Wallet Connectivity on Hedera: When to Use Reown AppKit and Hedera Wallet Connect

By Michiel Mulders

As Hedera continues to evolve, developers need access to cross-chain-friendly tooling to support wallet connectivity. With the emergence of Reown (formerly WalletConnect), Hedera developers can now choose between two distinct but compatible approaches to enable wallet connections and signing flows in their dApps:

• Reown AppKit: a multi-chain, EVM-friendly tool that provides wallet connection, login UX, analytics, and fiat onramps.
• Hedera Wallet Connect: a Hedera-native implementation of the WalletConnect v2 protocol that supports native Hedera features.

In this blog, we’ll break down how Reown supports Hedera, the differences between the EVM-compatible and native JSON-RPC flows, and when to use each option. Whether you’re building an EVM-style dApp or leveraging Hedera-native services like the Hedera Token Service (HTS), this guide will help you pick the right integration path and provide context.

Why Reown Matters for Hedera Developers

Reown builds on the foundation of WalletConnect to offer a complete on-chain UX layer, tailored for dApps that demand user-friendly experiences. Through AppKit, Hedera developers can access a suite of features with minimal setup:

• Supports 500+ wallets across mobile, browser, and hardware devices
• Enables email and social logins for onboarding new users
• Provides one-click authentication via Sign-In with Ethereum (SIWE)
• Offers multi-account support for advanced wallet use cases
• Integrates fiat on-ramps and payments directly into your dApp
• Works across EVM chains and Hedera from a single integration

Let’s now explore the relationship between Reown and Hedera Wallet Connect.

Reown & Hedera Wallet Connect

Reown (formerly WalletConnect) provides a multi-chain wallet connection layer. Its key components:

• AppKit — for dApps: handles wallet connection, session management, and chain interaction.
• WalletKit — for wallets: handles message signing and session negotiation.
• Reown Dashboard — offers analytics, metrics, and project configuration.

So where is Hedera in all of this? Reown supports Hedera through two namespaces:

Option 1: eip155 (EVM) — Reown

This option uses Hedera’s JSON-RPC relay for EVM-style transactions. This means you can send Ethereum JSON-RPC calls to a Hedera JSON-RPC Relay provider like Hashio, which then communicates with Hedera consensus and mirror nodes. A Hedera JSON-RPC Relay implements the Ethereum JSON-RPC Specification, allowing for EVM-style transactions on Hedera.

Option 2: hedera (native) — Hedera Wallet Connect

Wallets in the Hedera ecosystem also support a separate specification that defines how to send transactions and messages to wallets over the WalletConnect network without relying on a Hedera JSON-RPC Relay provider. This is a Hedera-specific JSON-RPC specification designed for use with the WalletConnect network, distinct from other JSON-RPC specifications such as Ethereum’s.

This specification (hedera namespace) is a community-led effort detailed in HIP-820 (Hedera Improvement Proposal). This HIP defines a set of Hedera-specific JSON-RPC methods that wallets and dApps can use for native Hedera operations (beyond just Ethereum-style calls). These methods allow wallets to sign and submit Hedera transactions or queries using native Hedera APIs and account IDs. For instance, you can create tokens using the Hedera Token Service or query messages for a Topic from the Hedera Consensus Service.

Here’s an overview of these methods:

• hedera_signTransaction
• hedera_executeTransaction
• hedera_signAndExecuteTransaction
• hedera_signAndExecuteQuery
• hedera_signMessage
• hedera_getNodeAddresses

A community-maintained library (@hashgraph/hedera-wallet-connect) implements these Hedera-specific JSON-RPC methods for Hedera-native transactions. Reown allows you to use this hedera adaptor (or library) so you can use Hedera native APIs.

What’s the relationship between Reown (eip155) and Hedera Wallet Connect (hedera)?

You can use Reown without Hedera Wallet Connect. However, as discussed in the previous section, the eip155 namespace only gives you access to Ethereum-style calls.

If you want to use Hedera native services, you can use the Hedera Wallet Connect library. You can also optionally integrate the Hedera Wallet Connect library with Reown to use both native and EVM-style calls.

In short, Reown does not strictly require the Hedera Wallet Connect package, but native Hedera functionality (Hedera Token Service, Ed25519 key support, and native queries) depends on it.

Capabilities Matrix

Here’s a capabilities matrix to help you further understand the differences and compatibilities. The last column evaluates if you need the Hedera Wallet Connect Adapter.

Summary

As you evaluate which package to use, the right approach depends on the level of functionality your DApp needs. Here’s a quick reference to help you decide:

Building an EVM-style dApp on Hedera?
Use Reown AppKit directly with the Hedera JSON-RPC endpoint. It’s the most streamlined path. This corresponds to the eip155 namespace.

Need native Hedera features like HTS, HCS, scheduled transactions, or Ed25519 accounts?
Add the @hashgraph/hedera-wallet-connect adapter to unlock full native capabilities. This corresponds to the hedera namespace. Remember that this path can support both native and EVM-style calls.

Wallet Connectivity on Hedera: When to Use Reown AppKit and Hedera Wallet Connect was originally published in Hedera Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.