The new Layer 1 lets smartphone owners earn PHASE tokens by validating transactions and sharing internet connections with AI agents
A new blockchain wants your phone to do more than doomscroll at 1 a.m. Phase launched its network on Thursday with a $45 million funding commitment from Kirill Eves, the founder of fintech company Unlimit.
The pitch is simple. Smartphone owners earn tokens for helping run services that AI agents need. That puts Phase at the intersection of two of the loudest themes in tech right now: agentic AI and decentralized infrastructure.
What Phase actually launched
Phase is a Layer 1 blockchain, meaning it is a standalone base network rather than an add-on built on top of another chain. It is designed to serve as plumbing for what the project calls an AI agent economy.
The idea is that AI agents can browse the web and process transactions using a network of everyday consumer devices. No centralized server farm required.
Alongside the mainnet, Phase rolled out a product called Phase Proxy. The service routes web requests from AI agents through internet connections that smartphone owners choose to share.
The project says the service costs less than traditional mobile proxies. It frames this as a way to give AI agents affordable, unrestricted web access while putting idle consumer bandwidth to work.
Validators without the usual entry fee
Running a validator on most proof-of-stake networks typically means locking up tokens and, often, buying dedicated hardware. Phase is skipping both requirements.
Participants can become validators with no initial token stake and no specialized equipment. That is a notably low barrier for a role that usually demands real capital.
Validators earn PHASE tokens for securing the network. Those who also handle Phase Proxy traffic receive additional rewards on top of that.
The network is also EVM-compatible. EVM stands for Ethereum Virtual Machine, the engine that runs Ethereum smart contracts. Compatibility means developers can potentially bring existing Ethereum code and tools over to Phase without rebuilding from scratch, which could open the door to decentralized finance applications and other use cases.
The money behind it
The $45 million figure is a funding commitment from Eves, not a traditional priced venture round with a list of firms on the cap table. That distinction matters, because a commitment describes capital pledged to the project rather than a closed raise.
Eves founded Unlimit in 2009. The company provides global payment infrastructure across more than 180 countries.
Unlimit has also highlighted stablecoin services as a growth area. That makes its founder’s interest in blockchain rails less of a left turn than it might first appear.
Why this pitch is landing now
AI agents are software programs that act on a user’s behalf, completing tasks rather than just answering questions. To do that, they need to reach the open web, and they need to do it cheaply and at scale.
Phase is betting that the solution sits in billions of phones rather than in a handful of data centers. Instead of selling bandwidth to human users, Phase is selling it to bots.
What this means
For prospective participants, the zero-stake model is the headline feature. Removing the need to buy tokens before validating lowers the financial risk of joining, which could help Phase recruit a large base of phone owners quickly.
Users will also want clarity on what sharing an internet connection with AI agents actually involves. The details of how Phase Proxy traffic is managed will likely shape how comfortable everyday users feel about opting in.
Then there is the funding structure. A $45 million commitment from a single backer gives Phase a meaningful runway, but it also concentrates influence in one person.
EVM compatibility gives Phase a shot at attracting developers who already build on Ethereum-style tooling. In Phase’s case, that reason is supposed to be a steady stream of AI agents with work to do.
