Phantom CEO: The Next Chapter For Phantom | Brandon Millman & Donnie Dinch
This week Brandon Millman & Donnie Dinch join the show to discuss the past, present & future of Phantom. We deep dive into why did Brandon originally build Phantom, recent M&A activity, building perps, how does Phantom generate revenue, will Phantom IPO & more. Enjoy!
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(00:00) Intro
(04:08) Why Did Brandon Start Phantom?
(12:05) Building For Crypto Users vs Normies
(20:57) Ads (Zcash, Katana)
(22:11) Launching Phantom CASH
(27:26) How To Scale As a Startup
(35:42) Launching Perps
(47:12) Ads (Zcash, Katana)
(48:26) How Does Phantom Generate Revenue?
(53:16) The Next Chapter of Phantom
(56:24) Phantom's Recent M&A
(01:02:16) Ads (mantle)
(01:03:15) Will Phantom Launch a Chain?
(01:11:25) Prediction Markets
(01:15:31) Will Phantom IPO?
(01:21:01) Phantom Connect
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
Companies Are Competing to Bring Crypto to the Masses. Who Is Best Positioned? - Ep. 889
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Crypto is moving past speculation — and into the battle for mass adoption.
In this episode, Phantom CEO Brandon Millman and Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz join Unchained to debate who will own the next hundred million users. Will it be product-led startups, Web2 giants like X and Meta, or crypto-native apps like Phantom? From payments to trading wars to the “everything app” dream, they unpack where the real value will accrue — and why the easy money era for entrepreneurs is over.
Thank you to the sponsors who make this show possible!
Re
Mantle
Guests:
Brandon Millman, CEO and co-founder of Phantom
Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins
Timestamps:
🎬 0:00 Intro
🚧 3:34 Why Brandon still thinks it’s a great time to build in crypto
⚡ 5:55 How Luca sees this moment as an “inflection point” for the industry
👥 9:36 What Brandon and Luca’s personal journeys reveal about building in Web3
🌍 18:07 Who’s best positioned to onboard the next wave of users into crypto
💸 25:05 How distribution is key and why Luca desperately wants to invest in Phantom 😀
💳 37:00 Who might win the payments race and what gives them the edge
📱 51:26 Whether Solana’s Seeker phone has any real shot at breaking through
🔗 58:32 How Robinhood might use Privy and Bridge to dominate the crypto stack
⚔️ 1:01:17 What the new crypto trading wars say about Robinhood, Coinbase, and Kraken
🤔 1:06:05 Whether Coinbase lacks a good product team
📲 1:10:36 Whether the “everything app” dream actually makes sense
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Why Phantom Is Launching Perps + Why Bit Digital Ditched BTC for ETH - Ep. 866
In the first half of this dual episode, Phantom co-founder Brandon Millman joins Unchained to break down why his Solana-first wallet is launching perpetual swaps, and why it chose to integrate with Hyperliquid over any Solana-native option.
Then, Bit Digital’s Sam Tabar explains why the public company ditched its profitable Bitcoin mining business, went all-in on ETH, and what happened when he told Michael Saylor.
FalconX
Sam Tabar, Chief Executive Officer of Bit Digital, Inc
Brandon Millman, CEO and co-founder of Phantom
Phantom
Unchained: Phantom Wallet Launches Direct Perpetual Trading With Hyperliquid
Phantom blog post: Introducing Phantom Perps
Dragonfly’s Austin Marrazza tweet
Bit Digital
The Block: Bit Digital swaps entire treasury into Ethereum, says it's now a top public ETH holder after a $173 million splurge
Treasury companies
Unchained:
These 4 Crypto Treasury Companies Are Primed for a Price Crash
BitMine Crashes 39% After It Files to Raise $2 Billion for More ETH
Timestamps: Phantom
🎬 0:00 Intro
⚡ 1:36 Why Phantom is launching perps—and why now was the moment to do it
💥 6:08 How they landed on 40x leverage
💸 7:48 How Phantom plans to make money from its new trading product
🚫 8:50 Why U.S. users are left out (for now)
🔗 10:36 Why Hyperliquid won out over Solana-native DEXes
⚔️ 12:55 Whether wallets and dapps are headed for a showdown
🪪 17:22 Why Brandon believes wallets will be the new gateway to crypto
📱 18:45 How social features could redefine the wallet experience
🌅 22:45 What Brandon hopes Phantom becomes over the next five years
Timestamps: Bit Digital
💥 26:35 Why Bit Digital ditched Bitcoin for Ethereum—and how Gary Gensler played a role
💰 28:31 How they walked away from a profitable BTC mining business
🪙 32:58 Why Sam says there’s no better home for stablecoins than Ethereum
🗣️ 34:09 What came out of Sam’s surprising conversation with Michael Saylor about crypto treasuries
🤔 37:10 Whether ETH’s value accrual model needs a fundamental rethink
📈 42:21 How Bit Digital plans to ramp up its ETH accumulation
🧠 44:40 What their new AI venture is really aiming to do
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Phantom Wallet on Ethereum!
The Phantom Wallet is coming to Ethereum! Adding diversity and a smooth user experience to the DeFi wallet landscape, CEO Brandon Millman and CTO Francesco Agosti join us to discuss the migration to Ethereum, expansion into Polygon, the team's design philosophy, and the future of Phantom.
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------ Resources:
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Francesco Agosti https://twitter.com/fragosti
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures