Problem: Cryptocurrencies are prone to being overcomplicated, which intimidates a lot of potential users from entering the space. Even the core of Web3, the wallet, can be hard to understand and lead people to shy away from buying crypto.
Solution: Phantom is building a user-friendly interface that all people new to crypto can appreciate. It has been proven time and time again that clean, tasteful design can be pivotal for adoption. Apple is a great example of this. Phantom’s team has the goal of making a wallet that is accessible on all fronts of the Web3 space. It seamlessly integrates NFTs, swaps, staking, and all the other required functions of a wallet. Other wallets have these features as well, but Phantom separates itself with its sleek and easy-to-navigate design. This encourages users to join the crypto ecosystem and makes Phantom the ideal wallet for new entrants. Capitalizing on all the people who have recently become interested in crypto unlocks a great amount of capital and users for the company that can prove to be the catalyst to a massive growth period for Phantom.
Founders: Brandon Millman, Chris Kalani, and Francesco Agosti founded Phantom. All three of them attended Duke University and have strong backgrounds and experience in computer engineering and design. Chris Kalini also had a previous startup called Wake.
Implications: As platform technology is focused on by leading teams and engineers, it is important to remember the front end. Often, it is the company that has the best design and taste that ends up winning both the front-end and back-end race. More than anything, people like products that are easy to understand and use, so building interfaces and applications that do this is a massive business opportunity even if the product does not make a massive technological breakthrough. User-friendly interfaces are often a greater value add for users than more features because they save users time and energy trying to figure out how to use the product. I expect more companies to emerge like Phantom, focusing on the front-end interfaces more than the backend technologies. These companies will ride the wave of technology growth that other innovators create and present the new features on a silver platter that looks and feels much better to use than back-end driven companies. This is important for entrepreneurs to remember because it reminds people that they do not have to be incredibly technically minded to start a great company (not saying the creators of Phantom aren’t). However, if they have good taste and can design products in a way that fits consumers’ wants, then they can be just as successful as a company that is constantly pushing new features and nuanced advancements that complicate the entire product.
Conclusion: Phantom represents consumer wants perfectly. Businesses that can dumb down and make complicated systems easy to use are sure to do great numbers in the future. Not only that, but more products like Phantom that demystify the Web3 space are crucial for widespread adoption. Crypto is built on networksthereforer, the network effect still applies. Making it easy for a person to join the network will make it much more worthwhile for others to join, leading to even more exponential growth in the ecosystem.