Is Crypto Heating Up Again? Phantom Wallet's Downloads Shoot Up
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If you've been following the newsletter for a while you know that crypto isn't something I talk about often. Not because I don't like it but rather because there was really nothing interesting happening with crypto on mobile after bitcoin's rise back in the early days of the pandemic.
Last week something potentially interesting happened.
I noticed Phantom, a crypto wallet app, pop up in the top apps charts on the App Store and Google Play. That hasn't happened in a while, so I just had to dig in a bit more.
The rise wasn't the result of an ad campaign or the app going viral on TikTok. So what's going on?
Phantom, a wallet app which is backed by a16z (Andreessen Horowitz) acquired another wallet app also backed by a16z. On the surface that's pretty standard, but there's a bit more to this.
See, Phantom was pretty popular with Solana, but over the last year added support for all other major blockchain networks. Also important, Phantom is a non-custodial wallet, which means everything is stored on device and not in the cloud like on Coinbase or other household platforms.
In terms of downloads, our estimates show that Phantom's daily downloads rose from under 20K in early May to more than 200K on Tuesday, the app's peak.
Downloads across both stores rose gradually over the last few weeks but the majority of the downloads, roughly 75%, came from Google Play with the rest coming from the App Store. The US is the main driver of downloads on both platforms but India is a close second on Google Play while Russia is a distant second on the App Store.
We estimate that Phantom saw 1.9M downloads since downloads started rising on the 16th. That's roughly 1.6M downloads more than what it would have gotten otherwise - more than 600% higher.
With this acquisition, Phantom is trying to make crypto easier to get started with and with powerful investors behind it, and as prices are on the rise, it just might.
FYI - I'm no crypto expert so if I messed something up please let me know.
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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.
