Phase launches Proxy to enable smartphone-based AI connectivity

The DePIN project lets everyday phones route AI agent traffic while funding token buybacks from service revenue A startup called Phase has launched its Layer 1 blockchain mainnet alongside a new product called Phase Proxy, which turns ordinary smartphones into connectivity infrastructure for AI agents. The launch, which happened on or around October 29, 2026, marks one of the more concrete attempts to merge the decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) sector with the rapidly expanding AI agent economy. The core idea is straightforward: AI agents often get blocked or rate-limited when their requests come from data center IP addresses. Phase Proxy routes those requests through real residential and mobile IPs supplied by smartphone users, letting agents operate more like a human browsing the web than a bot hammering a server. How the network actually works Anyone with an iOS or Android device can download the Phase app and start contributing to the network. There is no token staking requirement and no specialized hardware to purchase, which lowers the barrier to entry considerably compared to most DePIN projects. Pricing for the proxy service starts at 0.5 USDT per 1,000 requests...