Today in Crypto: Phantom doubles down on perpetual futures with hire of Hyperliquid market builders

Across major exchanges, the team behind one of Hyperliquid's highest-profile private-company trading projects has found a new home.

Crypto wallet Phantom said Tuesday it hired Alvin Hsia, Emily Hsia and Aris Samad, the creators of Ventuals, the project that shut down its OpenAI and Anthropic perpetual futures markets earlier this week.

The trio will join Phantom's trading and data teams, according to Phantom CEO Brandon Millman.

The move comes after Ventuals announced earlier this month it was winding down and joining another project within the Hyperliquid ecosystem, ending one of the exchange's most prominent experiments in trading private-company valuations onchain.

Perpetual futures have evolved from a crypto-native innovation into one of the industry's most important products.

They are a type of derivative that allows participants to speculate on future price movements without putting an expiration date on that contract, allowing it to be held as long as the investor wants.

Their around-the-clock trading, high liquidity and ability to track virtually any asset have made them a popular vehicle for everything from crypto speculation to bets on private companies and commodities.

Last month, prediction trading market operator Kalshi launched its own perpetual futures business after regulatory approval, joining exchanges betting that always-on derivatives will become a larger part of financial markets.