Solana Wallet Phantom Acquires a16z-Powered Bitski Wallet Platform

Phantom is the world’s best cryptocurrency wallet. Solana brush

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The ecosystem has completed its first acquisition with the acquisition of Bitski, a wallet-as-a-service platform backed by high-profile investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Galaxy Digital.

“The Bitsky team will join Fantom to introduce a built-in wallet to Solana, simplifying the onboarding process for both users and developers,” Fantom said Tuesday. “The current Bitski product is scheduled to be retired in the coming months and users will be notified of next steps.”

Talks between Phantom and Bitski began earlier this year, and the deal was already completed without pending approvals, Phantom co-founder and CEO Brandon Millman told The Block.

Millman said the Bitski team, including the co-founders, will join, expanding Phantom’s team that currently numbers more than 80 people. He declined to comment on the specific number of employees at Bitski, but the company appears to have up to 50 employees, according to its LinkedIn page.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it appears to be significant. Bitski has raised at least $25.5 million in funding to date, according to data from The Block Pro’s funding dashboard. According to the dashboard, in addition to a16z and Galaxy Digital, other major investors in Bitski include Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Kindred Ventures, American billionaire rapper Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and American former professional tennis player Serena Williams.

Phantom, on the other hand, has raised a total of $118 million in funding to date and is valued at $1.2 billion in early 2022. Investors include a16z, Paradigm, Solana Ventures, Variant, and Alliance, according to the dashboard. Millman said Phantom is not planning another funding round in the near future.

Solana’s ‘Built-in Wallet’

Founded in 2018, Bitski offers an “embedded wallet” that can be integrated directly into an application or platform. Built-in wallets allow users to access and manage their digital assets within the app, providing a user-friendly experience. Phantom said Bitski’s tools support multiple applications, games and Fortune 500 brands.

Now, as part of the Bitski acquisition, Phantom plans to bring a built-in wallet to Solana for an easy onboarding experience similar to web2. “Easier user onboarding will also be available for Fantom’s existing self-custodial wallets. Users will soon have the option to sign up and log in to Fantom using only their email address,” Phantom said. . “This change aims to seamlessly and safely bring millions of new users to Solana.”

Millman had no specific timeline for when Solana’s built-in wallet would be ready.

Phantom is one of the most popular Solana wallets. The company claims that its users have more than doubled in the past three months, reaching 7 million monthly active users.

“Wallets will be the most important consumer application over the next 20 years. The winner will be one that serves today’s users and is poised to deliver billions of dollars more. We look forward to seeing that happen at Phantom. “ says Donnie Dinch, Bitski co-founder and CEO. he said in a statement.

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