From: thepipeline_xyz
A recent special episode of “The Pipeline” featured Brandon Millman, CEO and Co-founder at Phantom, Brian Freel, Head of Ecosystem Success at Phantom, and Keone Han, CEO and Co-founder at Monad Labs. The discussion centered on Phantom’s announcement to support Monad from day one, offering an in-depth look into the decision-making process behind such a commitment and the broader implications for the crypto wallet space [00:33:00].
Phantom’s Vision for a Multi-Chain World
Phantom’s strategy is built on the belief that the blockchain ecosystem will be multi-chain, with a few dominant ecosystems (perhaps two to three, or a maximum of five) ultimately thriving and building robust communities [02:21:00]. The company’s core mission is to onboard the next billion users, which necessitates scalable technology solutions readily available today [03:09:00].
Supporting New Chains: The Monad Case Study
The decision to support a new chain like Monad involves significant commitment [02:04:00]. Phantom prioritizes chains with strong underlying technology and a pragmatic approach to innovation [03:04:00]. Monad’s advancements in consensus and parallel execution, coupled with its EVM compatibility, are seen as crucial [03:31:00]. This combination aims to marry a user base demanding fast and cheap transactions with the robust existing EVM ecosystem [04:04:00].
Phantom’s early support for Solana was considered a “non-consensus bet” on a different layer one, which successfully propelled Solana to its current standing by fostering a unique community [04:41:00]. Monad is viewed as making similar early strides in developing its own community, particularly by being an EVM-compatible layer one as opposed to just an L2 solution [04:54:00].
From its inception, Phantom’s goal was to evolve into a multichain wallet [37:19:00]. Initially, the Ethereum ecosystem was seen as controversial for anything non-Ethereum [37:51:00]. However, the emergence of Binance Smart Chain in mid-2020 revealed a vast untapped retail market hungry for faster and cheaper chains [38:12:00]. This insight solidified the multi-chain future for Phantom. The strategy involved planting their flag on a new ecosystem, Solana, to propel their broader multi-chain expansion [39:04:00]. Key factors for choosing Solana included its technology-focused and pragmatic team, its contrarian position against EVM dominance which fostered a strong community, and its significant USDC deployment, essential for DeFi activity [40:59:00].
The Wallet’s Role in User Experience and Retention
Phantom is widely recognized for its excellent user interface and user experience [13:22:00]. It has served as the first non-custodial wallet for many users on Solana [01:22:00]. This focus on user experience has led to significant milestones, such as Phantom ranking #1 on the US Google Play Store for finance apps, surpassing even Cash App and PayPal [09:49:00]. This position brings a strong sense of responsibility, as Phantom often serves as the “first entry point to crypto for the mainstream” [11:15:00].
Wallets play a crucial role in user retention by showcasing the best of an ecosystem and encouraging users to interact with dApps, not just hold coins [12:33:00]. The approach to wallet user experience is holistic, encompassing user education, customer support, and in-wallet functionality [14:25:00]. With the proliferation of tokens, NFTs, and dApps due to scalable underlying technology, the wallet’s role is evolving to help users navigate and discover content safely [15:35:00].
Phantom leverages a jobs-to-be-done framework to identify and fulfill core user needs [16:13:00]. The recent acquisition of Bitsky, a creator of embedded wallets, aims to simplify Phantom’s onboarding experience, making it as seamless as Web2 with familiar identifiers, thereby increasing crypto adoption [16:34:00].
Monad’s Perspective and Future Use Cases
Monad expresses immense excitement for Phantom’s support, recognizing Phantom as a widely trusted and used non-custodial wallet that has consistently innovated and pushed the space forward with a great user experience [05:48:00].
Keone Han envisions crypto evolving into a “decentralized WeChat,” an immersive environment where various applications are embedded and interact seamlessly [18:06:00]. A blockchain provides the ideal substrate for this vision due to its shared global state, enabling composability and inter-application functionality [18:41:00]. The wallet, in this context, becomes the primary user interface for navigating and interacting with this rich ecosystem [18:31:00]. Phantom views itself as the “front end for crypto,” refining and presenting the best of the crypto world to end-users [19:53:00].
