Can Pharos, with 30,000 TPS and 1-second final confirmation, created by core members who left Ant Group, become the core hub linking real-world assets with the Web3 world?
Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
On May 16th, the EVM-compatible Layer1 project Pharos, founded by former Ant Group executives, officially announced the launch of its testnet.
As a modular blockchain focusing on high performance and RWA on-chain, it claims to achieve 30,000 TPS and 1-second transaction finality. Additionally, its blockchain-based verifiable storage solution can save storage costs by 80.3%, drawing market attention to the next-generation Web3 infrastructure. This article will introduce Pharos from perspectives such as team background, technical architecture, ecosystem layout, and interaction methods.
Team Background
Pharos's core team consists of former blockchain backbone members from Ant Group and top Web3 project executives:
- Founder Alex Zhang: Former CTO of Ant Blockchain, former CEO of Ant Group's Web3 project ZAN, and head of Alibaba DAMO Academy's blockchain laboratory.
- Co-founder and CTO Wish Wu: Former Chief Strategy Officer of Ant Group's Web3 project ZAN.
- CMO Laura Serein: Previously worked at Solana, PayPal Crypto, and Visa.
- Ecosystem Head Wilguish: Previously worked at Wormhole.
Pharos is currently recruiting senior blockchain engineers (C++), social media managers, Web3 research interns, and blockchain R&D interns.
In terms of financing, in November 2024, Pharos announced the completion of an $8 million seed round, led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC, with participation from SNZ Capital, Reforge, Dispersion Capital, Hash Global, Generative Ventures, Legend Star, MH Ventures, Zion, and Chorus One. At the time, Pharos co-founder and CEO Alex Zhang revealed to The Block that this round of financing began in July and was completed in September, using a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) with token warrants.
In March 2025, Pharos also launched a $20 million ecosystem grant program aimed at promoting innovation and growth within the ecosystem by providing funding and support for projects that contribute to Pharos's technological advancement and applications.
According to researcher @WorldOfMercek, Pharos will launch its mainnet in the third quarter, at which time $300 million in renewable energy RWA assets will be put into use (also confirmed by @_FORAB through peer sources). They plan to launch SPN and optimize the RWA environment in the fourth quarter, and expand to new asset types and introduce more institutional partners in 2026.
What is Pharos's Architecture?
Pharos is an EVM-compatible, modular, and full-stack parallel L1 blockchain network focused on high throughput, low latency, and scalability, supporting heterogeneous computing and cross-chain interoperability. Its core goal is to provide enterprise-grade infrastructure for Web3 applications while supporting the integration of RWA and DeFi. From Pharos's documentation, its framework is similar to Cosmos SDK, supporting the construction of L1 or L2 on this infrastructure.
[The translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text, maintaining the technical terminology and proper nouns as specified in the initial instructions.]- Institutional-level RWA Tokenization: Through zkDID certification and on-chain/off-chain credit system, supporting assets such as renewable energy, real estate, and supply chain finance. Pharos CTO previously stated that Pharos's RWA application aims to price assets using trusted data and blockchain technology, rather than centralized financial institutions.
- Cross-chain Central Limit Order Book Contract or Spot DEX: Supporting advanced order types like take-profit, stop-loss, and Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP).
- Real-time Payment: Leveraging 1-second finality and extremely low transaction costs to help achieve a seamless hybrid payment system.
- Scalable DePIN
- Unified Liquidity Across Multiple Virtual Machines: Supporting interoperability between EVM and WASM smart contracts, allowing developers to build cross-chain applications under a unified account system, reducing multi-chain deployment costs.
How to Interact?
Considering Pharos's seed round funding using SAFE with token warrants, and the testnet deployment of its native token PHRS for network fees, we can reasonably expect Pharos to launch its native token. Pharos's Official Twitter states that within 24 hours of the testnet launch, over 110,000 real users were onboarded.
Pharos's specific interaction strategy is as follows:
1. Connect Wallet: https://testnet.pharosnetwork.xyz/
2. Faucet Token Retrieval:
- Scroll down the page to receive 0.2 PHRS every 24 hours (requires human-machine identity verification).
- Receive 0.2 PHRS every 24 hours on the ZAN (https://zan.top/faucet/pharos) website (requires registration).
- Claim USDC or USDT on https://testnet.zenithswap.xyz/faucet (author failed to retrieve).
3. Complete on-chain and social tasks. (https://testnet.pharosnetwork.xyz/experience)
On-chain tasks include:
- Swap tokens on Zenith (https://testnet.zenithswap.xyz/swap) and provide liquidity;
- Transfer PHRS tokens to other addresses;
- Invite friends.
4. Explore other Pharos ecosystem projects. (https://testnet.pharosnetwork.xyz/ecosystem)
Pharos's Challenges and Opportunities
Leveraging the technical accumulation and resource integration capabilities of former Ant Group core members, Pharos may demonstrate differentiated competitive advantages in RWA on-chain and high-performance DeFi. Its modular architecture and SPNs design provide flexible customization space for enterprise-level applications, while EVM compatibility lowers developer migration barriers. However, balancing performance with decentralization, addressing regulatory compliance requirements (especially in the RWA domain), and constructing a sustainable token economic model will be key challenges after mainnet launch.
With the comprehensive opening of the testnet, Pharos's ability to secure a position in the Web3 infrastructure track depends on its technology implementation speed, ecosystem partner expansion efficiency, and acceptance by traditional financial institutions. If it can fulfill its performance promises and bridge the value loop between RWA and DeFi, it has the potential to become a core hub connecting real-world assets with the blockchain world.
References:
https://docs.pharosnetwork.xyz/architecture/node-architecture
https://chainwire.org/2025/05/16/pharos-network-unveils-high-performance-layer-1-testnet-to-unlock-rwa-adoption/
https://www.theblock.co/post/325246/layer-1-blockchain-pharos-seed-funding
https://x.com/pharos_network/status/1923231948329320797
