From: thepipeline_xyz
Monad Labs recently announced that Phantom will support Monad from its launch day, bringing together key players in the blockchain ecosystem. This 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, to discuss this significant collaboration [00:00:07].
The Announcement and Its Significance
Phantom’s commitment to support Monad from day one was met with absolute excitement [00:00:31]. Brandon Millman emphasized the significance of this decision, stating it’s a “huge commitment” for Phantom [00:02:04].
Phantom’s Decision-Making Process for Supporting New Chains
Phantom’s strategy is built on the belief that the blockchain world will be multi-chain, with perhaps two to five dominant ecosystems [00:02:21]. Their primary objective is to identify which chains will emerge as winners [00:02:51].
A core tenet for their decision-making is technology [00:03:04]. To onboard the next billion users, scalable technology is essential, as there’s a massive influx of users needing solutions today [00:03:09].
Phantom highly values Monad’s technological approach, particularly its innovations in consensus and parallel execution [00:03:31]. This reminds Brandon of how Solana approached the market with greater pragmatism, rather than strictly adhering to existing rules [00:03:39].
A key difference is Monad’s full EVM compatibility, which Brandon believes gives it the best chance to marry a user base desiring fast and cheap transactions with the robust existing EVM ecosystem [00:03:56]. Brian Freel noted that Phantom’s support for Solana was a “non-consensus bet” at the time, and they see Monad making similar “non-consensus bets” in EVM as a layer one [00:04:41].
Monad’s Perspective on Phantom’s Support
Keone Han expressed immense excitement for Monad’s integration with Phantom, feeling “incredibly blessed” to work with a team that has built an amazing product [00:05:51]. Han has personally used Phantom since nearly day one, recalling positive experiences with Solana NFTs like “Pesky Penguins” and “Slow Patrol” [00:06:07].
He highlighted Phantom’s continuous innovation and user experience, which is crucial as everyday users demand exceptional experiences [00:06:34]. Keone is also excited for applications built on Monad to be more closely integrated within the Phantom wallet experience, making it seamless for users [00:07:36].
Phantom’s Recent Success and Role in Crypto Adoption
Phantom recently rose to number one on the US Google Play Store’s finance apps category, surpassing Cash App and PayPal [00:09:49]. Brandon acknowledged this as a surprise and a huge achievement for the team [00:10:14].
This position brings a strong sense of responsibility, as Phantom is now a “flag bearer” and often the first entry point to crypto for mainstream users [00:11:06]. Brian emphasized the importance of user retention, noting that showcasing the best of an ecosystem and getting users to interact with dApps drives retention [00:12:38].
Wallet User Experience (UX)
Brandon explained that Phantom’s UX philosophy is holistic, encompassing user education, customer support, and the actual in-wallet experience, which is considered “table stakes” [00:14:40]. As underlying technology becomes more scalable, leading to a proliferation of content (tokens, NFTs, dApps), the wallet’s role in navigating and discovering the ecosystem safely and easily becomes even more critical [00:15:22].
Phantom’s recent acquisition of Bitsky, a creator of embedded wallets, aims to make Phantom’s own onboarding as easy as familiar Web2 experiences, moving away from seed phrases as the primary onboarding method [00:16:31]. This will allow users to seamlessly sign up for dApps without leaving the application or downloading another wallet [00:36:06].
Shared Vision: “Growing the Pie” in Crypto
Both Monad and Phantom are aligned on “growing the pie” in crypto by bringing technology to new users, products, and use cases [00:17:04].
- Keone Han’s “WeChat-like” Super App Vision: Han envisions crypto evolving into an immersive environment similar to WeChat, where users can chat, order food, hire services, and apply for jobs all within one application [00:18:06]. He believes a wallet has the best chance to enact this vision, with blockchain providing a shared global state for composable applications [00:18:35].
- Brandon Millman’s Bullishness on Payments: Millman is very optimistic about payments, especially with Stripe’s recent announcement to allow any merchant to accept crypto [00:20:25]. This could significantly change market structure, offering a cheaper alternative to credit card payments for retail stores [00:21:24].
- Brian Freel on Scalable Creative Models: Freel cited Drip House in the Solana ecosystem as an example of changing the NFT meta from scarcity to abundance, focusing on creator relationships and micro-payments [00:21:49]. He hopes to see more projects leverage scalable systems like Monad or Solana to solve real problems and remove friction for creators [00:22:15].
