Waves Community Token

Waves Community Token (WCT) was a utility token issued on the Waves blockchain in early 2017 as part of the initial framework supporting governance and community involvement within the Waves ecosystem. It was created and distributed by the Waves Platform team, not as an independent project but as a built-in component of the network's early token structure. WCT was non-mineable, issued with a fixed supply of 10 million units, and operated exclusively on the Waves infrastructure.

The token was distributed monthly to WAVES holders from January to September 2017, with an initial 20% airdropped and the remaining 80% released in equal monthly portions. Eligibility for these airdrops required users to hold WAVES in personal wallets, excluding balances on centralised exchanges. This design encouraged network decentralisation and increased participation in the platform’s leasing-based Proof-of-Stake (LPoS) mechanism.

By late 2022 and early 2023, WCT became obsolete and was replaced by the $POWER token under the Power DAO governance structure introduced by the Waves team. As of 2025, WCT is no longer active, with no trading volume or functional role in the Waves ecosystem.

WCT was designed to support several targeted roles within the Waves Platform:

• Governance: WCT granted its holders voting rights in network-level decisions, functioning as one of the earliest governance mechanisms within the Waves environment. These rights included participating in decisions related to the development of the platform and evaluating the credibility of new tokens or projects launched via Waves.
• Community Reputation and Project Assessment: Holders of WCT could contribute to a decentralised reputation system, used to assess and rate projects within the Waves ecosystem. This community-driven vetting process aimed to identify credible projects and discourage scams or low-quality initiatives.
• Behavioural Incentives: To reinforce decentralisation, eligibility for WCT airdrops was restricted to WAVES tokens held in personal, non-custodial wallets. This incentivised users to withdraw their assets from centralised exchanges, making them available for leasing and improving the security and performance of the LPoS network.
• Eligibility for Future Airdrops: WCT ownership served as a qualifier for airdrops by third-party projects launching on the Waves Platform. Notably, in 2019, WCT holders were included in the airdrop of Vostok (VST), a separate blockchain initiative affiliated with the Waves team. This function positioned WCT as a loyalty indicator, connecting active community members with new ecosystem projects.

These combined roles made WCT a multi-purpose token focused on reinforcing network participation, decentralised governance, and curated growth of the ecosystem.

WCT was created by the Waves Platform core development team, led by Sasha Ivanov, the founder and CEO of the platform. Ivanov played a central role in the token’s design and implementation, aligning its functions with the strategic direction of Waves during its formative years.

The decision to issue WCT as an integral governance and engagement token reflected the team’s broader design choices, which also included the issuance of WAVES as the base asset and MRT (Miners Reward Token) as a reward token for node operators.

WCT's role and utility were directly shaped by the platform’s evolution. In 2023, Ivanov publicly confirmed that WCT's governance functions had been superseded by the new Power DAO model and its associated token, $POWER. This marked the formal deprecation of WCT, concluding its active involvement in the platform’s governance and community frameworks.

Although 'WCT' was the ticker assigned at the deployment of the Waves Community Token's smart contract, it is also in use by another asset with a larger market presence and higher trading volume on major exchanges. To avoid confusion in the marketplace, the alternative ticker 'WAVESCOMM' has been adopted for this token. This designation ensures that assets are distinctly identified.