Phase, a new blockchain designed to let smartphone users earn tokens by supporting AI services, has secured a $45 million funding commitment from Kirill Eves, founder of Unlimit. The funding covers Phase's first two years of development and provides an additional two years of operational runway. Phase launched its blockchain on Thursday, alongside Phase Proxy, a service that routes AI agents’ web requests through smartphones.
Eves highlighted that websites often block or rate-limit automated traffic from data centers, even when the requests are legitimate. This restriction poses a significant barrier to the adoption of AI agents. Eves, who founded Unlimit in 2009 and grew it into a global payments company, emphasized the need for solutions like Phase Proxy to overcome these limitations.
Smartphone users can join the Phase network through the Phase app and earn PHASE tokens by validating blocks and sharing their internet connection. The system adjusts participation based on a device’s battery level and connectivity. Phase plans to introduce AI computing services in November, allowing users to contribute computing power and route requests across AI models.
Revenue from these services will fund PHASE purchases on the open market, which will be used to reward node operators. Phase aims to develop its own AI model and expand to desktops, servers, and graphics processing units in the future.