What is Phantom Wallet?

Phantom is a crypto wallet: an app and browser extension that holds the keys to your crypto, shows your balances and lets you send, receive, swap and connect to crypto apps. It is made by Phantom Technologies, Inc., a US company. It is still best known as the most popular Solana wallet, but it now works on several other networks too.

This page explains what Phantom does, how it differs from an exchange account, what it costs and what to watch out for. Ghostlight Guide is an independent guide; we are not Phantom.

A self-custody wallet, not an exchange

When you create a Phantom wallet, the app generates a secret recovery phrase (a list of words) and private keys on your device. Whoever has that phrase controls the wallet. Phantom does not hold your crypto and cannot freeze, reverse or recover it for you.

That is both the main benefit and the main risk. You are your own bank, so a leaked or lost recovery phrase is final. Read how the Phantom recovery phrase works before you put real money in.

Phantom also lets you create a wallet by signing in with a Google or Apple account instead of writing down a phrase (Phantom help centre, 2026). That changes how the wallet is backed up, not who owns it. Details are in Phantom email and social login.

A short history

The team formed in January 2021 and released a browser extension beta for Solana in April 2021 (Phantom; Blockworks, 2021). The founders named by Forbes are Brandon Millman (CEO), Francesco Agosti and Chris Kalani, who previously worked together at 0x (Forbes, February 2026). The iPhone app followed in early 2022 and the Android app in April 2022.

Phantom became multichain in May 2023 with Ethereum and Polygon, added Bitcoin in December 2023 and Base in November 2024. In 2025 it added perpetual futures, liquid staking and Phantom Cash, and in 2026 it reshaped its network list, as the next section shows.

User numbers come from the company and are not independently audited. Phantom said it had 15 million monthly active users in January 2025 (The Block, 2025). Later reports put it at "20M+" users in December 2025 (Decrypt) and 22 million users in February 2026 (Forbes), not stated as monthly.

Which networks Phantom supports (October 2026)

Phantom supports nine networks as of 25 October 2026 (Phantom help centre). The list changed four times between August and October 2026, so many older reviews are out of date.

Phantom does not let you add custom networks. Its help centre lists Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, Unichain and Linea as unsupported. If you held Sui or Monad assets in Phantom, they are still on their own blockchain; see what to do now that Sui and Monad are gone. The full, dated list is on Phantom supported chains.

What you can do with Phantom

• Send, receive and store tokens and NFTs on the supported networks.
• Swap tokens inside the app, including across networks. See how swaps work and cross-chain bridging.
• Stake SOL with a validator of your choice or through Phantom's liquid staking token, PSOL. See Phantom staking.
• Connect to apps such as exchanges, NFT markets and games, and sign transactions with a preview of what will happen.
• Use a Ledger hardware wallet with the extension and the mobile app. See Phantom with Ledger.
• Perpetual futures, built on Hyperliquid, launched on 8 July 2025 (The Block, 2025). They are leveraged and high-risk, and Phantom does not offer them in the US or the UK (Phantom help centre). See Phantom perps.
• Phantom Cash, a dollar balance built on the CASH stablecoin, with a prepaid Visa card. The card and bank transfers are US-only and exclude New York (Phantom help centre). See Phantom Cash and card.

Not every feature is available everywhere. Regional limits also apply to prediction markets and tokenized stocks. You can ignore all the trading features and use Phantom purely as a wallet.

Is Phantom free?

Downloading and using Phantom is free. You pay network fees to the blockchain whenever you send or sign a transaction; on Solana these are usually a fraction of a cent, on Ethereum they can be several dollars. Phantom charges its own fee of 0.85% on most in-app swaps, shown before you confirm. Native SOL staking has no Phantom fee, but the validator takes a commission. More detail, including bridge and liquid-staking fees, is in Phantom fees explained.

Where Phantom runs

There is no native Windows or Mac app. Fake Phantom extensions, apps and websites are common, and some appear above the real ones in search results. Type phantom.com yourself or use a bookmark, and check any link or store listing with our Phantom download checker. Step-by-step instructions are in how to download Phantom safely.

There is no Phantom token

Phantom said on 3 January 2025 that it does not have any plans to launch a token (The Block, 2025), and we found no later statement that changes this. There is no Phantom token and no Phantom airdrop; any "claim your PHANTOM tokens" page is a scam. See Phantom token and airdrop rumours.

Phantom is not Fantom

Fantom (now Sonic) is a separate blockchain project with its own token. It has nothing to do with Phantom Wallet, and Phantom does not support it. The similar names cause confusion, especially in Turkish and Arabic search results, and scammers exploit it. If a page talks about FTM or "Fantom wallet", it is not about Phantom.

The safety basics

• Phantom never asks for your recovery phrase. Anyone who does is a scammer.
• Phantom has no phone support. Its help centre is at help.phantom.com, and support runs through in-app chat.
• Read Phantom's transaction preview and warnings before you sign anything.
• Keep large amounts on a hardware wallet or a separate wallet you never connect to new apps.

Phantom itself has a reasonable security record, but its users are targeted constantly. Our guides Is Phantom Wallet safe? and fake Phantom scams explain how people actually lose funds and how to avoid it. When you are ready, follow how to set up Phantom.

Frequently asked questions