The Bitski team will be joining Phantom to bring embedded wallets to Solana, according to a press release. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The recent non-fungible token (NFT) boom, which Bitski enthusiastically supported, saw an expansion of the Web3 ecosystem towards mainstream users, and with it usability challenges particularly when using mobile devices. Embedded wallets solve some of the issues around adoption, said Phantom's head of growth David Wu.

“In the future, we think embedded wallets really make sense for decentralized applications, rather than being forced to build their own or use less trusted firms or experimental products,” said Wu in an interview. “With Bitski's expertise in embedded wallets, onboarding will be much easier. Instead of telling people to download a separate mobile app, and adopt a seed phrase, simply sign up with an email and get started immediately.”

Piggybacking on renewed interest in Solana, Phantom has seen its user base double over the past three months to 7 million monthly active users, Wu said. Early in 2022, Phantom raised $109 million at a $1.2 billion valuation.

Phantom Solana Acquisitions

Ian Allison

Ian Allison is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, focused on institutional and enterprise adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Prior to that, he covered fintech for the International Business Times in London and Newsweek online. He won the State Street Data and Innovation journalist of the year award in 2017, and was runner up the following year. He also earned CoinDesk an honourable mention in the 2020 SABEW Best in Business awards. His November 2022 FTX scoop, which brought down the exchange and its boss Sam Bankman-Fried, won a Polk award, Loeb award and New York Press Club award. Ian graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He holds ETH.