Phantom Deepens Perps Ambitions With Ventuals Team Hire

What to Know

• Phantom hired the team behind Ventuals, a project that recently shut down its OpenAI and Anthropic perpetual futures products on Hyperliquid.
• The acquisition of talent is meant to support Phantom’s strategy to go deeper into perpetual futures and open markets.
• Chief executive Brandon Millman said wallets are increasingly evolving into trading platforms rather than simple storage tools.
• Perpetual futures have become one of the fastest-growing products in crypto.
• The market for perps is expanding beyond digital assets into traditional market exposure.

Phantom moves further into derivatives

Phantom is taking another step beyond its roots as a crypto wallet, hiring the team behind Ventuals as it pushes deeper into perpetual futures. The move reflects a broader industry trend in which wallet providers are adding trading features to keep users inside a single platform for holding, swapping, and speculating on assets.

According to the company, the newly hired team previously worked on Ventuals, a project known for launching perpetual futures tied to OpenAI and Anthropic on Hyperliquid before shutting down. While the project itself did not last, the talent behind it appears to have attracted Phantom’s attention as it looks to strengthen its derivatives strategy.

Why perpetual futures matter

Perpetual futures, often called perps, have become one of the most important growth areas in crypto. Unlike standard futures contracts, perps do not have an expiry date, which makes them especially attractive to traders who want flexible leveraged exposure to assets and market themes.

The product has grown quickly because it blends speculation, liquidity, and continuous price discovery in a format that fits the always-on nature of crypto markets. Over time, this design has helped perpetual futures move from a niche trading tool into one of the core products in digital asset markets.

Wallets are turning into trading hubs

Phantom chief executive Brandon Millman said the company wants to “go deeper” on perpetuals and open markets, underscoring the idea that wallets are no longer just passive asset containers. As users demand more functionality, wallet apps are increasingly becoming front ends for active trading, portfolio management, and market access.

That shift has important strategic implications. If wallets can become a user’s primary gateway to markets, they gain a stronger role in the trading stack and can capture more engagement, more transaction volume, and potentially more revenue. Phantom’s latest hiring decision suggests it wants to be at the center of that transition.

Expansion beyond crypto assets

Another notable part of the trend is the move beyond traditional crypto pairs. Perpetual futures have increasingly been linked to broader market themes, including equities, artificial intelligence companies, and other traditional market exposures. That expansion points to a growing appetite among traders for synthetic access to familiar names through crypto-native infrastructure.

Ventuals drew attention for its experimental approach to markets, and Phantom’s hiring of the team behind it suggests the wallet provider sees value in that experience. If perpetual products continue to broaden, wallets that can package them into a simple consumer interface may have an advantage over more specialized trading venues.

What this means for Phantom

For Phantom, the hire is a signal that the company is not content to remain a basic wallet provider. Instead, it appears to be building toward a more ambitious product lineup that could combine storage, trading, and access to emerging market structures inside one app.

The competitive logic is clear. As crypto infrastructure matures, the companies that own the user relationship may be best positioned to benefit. Phantom’s push into perpetual futures suggests it wants to capture that opportunity while the market for wallet-based trading is still forming.

For now, the move adds momentum to the idea that the next generation of crypto wallets may look far more like all-in-one financial platforms than simple custody tools. In that environment, teams with experience building experimental perpetual markets could become especially valuable.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What did Phantom announce?

Phantom hired the team behind Ventuals as it accelerates plans to expand into perpetual futures and open markets.

What was Ventuals known for?

Ventuals was associated with perpetual futures tied to OpenAI and Anthropic on Hyperliquid before the project shut down.

Why are perpetual futures important?

Perpetual futures are one of crypto’s fastest-growing products because they allow continuous leveraged trading without an expiry date.

Is Phantom only a crypto wallet now?

Phantom is still a wallet, but the company is increasingly positioning itself as a trading platform as well.

What did Phantom’s CEO say?

Brandon Millman said wallets are evolving into trading platforms and that Phantom wants to go deeper on perpetuals.

Are perpetual futures limited to crypto assets?

No. The market has expanded beyond digital assets and now includes interest in traditional market exposures too.

Why does this hire matter for the industry?

It shows that major wallet providers are competing to own more of the trading experience, not just asset storage.

What is Phantom’s likely strategy?

Phantom appears to be building a more integrated product that combines wallet functionality with active market access and derivatives trading.

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