Phantom
Phantom is a self-custody crypto wallet, Solana-born, now multichain with card and stablecoin products.
On the record
Checkpoint: CFTC ruling on Phantom's non-custodial wallet broker-dealer petition (filed with Hyperliquid Policy Center)
The call
Phantom leads Solana wallets today, but its fee and its user base both sit exposed to cheaper rivals and bigger ones at once.
Phantom is a digital wallet where people store and trade cryptocurrency, mostly on the Solana blockchain. It makes money by charging a small fee (0.85%) when users swap coins. The problem is that bigger competitors like MetaMask now offer the same thing, and a rival called Backpack charges zero fees instead. Phantom is also trying new businesses like a rewards card and trading products to make money in ways that don't depend on fees, but these are unproven. The biggest question for the next few years is whether Phantom can keep charging its current fees without losing customers to free alternatives, and whether new products will actually work when crypto prices fall and fewer people trade.
Why
01
AI pressure: AI trading agents and bots routing swaps for best price (via Phantom's own MCP Server or elsewhere). Agents optimizing for best execution can route around Phantom's 0.85% swap fee toward 0% rivals like Backpack. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: MetaMask (ConsenSys). MetaMask, with 100M+ users, now offers native Solana and Bitcoin support plus a card and rewards program, copying Phantom's wedge. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Deep security dataset, key infrastructure, and negotiated distribution deals built over years of Solana-native usage.
What would change this call
Phantom's MAU trend over the next 2-3 quarters versus MetaMask's Solana feature rollout. Would show whether MetaMask's native Solana support is converting Phantom users.
Whether Phantom holds its 0.85% swap fee or cuts it in response to Backpack's 0% pricing. Would show if fee compression is eroding Phantom's core revenue model.
CFTC ruling on the July 2026 non-custodial wallet broker-dealer petition. Would show whether Phantom's US/UK perps expansion is regulatorily unblocked.
Whether Phantom holds its 0.85% swap fee or cuts it in response to Backpack's 0% pricing. Would show if fee compression is eroding Phantom's core revenue model.
CFTC ruling on the July 2026 non-custodial wallet broker-dealer petition. Would show whether Phantom's US/UK perps expansion is regulatorily unblocked.
Key numbers
- $3B valuation at Series C close
- 15 to 22 million monthly active users
- $268M total funding raised across all rounds
Named risks
- Swap fee revenue is highly cyclical, tied to Solana and crypto market sentiment.
- Backpack's 0% swap fee and MetaMask's Solana entry pressure Phantom's core monetization.
- SDNY lawsuit alleges unencrypted key storage and undisclosed OKX routing, filed April 2025.
- CFTC petition on non-custodial broker status unresolved as of July 2026, blocking US and UK perps growth.
- Consumer finance pivot, Cash, Card, Perps, is unproven as a non-cyclical revenue base.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| MetaMask | gaining on | Shipped native Solana and Bitcoin support plus a card program by early 2026, per dextools.io |
| Backpack | contesting | Offers 0% Solana swap fees versus Phantom's 0.85%, confirmed 2026-06-13 |
| Coinbase Wallet | contesting | Competes on custody and consumer trust in the self-custodial wallet market |
| Solflare | contesting | Solana native staking focused wallet positioned as direct alternative |
Questions people ask
- Is Phantom wallet profitable in 2026?
- Phantom does not disclose GAAP profit. Third-party DefiLlama fee tracking shows revenue peaked at $173.84M in Q1 2025 then declined sharply as Solana memecoin activity cooled, suggesting a highly cyclical, not steady, revenue base rather than confirmed profitability.
- Who owns Phantom crypto wallet?
- Phantom is privately held and VC backed, not owned by any single corporation. It closed a $150M Series C on January 16, 2025, co led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, at a $3B valuation, with earlier backing from a16z and Jump Capital.
- Is Phantom's biggest competitor MetaMask?
- Yes. MetaMask, with over 100 million reported users as of February 2026, shipped native Solana and Bitcoin support plus a card and rewards program in 2025 to 2026, directly attacking Phantom's original Solana first user base and monetization.
- Could AI agents replace Phantom's wallet app?
- Not directly. Phantom released an MCP Server around April 17, 2026 letting Claude and Cursor agents sign transactions and swap through Phantom's own security layer, but agents optimizing for cheapest execution could still bypass Phantom's 0.85% swap fee for rivals like Backpack's 0% fee.
- Is Phantom losing users to Backpack or MetaMask?
- Phantom reported around 15 to 22 million MAU between January 2025 and February 2026, but Backpack undercuts its 0.85% swap fee with 0% Solana swaps, and MetaMask's 2025 to 2026 Solana entry directly targets Phantom's core installed base.
- What is Phantom's core revenue model?
- Phantom monetizes primarily through an in-app 0.85% swap fee, confirmed as of May 24, 2026, plus newer builder fees from Hyperliquid perpetuals trading, while the wallet app itself remains free to download.
Timeline
- 2026-07-01Phantom and Hyperliquid Policy Center petition CFTC on non-custodial wallet broker status
- 2026-04-17Phantom MCP Server released for Claude and Cursor AI agent transaction signing
- 2025-12-15Phantom Card, a stablecoin backed Visa debit card, launches in the US
- 2025-12Kalshi partnership adds prediction market trading inside Phantom wallet
- 2025-09-30CASH USD pegged stablecoin launches via Bridge Open Issuance platform
- 2025-07-08Phantom launches in-wallet perpetual futures via Hyperliquid integration
- 2025-04-14SDNY lawsuit filed alleging unencrypted key storage and undisclosed OKX routing
- 2025-01-16Phantom closes $150M Series C at $3B valuation, led by Sequoia and Paradigm
- 2022-01Series B raises $109M at implied $1.2B valuation, led by Paradigm
- 2021-07Series A raises about $9M, led by a16z with Variant and Jump Capital
Revision history
24 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Phantom (phantom.com) Careers, Perks + Culture
- Phantom raises $150M Series C... (2025-01-16)
- What is Phantom? Profile, leadership & funding, Komo
- Crypto-Wallet Startup Gets $3 Billion Valuation in Sequoia, Paradigm Deal (2025-01-16)
- Phantom - $268M Raised (2026-07-14)
- Phantom cryptocurrency wallet raises $150M at $3B valuation (2025-01-17)
- LinkedIn (2026-02-26)
- Phantom Fees, Revenue & Volume (2025-01-15)
- Phantom Wallet Statistics 2026 (2026-06-24)
- Phantom Wallet Sued Over $500K Meme Coin Theft... (2025-04-15)
- Phantom Builds a Global Money App with Stripe and Bridge
- Phantom Wallet Review 2026 (2026-05-24)