Unlimit founder backs Phase blockchain with $45M as mainnet launches

Phase, a new blockchain that lets smartphone users earn tokens by helping run AI services, has received a $45 million funding commitment from Unlimit founder Kirill Eves.

Phase announced the launch of its blockchain on Thursday alongside Phase Proxy, a service that routes AI agents’ web requests through internet connections shared via smartphones.

Phase has no outside investors, the company told Cointelegraph. Eves’ $45 million commitment covers its first two years of development and provides another two years of runway.

“Websites routinely block or rate-limit automated traffic originating from data centers, even when an agent is acting on a legitimate user request,” Eves told Cointelegraph. “As agents take on more tasks across multiple websites, these restrictions are becoming a significant barrier to their adoption.”

Internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare allows website owners to manage AI traffic. For new domains, its settings block agent and training traffic on pages displaying ads.

Eves founded Unlimit in 2009 and built it into a global payments company. Unlimit said in December 2025 that it served more than 50,000 businesses worldwide.

Related: Cloudflare introduces wallets for AI agents, plans stablecoin payments

How smartphone users earn PHASE

Smartphone users can join the Phase network through the Phase app and earn PHASE tokens by validating blocks and sharing their internet connection through the proxy service.

“Current flagship smartphones can deliver approximately 35–45 TOPS [trillions of operations per second] of AI processing performance, depending on the device, allowing them to run smaller open-weight AI models locally,” Eves said.

Related: Tech chief says EU can fend off rogue AI risk: Report

Participation is adjusted based on a device’s battery level and connectivity.

Phase plans AI computing services in November

Smartphone users will be able to contribute computing power when Phase launches its AI computing service, planned for November. A second service expected in November will route requests across AI models.

Phase said that it plans to develop its own model and expand to desktops, servers and graphics processing units.

Part of the revenue from these services would fund PHASE purchases on the open market, which would be used to reward node operators.