Cross-chain protocol Wormhole plans to issue 10 billion tokens "HOLE" and is currently conducting a private token sale, seeking a valuation of $2.5 billion.

According to leaked documents, cross-chain protocol Wormhole is conducting a token private sale to raise $200 million, which would bring its valuation to $2.5 billion.

Token Issuance, Private Sale Underway

According to a document dated 2/18 obtained by The Block, Wormhole is set to issue 10 billion HOLE tokens and is selling 7.5 billion HOLE tokens to investors at a price of $0.25 each, accounting for 7.5% of the total supply.

Anonymous sources also mentioned that Wormhole's fundraising is still ongoing, aiming to reach a certain valuation for the protocol. The sale of 7.5 billion HOLE tokens in the private sale will generate $1.875 billion in revenue, bringing the protocol's valuation to $2.5 billion.

The document states that the 7.5 billion private sale tokens will be locked for one year after the token's official release and will be "unlocked annually" over the next three years. The exact institutional participants are currently unknown.

Wormhole's official Twitter has not responded to these claims and has not commented on The Block's report.

Surviving the Hack Crisis?

Wormhole suffered a loss of 120,000 ETH on 2/2 this year, valued at approximately $320 million at the time. Venture capital firm Jump Crypto reimbursed all the ETH to resolve the crisis.

Wormhole was launched by blockchain infrastructure Certus One in October 2020, and Jump Crypto acquired Certus One in August 2021, as reported by Bloomberg.

According to their website, Wormhole currently integrates seven different blockchain networks, including Solana, Terra, Avalanche, Ethereum, Oasis, Binance, and Polygon, with a total locked value of $38.7 billion.

As major public chains rose in 2021, further integration of the value across chains became a focal point in the crypto space. Cross-chain bridge Stargate on LayerZero attracted over $3.7 billion TVL within two weeks of launch. However, the centralization of asset locking in cross-chain bridge protocols has made them a target for hackers, leading to a series of exploit incidents.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin emphasized earlier this year that due to fundamental security limitations, a future with multiple chains coexisting is likely, but achieving a cross-chain scenario remains challenging.