Phantom

Phantom is a self-custodial crypto wallet and trading app. It began in 2021 as a Solana wallet and now covers nine networks, including Ethereum and Bitcoin. Self-custodial means you hold the keys to your funds and Phantom cannot move them. The app runs as a browser extension and on iOS and Android, and Phantom's website says more than 20 million people use it.

The wallet is the base. On top of it, Phantom sells trading and money services: token swaps, SOL staking, perpetual futures, prediction markets, and a dollar account with a Visa debit card for US users. Phantom has no token of its own. It earns money from fees on those services, the largest being a 0.85% fee on most swaps.

How Phantom wallet works: extension, mobile app and login

Phantom stores your keys on your own device and signs transactions there. You can create a wallet in two ways. The classic way gives you a secret recovery phrase, a list of words that restores the wallet anywhere. The newer way signs you in with a Google or Apple account plus a four-digit PIN.

The Google and Apple route is easier, but it has a sharp edge. Phantom's login FAQ says seven wrong PIN tries delete the backup on that device. After that, you need another signed-in device or a recovery phrase you saved earlier. You also cannot swap the Google or Apple account tied to the wallet. Save the recovery phrase on day one and keep it offline.

For larger balances, Phantom pairs with a Ledger hardware wallet. The keys then stay on that device. Phantom only shows your balances and prepares each transaction for you to sign.

Which networks does Phantom support?

Phantom supports nine networks as of October 2026. They are Solana, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Base, Polygon, HyperEVM, Robinhood Chain, Arc and BNB Chain. The list comes from Phantom's help page on networks. For Bitcoin, Phantom handles Native SegWit and Taproot addresses.

The list changed a lot in 2026. Phantom added three networks and dropped two:

If you held Sui or Monad tokens in Phantom, they are not lost. Phantom's Sui notice says the tokens stay on their own chain. Import your recovery phrase into a wallet that supports that chain and they show up again.

Phantom does not support Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, Unichain or Linea. You choose from the built-in list under Settings, then Active Networks.

Phantom wallet fees: swaps, Cash and perps

Phantom is free to download and hold assets in. You pay when you trade. The main charge is a 0.85% Phantom fee on most token swaps, on top of the network fee, per Phantom's swap guide. Swap $1,000 of SOL for another token and Phantom keeps about $8.50.

You can avoid that fee by connecting Phantom to a decentralized exchange's own website and swapping there. Sending and receiving tokens costs only the network fee.

The Cash figures come from Phantom's Cash fee schedule. Cross-chain swaps also carry a bridge fee, which Phantom folds into the network fee line instead of showing it separately.

Staking SOL in Phantom: native staking and PSOL

Phantom offers two ways to stake SOL. Native staking delegates your SOL to a validator you choose. Liquid staking swaps your SOL for PSOL, a token that gains value against SOL as rewards build up.

Native staking carries no Phantom fee, but it has limits. Phantom's staking guide says new native stakes can only be created in the browser extension, you need at least 1 SOL, and unstaking takes about two to three days. Your return depends on the validator you pick, so it pays to compare validators by commission and uptime first.

PSOL launched on 3 September 2025. It runs on the standard Solana stake pool program, which Phantom's launch post says has been audited nine times. Phantom takes 4% of staking rewards and 0.1% when you exit, per its liquid staking guide. Exits are normally instant. If the pool's reserve runs short, your PSOL converts to a native stake that you unstake yourself. PSOL can also be used as collateral on Kamino Finance KMNO$0.038-4.1%.

Phantom perps, prediction markets and Terminal

Phantom Perps lets you trade perps, short for perpetual futures. A perp is a bet on a price, made with borrowed money, that never expires. Hyperliquid runs the market behind it. Phantom offers up to 40x leverage on more than 200 markets. Each trade costs 0.095%, split between Phantom and Hyperliquid, per Phantom's perps guide. Your funds for perps sit in a separate balance on Hyperliquid, tied to your Ethereum address.

You cannot use Phantom Perps in the United States or the United Kingdom, per Phantom's page on features by region. Tokenized stocks are blocked in the US, the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

US rules are moving. On 17 March 2026 a division of the CFTC, the US futures regulator, sent Phantom a no-action letter. Cointelegraph reported that the letter lets Phantom connect users to a registered exchange without Phantom signing up as a broker, as long as it meets set terms. The perps that run on Hyperliquid are still closed to US users.

Phantom also has prediction markets, where you trade on the outcome of real events. Kalshi supplied them through DFlow until 1 June 2026. World Prediction Markets has supplied them since, per Phantom's disclosures. We covered that switch in June 2026. Access varies by region. Phantom Terminal is the desktop view for trading tokens and perps.

Phantom Cash and the Phantom debit card

Phantom Cash is a dollar account inside the wallet. It holds CASH, a dollar-pegged token on Solana, and you can fund it from stablecoins for free. The basic account works worldwide.

