From: thepipeline_xyz
Phantom, a prominent non-custodial wallet, has publicly committed to supporting Monad from day one of its launch [00:00:33]. This decision highlights key considerations for Phantom in choosing which new blockchain ecosystems to integrate.
Phantom’s Multi-Chain Strategy and Core Principles
Phantom’s journey has been deliberately structured to evolve into a multi-chain wallet from its inception [00:37:19]. The team believes the future of blockchain ecosystems will be multi-chain, with perhaps two to five dominant ecosystems forming robust communities [00:02:30]. Phantom’s role is to identify the chains poised to emerge as winners [00:02:51].
The most critical underlying principle for Phantom’s decisions is technology [00:03:04]. The company aims to onboard the next billion users, which necessitates scalable technology solutions readily available today [00:03:07].
Key aspects influencing Phantom’s support decisions include:
- Technological Innovation The approach Monad is taking with its technology, including innovations in consensus and parallel execution, is a significant draw [00:03:31]. This reminds Phantom of how Solana initially approached the market with pragmatism [00:03:36].
- EVM Compatibility Monad’s EVM compatibility is seen as a crucial advantage, as it has the best chance of marrying a user base that demands fast and cheap transactions with the existing, robust EVM ecosystem [00:03:56].
- Pragmatism over Dogmatism Phantom experienced burnout in the Ethereum ecosystem from 2017-2021 due to the slow pace of development, which was attributed to a dogmatic approach to decentralization [00:24:39]. Monad’s philosophical alignment with pragmatism, similar to Solana, is highly valued [00:24:20].
- User Expectations Phantom’s user base is accustomed to fast and cheap transaction experiences, primarily from Solana [00:25:31]. Monad’s capabilities align with this expectation, offering a way to bring those benefits to the EVM world [00:25:45].
- Community Building Phantom observed Solana’s “non-consensus” bet leading to a unique and strong community forged through shared experiences, especially during challenging times [00:41:40]. Monad is seen as making similar early steps to develop its own unique community by taking non-consensus bets in the EVM Layer 1 space [00:04:54].
- Strategic Market Entry Phantom initially chose Solana to “plant its own flag” in a new ecosystem where there were fewer established competitors and less noise, allowing them to become a cornerstone of the user experience before expanding further [00:39:04].
Monad’s Rationale for a Layer 1 Blockchain
Monad’s decision to launch as a Layer 1 (L1) rather than a Layer 2 (L2) is driven by several major reasons:
- Decentralization, Performance, and Cost Monad aims to deliver the best of both worlds, achieving high performance while maintaining strong decentralization and low costs for end-users [00:27:52].
- Maximizing Machine Performance Given the significant resources invested in running hundreds or thousands of machines globally for a blockchain network, Monad believes in extracting the maximum performance possible from these machines [00:28:01]. This requires fundamental software changes, new architecture, and low-level optimizations [00:28:19].
- Overcoming the Trilemma While acknowledging that performance can impact decentralization at certain scales, Monad’s goal is to constantly move “up and to the right” on a performance-decentralization graph through novel architecture and software improvements [00:29:10].
- Decentralized Control Monad emphasizes the importance of decentralized control of block production, avoiding reliance on a single sequencer, and enforcing censorship resistance [00:29:36]. They observed significant compromises in decentralization with current L2 solutions [00:29:54].
Enhancing Multi-Chain Connectivity
Phantom plays a crucial role in multi-chain connectivity:
- Integrated Bridging Phantom plans to embed bridges directly into the wallet’s swap functionality, enabling seamless movement of funds between chains [00:31:02]. Bridges are seen as a fundamental cornerstone for moving liquidity, the “lifeblood of financial activity,” across different blockchain ecosystems [00:32:33]. Wallet-integrated bridges simplify tedious transaction confirmations, offering a much smoother user experience [00:33:57].
- Improved Onboarding Phantom’s acquisition of Bitsky, a creator of embedded wallets, aims to make Phantom’s own onboarding experience as easy as web2 sign-ups using familiar identifiers [00:16:34]. This technology can also facilitate better onboarding of new users or existing users from other blockchains into new ecosystems like Monad [00:31:54]. The goal is to allow users to seamlessly sign up for a DApp on Monad without leaving the DApp or downloading another application [00:36:06].
Vision for the Future
Both Phantom and Monad share a vision for “growing the pie” in crypto, bringing blockchain technology to new users, products, and use cases [00:17:14].
- Super App Concept Monad envisions a future similar to WeChat, where a wallet becomes an immersive environment for various applications, all coexisting on a shared, globally replicated blockchain substrate [00:18:06]. This allows for composability and interaction between applications, building complex functionality by reusing other apps as subroutines [00:19:11].
- Payments as a Key Use Case Phantom remains bullish on payments, especially with developments like Stripe enabling any merchant to accept crypto payments [00:20:25]. This could change market structure, making crypto a cheaper alternative to credit cards for businesses [00:21:25].
- Creator Economy Innovation Projects like Drip House, which changed the NFT meta from scarce collectibles to abundant items focused on creator relationships and micro-payments, exemplify the type of innovation that scalable systems like Monad can enable [00:21:49].
The collaboration between Phantom and Monad is viewed as a critical step in making high performance and decentralized crypto accessible to the mainstream [00:11:15].