Phase blockchain launches mainnet with $45M commitment from Unlimit founder Kirill Eves

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 mo...