridge server. The server relayed data but could not read session contents. In April 2021, WalletConnect raised $1.25 million in a round led by 1kx.

In March 2022, an $11 million Series A funding was secured for WalletConnect v2.0, adding decentralized relays, multiple sessions, and multichain support for networks such as Cosmos, Polkadot, and Solana. Meta integrated WalletConnect for Instagram NFT avatar verification in 2022, and another $12.5 million ecosystem round followed. In 2023, v1 was shut down after the migration to v2, and the number of unique wallets surpassed 40 million. In September 2024, WalletConnect Inc. became Reown, while WalletConnect Foundation launched with the WCT token on Optimism.