Deputy Editor
Cryptocurrency poker site Phenom Poker announced an abrupt change to its rakeback model, catching players off guard and raising questions about the site’s liquidity and future viability.
Rakeback has always been paid to players in the form of PHNM tokens. That won’t change. What will change is how players can monetize those tokens.
How Phenom Poker Rakeback Works
Under the old system, players could redeem their tokens weekly at a fixed rate set by the site. Each token was given a USDT (Tether) value, tied to the U.S. dollar. The weekly rate was determined by a four-week rolling average of rake collected. For instance, if a player had 12 tokens and the PHNM token was priced at $2, they could trade those tokens for $24 in rakeback.
Alternatively, players could hold their tokens in hopes that the price went up. Essentially, they gave Phenom a loan.
The token wasn’t available on the open market to any buyer. It only had value in reselling back to Phenom. And playing poker and getting rakeback was the only way to accrue PHNM tokens.
Phenom advertised this as giving players “ownership” of the site. According to Phenom’s operating model, the site gave players back 50% of net rake.
However, there was a problem — not enough players were holding.
“It has proven impossible to predict redemption demand in advance, making it extremely difficult to model cash flows and invest in growth,” read the site’s release explaining the changes. “In other words — people redeem tokens at different times, in different amounts, and for different reasons with little correlation to price. If we can’t predict or model our runway or ability to invest in growth, we have a challenging path to take Phenom to new heights.”
New ‘Free Market’ Model
Phenom says its new system is a “free market model.” Now, players can immediately sell or swap their PHNM tokens on the open market. They can also choose USDT as a rakeback reward.
Interested investors outside of the poker-playing community can also now buy and sell PHNM tokens.
Players who wish to continue receiving PHNM tokens as rakeback can still do so. They’ll be given an additional carrot in the form of a multiplier for however long they wish to “lock” their tokens into the site’s treasury. These multipliers range from 0.2 to 1.5. Naturally, staking your tokens into the site’s treasury for a longer period yields a better multiplier:
- 0.2x multiplier for one month
- 0.4x multiplier for three months
- 0.7x multiplier for six months
- 1x multiplier for one year
- 1.5x multiplier for two years
The new system begins at the end of January, per Phenom’s release.
“This solution allows a PHNM holder to choose what they value — liquidity or yield,” the release said. “More rewards go to the people who are long-term aligned with the platform. This incentivizes holding the token and long-term conviction.”
Phenom has signed a number of recognizable players as site ambassadors. While many have remained mum on the changes, Brian Rast expounded upon his thoughts in a lengthy X post.
“I believe these changes give Phenom the best chance to succeed long term,” he wrote. “After being deeply involved in these discussions, I believe this change strengthens the project, aligns incentives better, and gives Phenom a real shot at becoming what it set out to be.”
Is Phenom Poker in Trouble?
The poker community has largely not reacted positively to the announcement. It sounds like the change came with no notice. And already, players are complaining that they can’t redeem their tokens.
According to a screenshot posted by Todd Witteles on X, co-founder Matt Valeo admitted in a Discord that a rush to redeem could result in the site’s inability to pay out sellers of PNHM:
Let the bank run on Phenom Poker begin!! pic.twitter.com/dAG1M7IFCW
— Todd Witteles (@ToddWitteles) January 7, 2026
While Witteles criticized the site’s operating model, he stressed that player balances are not at risk. The liquidity concerns apply only to the promised rakeback and PHNM token value.
Still, given the abruptness of the change and the fact that site brass are openly admitting to liquidity struggles, it’s fair to wonder about the viability of Phenom Poker. Rast, despite his professed optimism, admitted he had misgivings about the move.
Site traffic was sparse when PokerScout scanned through the various cash game lobbies. No no-limit hold’em game above $0.25-$0.50 was being dealt when we checked. Things looked similar in the pot-limit Omaha games.
The most consistent action seems to be in mixed-game formats, which jives with what posters in a 2025 thread on Reddit reported. That’s a tough way to build a site in a landscape where the vast majority of poker players wish to play simple big-bet games.
A glance at the PHNM poker token value tells a similar story of concern. The site’s own tracker values the token at $1.65. That represents a drop of about 40% compared to the $2.79 posted last November.
Image credit: afunkydamsel/Flickr (license)