The banking features are US-only and exclude New York. They include a virtual Visa debit card that works with Apple Pay and Google Pay, bank transfers, and wires. Phantom's March 2026 announcement names Lead Bank as card issuer and Bridge as program manager. These features need identity checks, so this part of Phantom is not anonymous. Card funding through Stripe is also open to the European Union.

Is Phantom wallet safe? Audits, incidents and risks

Phantom is a real, widely used wallet, and Phantom cannot take your funds. It is also a hot wallet, which means the keys live on a phone or computer that is online. Phantom cannot get your money back if you lose your recovery phrase or approve a scam transaction.

Phantom shows you what a transaction will do before you sign it. It also warns you about known scam sites, using a blocklist that anyone can read. Its security page offers a bug bounty of up to $50,000.

Outside review is limited. Phantom's audit repository holds two reports: Kudelski Security in 2021 and Least Authority in 2024. The listing does not say which parts of the app each one covers. The core app is closed-source, per CryptoSlate's review, so outsiders cannot read the code.

Two incidents are on the record:

• The "Demonic" bug, found by Halborn, could leave recovery phrases stored in plain text on disk. It hit several browser wallets, Phantom and MetaMask among them. Phantom finished its fix in April 2022.
• In April 2025 a group of users sued Phantom in New York. They claim a flaw in the browser extension let a thief take more than $500,000 of a memecoin. Phantom disputes the claims, and no court has ruled on them in any report we found.

Product risk is real too. Phantom dropped Sui with one month's notice. Perps at 40x leverage can wipe out a position on a small price move.

Who Phantom wallet is best for

Phantom suits people who want one app for everyday Solana use: holding tokens, swapping now and then, staking SOL, and connecting to Solana apps. It is also a reasonable choice if you hold a mix of Solana, Ethereum and Bitcoin assets and do not want three wallets.

Phantom fits less well in three cases:

• Frequent traders pay 0.85% on most in-app swaps, which adds up fast. Trading on an exchange's own site through the connected wallet avoids the fee.
• Heavy Ethereum users will miss Arbitrum, Optimism and Avalanche, and cannot add networks by hand.
• Large long-term holdings belong on a hardware wallet. Phantom works as the screen for one, but should not be the only protection.

US users get the debit card and bank features but not perps. Users outside the US get perps but not the card.

Phantom vs Solflare, MetaMask and other alternatives

The right alternative depends on what Phantom lacks for you. Solflare is the main Solana-first rival. CryptoSlate's review picks it out for native SOL staking, which Phantom limits to the browser extension for new stakes. MetaMask is the usual choice for Ethereum-style networks that Phantom skips. CryptoSlate lists MetaMask's swap fee at 0.875%, close to Phantom's 0.85%.

For staking, PSOL is one liquid staking token among many. Solana Compass runs its own validator and liquid staking token, so we compete with Phantom here. You can stake from any wallet, Phantom included, through our staking page, or see how stake pools differ on fees and yield.

Phantom lets you burn spam NFTs to get back the small SOL deposit locked in each one. For empty token accounts in bulk, Solana Compass offers a tool that closes them and returns the deposits. That tool is ours and charges a fee.

Does Phantom have a token or airdrop?

Phantom has no token and has announced no airdrop. In January 2025 Phantom posted, "We do not have any plans to launch a token," as The Block reported. PSOL and CASH are product tokens for staking and payments and carry no ownership or governance rights in Phantom. Treat any site or message offering a Phantom airdrop as a scam. Phantom says it never messages users first or asks for a recovery phrase.

Who built Phantom: team, funding and acquisitions

Phantom was founded in 2021 by Brandon Millman, Francesco Agosti and Chris Kalani. Millman is the chief executive.

The company has announced three funding rounds. A16z, Variant and Jump Capital backed the Series A in July 2021.

Paradigm led a $109 million Series B in January 2022.

In January 2025 Sequoia Capital and Paradigm co-led a $150 million Series C. That round valued Phantom at $3 billion.

Phantom has grown by buying tools and folding them into the app:

• Bitski, a wallet startup, in May 2024.
• Blowfish, a scam-detection firm, in November 2024.
• SimpleHash, a token and NFT data provider, in February 2025.
• Solsniper, a Solana trading terminal, in August 2025.
• The Ventuals team, who built pre-IPO perps on Hyperliquid, in June 2026.

Phantom for developers: SDKs and MCP server

Developers can add Phantom to their own apps. Phantom ships code kits for React, React Native and plain JavaScript, with Google and Apple sign-in built in. Phantom's developer docs also describe an MCP server, a link that lets AI agents use a wallet. It has 13 tools to check balances, send funds, swap tokens and rebalance. It works on Solana, Ethereum and Bitcoin.