Phase Blockchain Launches with $45M Commitment to Empower AI Services via Smartphones

On Thursday, Phase announced the launch of its blockchain alongside Phase Proxy, a service that channels AI agents’ web requests through internet connections provided by smartphones.

Phase confirmed to Cointelegraph that it has no external investors; Eves’ $45 million commitment covers the initial two years of development and offers an additional two years of operational funding.

Eves explained that websites commonly block or throttle automated traffic stemming from data centers, even when such activity originates from legitimate user requests. As AI agents increasingly perform tasks across various sites, these restrictions pose a major obstacle to adoption.

Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure provider, permits website owners to regulate AI traffic. For newly registered domains, its default configuration blocks agent and training-related traffic on advertisement pages.

Kirill Eves founded Unlimit in 2009 and expanded it into a global payments company. By December 2025, Unlimit reported servicing over 50,000 businesses worldwide.

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

Eves highlighted that modern flagship smartphones offer around 35 to 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS) in AI processing power, enabling them to run smaller AI models locally with open weights.

User participation levels are managed based on battery charge and network connectivity of the device.

Starting in November, smartphone users will be able to contribute their computing power to Phase’s upcoming AI computing service. A second service launching the same month will facilitate routing requests between different AI models.

Phase intends to create its own AI model and expand support to desktops, servers, and graphics processing units (GPUs).

A portion of the revenue generated from these services will be used to buy PHASE tokens on the open market, which will then be distributed as rewards to node operators.

Phase’s approach offers a new way to harness ubiquitous smartphone resources to support AI services and blockchain functionality, potentially broadening access to decentralized computing and providing token-based incentives to participants.

This funding and launch highlight the growing intersection between decentralized networks, AI, and mobile technology, aiming to overcome current web traffic restrictions and enable more efficient AI service deployment.

As Phase develops, it may influence how AI workloads are distributed and monetized through contributions from everyday smartphone users, reshaping blockchain participation and AI infrastructure.