Swell has changed more in the past year than almost any restaking protocol. Its Layer 2, Swellchain, has been shut down. The team has redirected its effort to Faro, a trading research platform for Hyperliquid. Meanwhile swETH and rswETH keep running on Ethereum, and the SWELL token remains an ERC-20 with no immediate changes. If you earned Pearls in the Voyage, deposited into the L2 pre-launch, or still hold Swell tokens, this guide explains where your rewards stand, what Swell has said about future rewards, and how the shutdown has given scammers fresh material.
What Swell is now
Swell started as a liquid staking protocol. Its core products are still live on Ethereum mainnet:
- swETH, a liquid staking token: you stake ETH and receive swETH, which earns Ethereum staking yield. In April 2026, Swell overhauled its staking architecture, moving from an NFT-based deposit model to a staking pool and ERC-20 model.
- rswETH, a liquid restaking token: ETH is restaked through EigenLayer, earning staking yield plus restaking rewards.
Swell’s site lists audits by Sigma Prime and Hexens and risk work by Gauntlet and Chaos Labs.
What is gone is Swellchain, the restaking-focused Layer 2 that launched in December 2024. In an April 28, 2026 post titled “Sunsetting Swellchain: From L2 to Faro”, Swell said it would wind the chain down and shift focus to Faro, which it describes as a research-to-trade platform for Hyperliquid that aggregates data from partners and turns it into insights users can act on.
How Swell’s rewards worked: Voyage, Pearls and Wavedrops
The Voyage and White Pearls
Before the token, Swell ran the Voyage campaign, in which stakers and liquidity providers earned Pearls. SWELL has a total supply of 10 billion, and the Voyage received 8.5%, or 850 million SWELL. Of that, 7% was distributed linearly by White Pearls earned and 1.5% went to a Loyalty Bonus. Claims opened at 9:00 UTC on November 7, 2024, and stayed open for six months, so the Voyage claim window closed in May 2025.
rSWELL and Black Pearls
Recipients could take their airdrop as restaked SWELL (rSWELL). Swell rewarded that choice with Black Pearls at a 10x rate and boosted ecosystem points when rSWELL was deposited into the Swell L2 pre-launch. rSWELL can be unstaked with a three-day cooldown.
Wavedrops
Swell also set aside 7.5% of supply for a series of six Wavedrops intended to build liquidity on Swell L2. Wavedrop 1 was a boosted 2% of supply, distributed fully liquid a few weeks after TGE. Wavedrops 2 and 3 were planned at 1.25% each and Wavedrops 4 to 6 at 1% each, with vesting options. Because the Wavedrops were designed around Swellchain liquidity, the shutdown of the chain changes their purpose. Swell has not published a detailed update on the remaining Wavedrops that we could verify, so treat any “Wavedrop” link with caution unless it appears on swellnetwork.io.
The Swellchain shutdown: dates that mattered
According to Swell’s sunset announcement:
- May 5, 2026: new deposits from Ethereum to Swellchain were disabled.
- June 15, 2026: the final withdrawal deadline through the front end. Bridge UI support ended on this date.
- June 30, 2026: the chain kept running for direct contract withdrawals, which Swell did not recommend for ordinary users.
Users were told to unwind DeFi positions on Swellchain apps such as Tempest and Ambient, then bridge back to Ethereum using Superbridge. Swell was blunt about the stakes: if funds were not bridged off Swellchain before the deadline, recovery might not be possible. If you still had assets on Swellchain after those dates, contact Swell through the support channels listed on its website; the project has moved community support from Discord to Telegram and in-app chat.
Current status of Swell rewards
At the time of writing, this is the picture:
- swETH and rswETH continue to earn staking and restaking yield on Ethereum. That yield, reflected in the token’s value, is the main ongoing “reward”.
- The Voyage claim is closed. It ran for six months from November 7, 2024.
- Faro rewards are planned but not detailed. Swell said it intends to design a status program connecting SWELL to Faro rewards, with details to come. No mechanics or dates have been published.
- SWELL liquidity has thinned. Some exchanges, including HTX in August 2026, have delisted SWELL citing low trading volume. Swell has also run buyback-and-burn using protocol revenue.
How to manage a Swell position step by step
- Open app.swellnetwork.io from swellnetwork.io. Type the main domain yourself.
- Check where your assets are. swETH and rswETH on Ethereum are unaffected by the Swellchain shutdown. Anything that was on Swellchain itself needed to be bridged out by the deadlines above.
- Decide between staking and restaking. swETH carries Ethereum staking risk; rswETH adds EigenLayer restaking risk in exchange for additional rewards.
- Understand exits. You can unstake through Swell’s withdrawal queue, which takes time, or sell on a DEX, which is faster but may happen at a discount.
- If you hold rSWELL, remember the three-day cooldown before you can move SWELL after unstaking.
- Follow Faro announcements from the official account rather than from third-party “Faro airdrop” guides, since the rewards program has not been defined.
Risks specific to Swell
- Slashing. swETH is exposed to Ethereum validator penalties; rswETH adds EigenLayer slashing conditions from the services it secures.
- Depeg and liquidity. Swell’s tokens can trade below redemption value on DEXs, especially as overall TVL and liquidity have shrunk. Using them as collateral adds liquidation risk.
- Project direction. Swell has moved its focus to a Hyperliquid trading product. Continued investment in the staking products is a reasonable question to watch.
- Token liquidity. Exchange delistings reduce the places to sell SWELL and can widen spreads.
- Stranded L2 funds. Assets left on Swellchain after the shutdown window may be difficult or impossible to recover.
Fake claim links targeting Swell users
Shutdowns and pivots are prime time for phishing. Swell’s anchors are swellnetwork.io, app.swellnetwork.io and docs.swellnetwork.io, the X account @swellnetworkio, and the GitHub organization SwellNetwork. Faro has its own X account, @FaroTrading, linked from Swell’s site. Watch for:
- “Swellchain recovery” sites. Pages that promise to rescue funds stuck on Swellchain by connecting your wallet and signing are a natural lure. Use only the routes Swell published.
- “Faro airdrop” or “SWELL to FARO migration” pages. Swell has said SWELL stays an ERC-20 on Ethereum with no immediate changes. No migration has been announced.
- Late Voyage claims. The Voyage window closed in 2025. There is no reopened claim.
- Discord impersonators. Swell moved community support to Telegram. Old Discord invites or DMs from “Swell support” should be ignored.
- Approval prompts. A real claim sends tokens to you. A request to approve your swETH, rswETH or SWELL on a “claim” page is a drain attempt.
FAQ
Are swETH and rswETH affected by the Swellchain shutdown?
No. Swell said both continue to operate normally on Ethereum mainnet.
Can I still claim my Voyage SWELL?
No. Claims opened on November 7, 2024 for six months and have closed.
What is Faro?
Faro is the Hyperliquid research-to-trade platform that Swell is now focusing on. Swell plans a status program linking SWELL to Faro rewards but has not released details.
Will SWELL be migrated to a new token?
Swell said SWELL remains an ERC-20 on Ethereum with no immediate changes. Treat any migration request as suspicious.
Verdict
Swell’s airdrop era is over and its L2 is closed. What remains is a working pair of staking tokens on Ethereum, a SWELL token waiting for a defined role in Faro, and a set of past campaigns that scammers will keep referencing. Track the official site and @swellnetworkio, keep your staking position on Ethereum, and wait for Swell to publish actual Faro reward rules before acting on anything.
Official sources: Swell official website, Swell documentation and Swellchain sunset announcement.
Staking and restaking carry slashing, depeg and smart-contract risk. This is not investment advice.
