MetaMask’s Solana counterpart, Phantom Wallet, has reached a valuation of $1.200 billion after closing a successful funding round led by Paradigm.
The leading DeFi and NFT digital wallet app and extension on the Solana ecosystem, Phantom Wallet, has raised $109 million from its investors, reaching a valuation of $1.200 billion, Phantom CEO Brandon Millman announced. The funding round was led by the firm Paradigm, and included participation from other major industry investors such as Andressen Horowitz (a16z), Solana Ventures, Jump Capital, and more.
In mid-2021, Phantom closed its first round of funding, led by Andressen Horowitz, for just $9 million. This digital wallet app and extension, which was launched in beta last April, has become the new unicorn of the crypto industry.
Millman noted that the funds raised will be used for Develop new features in Phantom to continue building and expanding its digital ecosystem in Web3, in order to provide greater utility and value to its millions of users around the world. Also, the developers of Phantom have aspirations to Turning the digital wallet into a multi-chain one, which can interconnect with several of the most important blockchain networks in the crypto industry. The expansion of the development team Phantom's current 20-person team will also be funded with the new funds.
It may interest you: Solana network reaches new milestone with more than $1.000 billion in NFT sales
Over 2 million active users on Phantom
Less than a year after its launch, Phantom has managed to accumulate more than 2,1 million users, becoming the preferred application for Solana users to interact with decentralized finance protocols (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFT). Phantom's active user base has grown 5.200% since its beta launch.
Although it is a centrally developed and non-open source wallet, Phantom provides an intuitive and accessible space for those who want to be part of the Solana digital ecosystem, currently the seventh cryptocurrency by market cap and one of Ethereum's most prominent rivals in the world of DeFi and NFTs, due to its high level of scalability and low transaction costs.
This non-custodial digital wallet allows its users to store and manage non-fungible tokens on the Solana blockchain, as well as interact with the DeFi applications and protocols that exist within this ecosystem, to access decentralized loans, liquidity, DEX and much more.
Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam said that cryptocurrency wallets like Phantom are becoming “the container of everything” in digital life. “To attract billions more people to crypto, we need wallets like Phantom that are simple, powerful and secure”, he noted. Millman, meanwhile, told CoinDesk that Phantom will eventually become an open-source wallet, though there is no set date for that.
Phantom launches on iPhone
Along with the success of the recent funding round, Phantom developers announced the launch of an iOS version of the wallet, which will help further expand its active user base of iPhone owners. A mobile version of the digital wallet for Android could arrive by the end of 2022, Millman noted.
In mid-January, Bank of America said Solana could become the “Visa of cryptocurrencies,” highlighting its scalability, accessibility, utility, and ease of use. Also, JP Morgan analysts pointed out the importance Solana is gaining over Ethereum, attracting NFT developers to its high-performance ecosystem. Phantom plays a key role in Solana’s growth and development, as the main digital wallet application and extension within this ecosystem.
Continue reading: Solana conquers NFT developers and gains ground against Ethereum
