Phantom Hires Ventuals Team to Expand Perps Trading

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The named hires are Alvin Hsia, Emily Hsia, and Aris Samad. Phantom confirmed the move on Monday. All three will work on its trading and data teams.

What Phantom Announced

Phantom framed the news as a talent move, not a product purchase. According to the company, the new hires will help build perps and open markets. Phantom did not disclose any deal terms.

Phantom CEO Brandon Millman shared the news first on X. He wrote that the trio start with Phantom this week. He also said he had followed their work for a long time.

You can read the full post on the Phantom blog. Millman’s announcement is also live on X. Both went out on June 30.

Why the Ventuals Team Is Moving

Ventuals first signaled its wind-down on June 15. At the time, the team said it would join another project in the Hyperliquid ecosystem. On June 30, Phantom turned out to be that project.

Ventuals built perps on private, pre-IPO companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. It also ran markets on indices and commodities. Now its standalone product is sunsetting and will not run on its own.

According to the Ventuals sunset guide, all of its HIP-3 markets settled and halted by June 19. After that, the team began processing vHYPE withdrawals. Open interest then dropped to zero, per DefiLlama.

What the Ventuals Team Brings to Phantom

Alvin Hsia co-founded Ventuals and served as CEO. Emily Hsia co-founded it and served as CTO. Before Ventuals, both held entrepreneur-in-residence roles at Paradigm.

So Phantom is adding builders who designed perp markets from scratch. That skill set covers market design, risk, and the user interface for complex products. For a wallet moving into trading, that talent matters.

In his own post, Alvin Hsia said perps are still early. He added that global, open, 24/7 markets will shape how people trade and invest. You can read his note on X.

The $1B Volume Claim, Explained

Phantom said Ventuals reached over $1 billion in annualized trading volume. That figure is a run-rate estimate, and it needs context. The primary data tells a more modest story.

Ventuals reported roughly $650 million in cumulative perp volume. DefiLlama lists $649.24 million, which closely matches. In the 30 days before the sunset, volume was only about $50 million.

So the annualized number and the cumulative number measure different things. An annualized figure projects a short window across a full year. As a result, readers should treat the $1 billion claim as Phantom’s estimate, not a verified total.

Why a Wallet Wants a Perps Team

Perps are leverage contracts with no expiry date. Traders go long or short, and funding rates keep the contract price near the spot price. They have become the core product on Hyperliquid.

Phantom calls itself Hyperliquid’s largest distribution partner to date. It launched native perps on July 8, 2025, with up to 40x leverage. A 2025 DL News report said Hyperliquid perps drove over $1.8 billion in volume to Phantom wallets.

So hiring the Ventuals team fits a clear plan. Phantom wants to turn a wallet into a full consumer-finance platform. Native perps boost engagement, retention, and fee revenue, while keeping users on decentralized rails.

Phantom has bought talent before. It acquired Bitski in 2024, then the security firm Blowfish, and the data provider SimpleHash in 2025. It also raised funding at a roughly $3 billion valuation in early 2025.

Risks and Open Questions

Phantom did not share the price, equity, or any IP transfer. It also did not confirm whether Ventuals code or branding will return. For now, only the three named hires are confirmed.

There are broader concerns too. Wallets that offer leveraged perps can blur the line with exchanges. As a result, regulators such as the CFTC or SEC may take a closer look at retail access.

Critics also warn about order-flow concentration. If a few large frontends route most volume to Hyperliquid, that could centralize a supposedly open market. None of these concerns are tied to this specific deal yet.

This article is informational and not financial advice. Always do your own research before trading leveraged products.

What Comes Next

The Ventuals team starts at Phantom this week, so early signals should appear soon. Watch for new perps features, deeper Hyperliquid integration, and any sign of pre-IPO markets returning under Phantom.

The early reaction on X skewed positive. Many users congratulated the founders and called the move a strong addition. Some described it loosely as an acquisition, though Phantom avoided that word.

Hyperliquid has not commented publicly on the move as of June 30. For now, the clearest read is simple. Phantom is buying talent, not a product, to win the race for onchain order flow.