Key facts
- Crypto wallet Phantom has hired the team behind Ventuals, a project that operated perpetual futures markets on Hyperliquid.
- The Ventuals team previously offered perpetual futures for OpenAI and Anthropic.
- Phantom CEO Brandon Millman stated the hires are part of a strategy to "go deeper" on perpetual futures and open markets.
- Perpetual futures are derivatives allowing speculation on future price movements without an expiration date.
- Phantom is expanding beyond asset storage to offer more financial services, including swaps, staking, and derivatives.
Crypto wallet Phantom has hired the team behind Ventuals, a project that recently shut down perpetual futures markets for OpenAI and Anthropic on the Hyperliquid exchange. The move signals Phantom's intent to expand its trading offerings, particularly in perpetual futures.
The trio of Alvin Hsia, Emily Hsia, and Aris Samad, creators of Ventuals, will join Phantom's trading and data teams. This follows Ventuals' announcement earlier this month that it was winding down and joining another project within the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
Perpetual futures, a type of derivative that allows investors to speculate on future price movements without a set expiration date, have become a rapidly growing product in the crypto space and are expanding into traditional markets. Phantom CEO Brandon Millman stated that the hires are part of a broader strategy to "go deeper" on perpetual futures and open markets, as wallets increasingly evolve into comprehensive financial platforms.
Phantom, primarily known as a self-custody wallet, has been steadily expanding its services beyond asset storage to include swaps, staking, and derivatives, aiming to compete as a full-service financial application. Millman described Hyperliquid as a prime example of what open markets can achieve, citing its global liquidity and transparent on-chain infrastructure.