Morning Minute | Phantom Wallet Raises at $3B Valuation

TylerD's Market Summary

💰 Phantom Wallet Raises $150M at $3B Valuation

Trump is still 3 days from taking office.

And already, money is pouring into crypto.

Not just the tokens (which are up nicely on the day), but also, in fundraising rounds for one of crypto's biggest onchain players.

What Happened?

Phantom Wallet secured a massive $150M Series C round, pushing its valuation to $3 billion.

The funding round was led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, with participation from a16z and Variant.

The Solana-native company boasts 15 million monthly active users and $25 billion in self-custody assets.

What Are They Saying?

Co-founder and CEO Brandon Millman commented on the raise and their success: "The wallet’s rise in popularity shows that there’s a 'broader trend' in which more people are buying crypto directly with their digital wallets instead of using Coinbase Global Inc.’s exchange and other centralized platforms."

Regarding how to use the funds: "With these new resources, we plan on making bigger bets to accelerate crypto adoption and become the world’s biggest and most-trusted consumer finance platform."

Why It Matters

Phantom's raise is one of the single biggest fundraises for crypto-native companies in years.

This is a very positive sign for the future.

It also shows that crypto companies can raise capital without turning to token launches (Phantom doesn't have a token and likely won't at least for the near future).

This provides signal to other teams looking to build companies here in the US - the investment doors are back open.

Let the crypto fundraising race begin...

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH NFT leaders were mixed on the day; Punks -4% at 38.3 ETH, Pudgy even at 23.9, BAYC -1% at 15.3 ETH, Azuki +3% at 13.1 ETH, Doodles +4% to 5.18 ETH
• Keungz Genesis (+58%) and DeepBlack (+43%) led notable top movers
• BTC NFT leaders were mostly green; Bitcoin Puppets +1%, NodeMonkes +6%, OMB -10%, Quantum Cats even
• The Runes leaders were mixed; DOG +9% at $586M mc, PUPS even at $72M, BDC +1% at $38M, GIZMO -3% at $12M
• Anime Foundation announced that the Azuki ANIME coin is coming on Jan 23
• Rocktoshi's countdown has seemingly ended, with a potential announcement coming soon

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Macro Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors are up after word of Trump making crypto a national priority, BTC leads; BTC +3% at $102,400, ETH +1% at $3,400, SOL +1% at $219, XRP -1% at $3.25
• OKB (+16%), LTC (+14%), EOS (+10%) & MOVE (10%) led alts
• Trump is expected to make crypto a national priority on day one, with Bloomberg and the NYT both reporting on expected pro-crypto actions to take place on Day 1 of his presidency 
• Senator Lummis called out the FDIC for alleged misconduct and destruction of documents tied to its digital asset oversight and investigations (operation chokepoint)
• A proposal to reduce Solana inflation went live for vote
• Nasdaq filed to list & trade the Canary Litecoin ETF
• Tether partnered with LayerZero to bring USDT0 to more blockchains 
• A "Crypto Tower" has been unveiled for Dubai, with plans for a 17-story building featuring blockchain, DeFi, and web3 companies, also featuring a gold shop, exotic car dealership and a club
• Coinbase is launching BTC-backed loans for its users powered by Morpho
• Memecoin majors are mostly green up 4-8%; DOGE +7%, SHIBA +7%, PEPE +5%, PENGU -3%, BONK +1%, WIF +1%, MOG -7%
• SPX jumps 20%, leading top movers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email to tyler.d.warner@gmail.com.