New use cases are enabled by breakthroughs in underlying technology [21:39:00]. Payments, particularly with Stripe’s recent announcement to allow merchants to accept crypto, are seen as a massive upcoming shift [20:25:00]. This can democratize crypto payments for businesses by providing an easy crypto-to-fiat exchange and a cheaper alternative to credit card processing [21:05:00]. Additionally, projects like Drip House, which revolutionized the NFT meta by focusing on abundance and creator relationships, exemplify how scalable systems like Monad or Solana can push new approaches in areas like micro-payments and creative monetization [21:49:00].
Layer 1 vs. Layer 2 for Monad
Monad’s decision to launch as a layer one blockchain stems from its focus on decentralization, performance, and cost-effectiveness for end-users [27:34:00]. The goal is to maximize performance from decentralized machines, which requires novel software changes and architecture [28:19:00]. While acknowledging the trilemma (performance vs. decentralization), Monad aims to “move up and to the right” on a graph of these two axes through architectural and software improvements [29:10:00]. Building as an L1 allows Monad to push the envelope on both performance and decentralization, ensuring decentralized control of block production and censorship resistance, which are seen as compromises in current L2s [29:36:00].
Multi-chain Connectivity and Bridging
Connectivity with other ecosystems is vital for new players like Monad, particularly within the EVM space, highlighting the importance of support from services like LayerZero, Wormhole, and Axelar from day one [30:32:00]. Phantom plays a key role in this multi-chain connectivity by embedding bridges directly into the wallet’s swap functionality [31:02:00]. This enables seamless movement of funds and assets across different blockchain ecosystems [31:10:00].
Phantom also has extensive experience in NFT bridging, having worked with projects like DeGods [33:05:00]. Integrating bridges within the wallet aims to simplify the often tedious transaction confirmations associated with bridging dApps [34:06:00]. Future developments could include “remote smart contract calls” [33:36:00].
The acquisition of Bitsky is also crucial for better onboarding of both completely new users and existing users from other blockchains, potentially facilitated by new technologies [31:46:00]. This move is aimed at transitioning away from a seed phrase-first world, offering Web2-like or social login options while maintaining self-custody [35:24:00]. The goal is to allow users to seamlessly sign up and get started directly within a dApp without needing to download a separate wallet application, thus retaining user context [36:06:00].
The Power of Community and Future Growth
Both Phantom and Monad emphasize the innate power of community [47:45:00]. Community members are seen as evangelists and the true user base, whether they are end-users or developers [47:52:00]. Projects that understand and nurture their communities gain a massive advantage in their go-to-market strategies [48:11:00].
Phantom’s rise is directly attributed to staying close to its core Solana community, which has been a major driver for its expansion to support other chains [50:42:00]. Similarly, Keone Han encourages individuals in the crypto space to operate under the assumption that “crypto will take over the world,” visualizing its widespread adoption in finance, social interactions, and gaming [51:56:00]. He advises consistently starting small to add value to the space, fostering growth in contributions, voice, and skills, potentially leading to professional opportunities in Web3 [52:58:00].
A key piece of “alpha” shared is to avoid “frivolous tribalism” in crypto, as it’s a zero-sum, negative-sum mindset [54:26:00]. Instead, the focus should be on collaborating to onboard billions of users and give a great first impression to newcomers, rather than engaging in antagonistic behavior [54:46:00]. Removing preconceived notions and biases allows for greater understanding of the broader crypto landscape [55:29:00]. This long-term perspective highlights the rapid progress the industry is making, often at a faster pace than many envisioned even a decade ago [56:04:00]. The announcement of Phantom’s day-one support for Monad is a significant step in this collaborative multichain future [56:32:00].