Why Monad Checked the Box for Phantom
Phantom’s conviction in Monad stemmed from its philosophical alignment with pragmatism and its approach to technology [00:24:03]. Brandon compared this to the decision to go Solana first, as they grew tired of the slow development pace in the Ethereum ecosystem, which was seen as too dogmatic in its decentralization approach [00:24:31].
Phantom’s user base expects a fast and cheap blockchain foundation, preferring Solana over older systems [00:25:31]. Monad’s underlying technology, pragmatism, and EVM compatibility offer a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between fast, cheap transactions and the robust EVM world, something L2s and even Ethereum L1 haven’t fully achieved [00:25:51]. Brian added that Monad is poised to be a “torch bearer” for EVM by making advanced EIPs the base case and enforcing safety standards by default [00:26:22].
Monad as a Layer 1 (L1)
Keone Han explained Monad’s decision to launch as an L1, citing three major reasons:
- Decentralization: Crucial to deliver the best of both performance and decentralization [00:27:52].
- Performance: Achieving high performance requires software changes, new architecture, and low-level optimizations [00:28:17]. Monad aims to move “up and to the right” on the performance-decentralization graph [00:29:10].
- Cost for End Users: Building a high-performance system also means lower costs for users [00:27:46].
Han stressed that decentralization means decentralized control of block production, not just a single sequencer, and enforcing censorship resistance [00:29:36]. He noted that existing L2s often involve significant compromises from a decentralization perspective [00:29:54].
Phantom’s Role in Multi-Chain Connectivity for Monad
Phantom’s role in multi-chain connectivity for Monad involves both specific and general initiatives [00:30:58].
- Integrated Bridges: Embedding bridges directly into the wallet enables seamless movement of funds between chains [00:31:02]. Phantom views bridging as a fundamental cornerstone of ecosystems, moving liquidity, which is the “lifeblood of financial activity” [00:32:33]. They have experience with both fungible tokens and NFTs bridging, aiming to simplify the often tedious transaction confirmations [00:33:03].
- Bitsky Acquisition: The Bitsky acquisition will facilitate better onboarding of completely new users or existing users from other blockchains through new technologies like web2/social identifiers [00:31:48].
Evolution of Phantom’s Multi-Chain Strategy
Phantom’s goal to become a multi-chain wallet was premeditated from the company’s inception [00:37:19]. Brandon recounted how the Binance Smart Chain’s emergence in mid-2020 revealed a huge untapped retail market hungry for faster and cheaper chains [00:38:12]. This affirmed the multi-chain future, distinct from an Ethereum L1-only world [00:38:37].
To compete with MetaMask, Phantom decided to “plant their own flag” on an initial ecosystem outside of Ethereum, which was Solana [00:39:04]. The conviction to go after a new market like Solana was rooted in finding teams focused on technology and pragmatism, like Raj and Anatoly [00:40:55]. This contrarian bet against EVM’s network effect led to a unique “shared trauma” among Solana’s early community, forging a genuine culture [00:41:37].
Phantom’s decision was also influenced by Solana’s significant USDC deployment, recognizing the importance of stablecoin liquidity for DeFi [00:42:43]. Brian noted that while the initial multi-chain announcement happened at a challenging time (after FTX collapse), Phantom doubled down on Solana and its core community, which proved to be a major driver of their success [00:43:58].
Final Alpha
- Brian Freel: For product builders, find users who stick with your product even in dark times, listen to their raw feedback, and adjust priorities based on their needs [00:50:18]. Staying close to the core community is key to success [00:50:42]. For future Monad users, download Phantom and check the “Explore” tab for Monad content on launch day or testnet [00:51:00].
- Keone Han: Internalize the assumption that crypto will take over the world [00:51:56]. Reflect on how this certainty would change your behavior, then start small but be consistent in finding ways to add value to the space [00:52:41]. Consistency in practicing your craft leads to quickly compounding results [00:53:58].
- Brandon Millman: Avoid frivolous tribalism [00:54:26]. Adopt a “crypto maxi” mindset and focus efforts on building towards a future with billions of users, rather than eating each other alive [00:54:46]. Give new users a great first impression without antagonism, and remove biases to be open to all developments in crypto [00:54:59].
The guests concluded, expressing their excitement for the future of crypto adoption and the foundational apps that will emerge from this period of uncertainty, scaling to hundreds of millions of users [00:46:09]. The collaboration between Phantom and Monad marks a significant step towards this vision [00:56:32].