Phantom hires Ventuals trio as perpetual futures push accelerates on Hyperliquid
Phantom has hired three Ventuals creators—Alvin Hsia, Emily Hsia and Aris Samad—to its trading and data teams, following the shutdown of Ventuals’ OpenAI- and Anthropic-themed perpetual futures on Hyperliquid.
The move supports Phantom’s deeper push into perpetual futures and Hyperliquid-based trading products. Phantom CEO Brandon Millman said the team’s expertise will help Phantom move faster in building always-on derivatives linked to the Hyperliquid ecosystem, which he described as having strong liquidity and transparent onchain infrastructure. Phantom also reiterated that it is the largest distribution partner within Hyperliquid and plans to keep expanding its perps focus.
For traders, the key takeaway is that talent and product know-how are consolidating around Hyperliquid-style perpetual markets at the wallet layer (Phantom’s self-custody wallet adding trading features). Ventuals previously gained attention for offering perpetual contracts tied to private-company valuation narratives (including OpenAI and Anthropic), but those products were closed.
Broader context: perennial (non-crypto-native) expansion of perpetual futures continues, with regulated Kalshi launching its own perpetuals after receiving approval. Overall, Phantom’s hire reinforces market confidence in perpetual futures as a core growth area, though it does not directly change liquid spot demand in the near term.
Bullish
Phantom’s decision to bring in the Ventuals founders after Ventuals shut down its Hyperliquid perpetuals suggests consolidation of know-how around perpetual futures. In past crypto cycles, when teams migrate from closed experimental venues into larger distribution rails (often wallets or major perps venues), traders typically expect improved product reliability and faster iteration—factors that can tighten spreads and deepen derivatives liquidity over time.
Short-term: the hire is more of a build/strategy signal than a direct change to spot supply or leverage targets, so immediate volatility may be limited. However, it can still lift sentiment for Hyperliquid-linked perps because market participants often front-run potential feature upgrades and new product launches.
Long-term: wallet-driven access to perpetual futures can broaden the user base, supporting recurring trading flows and ecosystem liquidity. That said, Ventuals’ shutdown of OpenAI/Anthropic markets also reminds traders that experimental narrative-linked products can fail; if more such markets close, it could temper enthusiasm for non-crypto valuation themes. Net-net, the structural direction (more perpetual futures capability on a major wallet distribution channel) leans bullish for derivatives activity, with neutral-to-limited impact on the broader spot market initially.