Phantom: The Quest to be Crypto’s Multichain Champion

Friends,

Few products have made as strong a first impression on me as Phantom. When I tried the startup’s crypto wallet for the first time in 2021, I felt like I’d glimpsed a little piece of web3’s future.

Often, trying to engage in crypto can feel like you’re going backward and forward in time simultaneously. You know you’re experimenting with a brand-new technology architecture, but the product design and usability seem closer to pre-mobile internet. Even trying to do something simple can feel complicated, irritating, and a bit scary. (Especially given the level of fraud in crypto.)

Founders Brandon Millman, Francesco Agosti, and Chris Kalani have built the exception. Phantom is a crypto product with a polish and thoughtfulness that matches the best of web2. Better still, the startup has introduced cutting-edge security features designed to protect users and their assets. That combination has helped Phantom attract millions of users, a valuation of $1.2 billion, and $118 million in investment – including a teeny-tiny angel check from yours truly.

While that’s quite a start for a business less than two years old, Phantom’s best days are ahead. Just last month, the company announced it was expanding beyond Solana to support both the Ethereum and Polygon ecosystems. That represents a major leap forward that will not only better serve users but lay the groundwork for broader web3 adoption.

To learn more about Phantom’s quest to become crypto’s multichain champion, jump in.

PS – Readers of The Generalist tend to be very sophisticated, so this will go without saying for many of you. For the avoidance of doubt, however: please remember that crypto is a very volatile space – now more than ever. If you’re considering investing or engaging in the world of web3 (including in wallets), it’s essential to do your own research. As always, this is not investment advice.
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​This piece was written as part of The Generalist's partner program. You can read about the ethical guidelines I adhere to in the link above. I always note partnerships transparently, only share my genuine opinion, and commit to working with organizations I consider exceptional. Phantom is one of them.

This piece is brought to you by Phantom

Phantom makes interacting with web3 – whether you’re sending tokens, staking SOL, or buying an NFT – way less stressful and way more enjoyable. Some of Phantom’s thoughtful features include:

• NFT collections. Your NFTs are automatically grouped by collection and easily viewable. It’s a sleek, intuitive way of keeping track of your digital assets.
• Token swapping. You can easily swap your tokens without leaving the Phantom app. More than 100,000 users have swapped $1 billion in volume through the feature.
• Integration with Blowfish. Phantom helped incubate one of web3’s newest and potentially most powerful security companies, Blowfish. The startup’s technology is integrated into Phantom's product and saves users from processing fraudulent transactions.

All to say, there’s a reason the company has racked up millions of users in less than two years.

​To get started with Phantom’s one wallet for everything, sign up here.​

Phantom: The Quest to be Crypto's Multichain Champion

Actionable insights

If you only have a few minutes to spare, here's what investors, operators, and founders should know about Phantom.

• Phantom is going multichain. The wallet company shared major news last month: it’s coming to Ethereum and Polygon. Not only will this radically expand the size of Phantom’s opportunity, it will also put the company head-to-head with crypto’s biggest wallet: MetaMask.
• A buttery product. Since launching in 2021, Phantom has grown at an extraordinary clip. The company’s exceptionally smooth product has been essential to that uptick. Use the elegant wallet, and you’ll see why it’s such a “buttery” experience.
• A knack for making the right decisions. CEO Brandon Millman has cultivated a culture of intention and intuition. Phantom isn’t afraid to go with its gut, but only after carefully thinking through the different options. This balance has helped the startup make consistently good non-consensus decisions.
• Crypto’s turning point. Every crypto company right now is asking itself a question: where are we? How far along the adoption curve is our industry? Using Carlota Perez’s framework for analyzing the maturation of great technologies, crypto appears to be at a turning point. The industry will need to act savvily to usher in a “golden age.”
• The power of wallets. Though used by millions, we still don’t really know what crypto wallets will become. What will they look like? What functionality will they absorb? At present, they hold a position of power in the ecosystem, with numerous expansion opportunities.

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Few startups had a better 2021 than Phantom. After launching in the spring of 2021, the crypto wallet went on the kind of tear that demonstrates what true, scalding product-market fit looks like, amassing millions of customers, $118 million in capital from firms like Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and a unicorn valuation. For a company younger than most parmesans, this was a genuine annus mirabilis.

While 2021 might have been more eye-catching, I suspect 2022 will prove more important in Phantom’s story. (For what it’s worth, I am betting it will be a long story – I angel invested in the company’s last round.) As the crypto markets have cooled dramatically, founders Brandon Millman, Chris Kalani, and Francesco Agosti have continued to ship substantial improvements and set new benchmarks for how a consumer wallet should function and what it should feel like. It is both an elegant, intuitive product and one packed with security features designed to protect customers better. I suspect many of these safeguards will become standard in time, as ubiquitous as a spam filter.

These are not incremental improvements, yet Phantom’s latest announcement dwarfs them: it is coming to Ethereum and Polygon. Anyone that has used both Phantom and ecosystem standard MetaMask will recognize the improvement this represents. Though the crypto community should be grateful for MetaMask’s service these past few years, many believe it is yesterday’s wallet. To attract and retain mainstream usage, crypto needs a consumer-grade wallet that travels across ecosystems, supporting on-chain activity. It requires a crypto pocketbook, a digital, bottomless backpack carrying identity, information, and property across the internet.

This is Phantom’s ultimate goal: to become an inventory for everything. Such supremacy never comes easily, but it is definitely in play. Few wallets offer such a smooth product; fewer still boast the deep ecosystem partnerships Phantom has cultivated; none carry those advantages across multiple ecosystems.

I've had so much fun digging into the Phantom story over the past few months, and I really hope you enjoy the rest of the piece! We'll be back to you on Sunday with our final briefing of the year.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of your week!

Mario