Repost the original title “Gold Rush Manual | Pharos: Modular L1 with High Performance and RWA On-chain”

On May 16, Pharos, a Layer1 project compatible with EVM founded by former executives of Ant Group, announced the official launch of the testnet.

As a modular blockchain with high performance and RWA on-chain as its core features, it claims to achieve a transaction performance of 30,000 TPS and 1-second final confirmation. In addition, the blockchain-based verifiable storage solution can save storage costs by 80.3%, sparking market interest in the new generation of Web3 infrastructure. This article will introduce the team background, technical architecture, ecological layout, and interaction methods.

Team Background

The core team of Pharos is composed of former blockchain backbone of Ant Group and former senior executives of Web3 leading projects:

• 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 lab.
• Co-founder and CTO Wish Wu: former Chief Strategy Officer of ZAN, a Web3 project at Ant Group.
• CMO Laura Serein: Previously worked at Solana, PayPal Crypto, and Visa.
• Ecosystem Director Wilguish: Formerly worked at Wormhole.

Pharos is currently recruiting senior blockchain engineers (C++), social media managers, Web3 research interns, blockchain development interns (C++), and other positions.

In terms of financing, in November 2024, Pharos announced the completion of an $8 million seed round of financing, led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC, with participation from SNZ Capital, Reforge, Dispersion Capital, Hash Global, Generative Ventures, Legend Star (an early investment and incubation unit of Lenovo Holdings), MH Ventures, Zion, and Chorus One. At that time, Pharos co-founder and CEO Alex Zhang revealed to The Block that this round of financing began fundraising in July and was completed in September, using a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) form, along with token warrants.

In March 2025, Pharos also launched 20 million US dollarsEcosystem Funding ProgramIt aims to promote innovation and growth within the ecosystem by providing funding and support for projects that contribute to the advancement and application of Pharos technology.

Furthermore, according to researchers@WorldOfMercekPharos will launch its mainnet in the third quarter, when $300 million renewable energy RWA assets will be put into use (@_FORABIt is also known from peers that Pharos has already secured a commitment of 300 million RWA assets), will launch SPN and optimize the RWA environment in the fourth quarter, expand new asset types in 2026, and introduce more institutional partners.

How is the Pharos architecture?

Pharos is a modular and full-stack parallel L1 blockchain network compatible with EVM, focusing on high throughput, low latency, scalability, and supporting heterogeneous computing and cross-chain interoperability. Its core goal is to provide enterprise-level infrastructure for Web3 applications, while supporting the integration of RWA and DeFi. From the Pharos documentation, the Pharos framework is similar to the Cosmos SDK, supporting the construction of L1 or L2 on this infrastructure.

From a macro system perspective, Pharos adopts a three-tier architecture design:

Layer 1-Base: Provides data availability and hardware acceleration capabilities.

2. L1-Core: A high-performance global distributed blockchain network driven by decentralized nodes.

Third, L1-Extension: A modular extension layer based on L1-Core, supporting network expansion in three dimensions:

• Create customized special processing networks (SPNs) using heterogeneous computing: support running blockchain networks, sidechains, or non-blockchain applications (similar to subnets), such as HFT, ZKML, and AI models.
• Native re-staking: Validators can re-stake the mainnet staking tokens to SPNs to achieve secure sharing, staking rewards distribution, and penalty mechanisms.
• Cross-SPN interoperability: Achieve seamless circulation of assets and data between different networks through the Cross-SPN protocol, supporting the collaboration of infrastructure-type, middleware-type, and application-type SPNs, and building a highly modular and composable ecosystem.

From the perspective of functional modules, the Pharos modular blockchain stack is divided into consensus layer, execution layer, settlement and re-staking layer, and data availability layer.

Consensus Layer: Pharos supports multiple consensus models, including PBFT, PoS, and PoA, ensuring effective communication and validation between SPN and the main network. The Pharos network topology and consensus mechanism utilize three basic types of nodes: validator nodes, full nodes, and relay nodes. Validator nodes operate based on the Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) proof-of-stake protocol to ensure network security and efficiently process user transactions. In addition to transaction fees and staking rewards, validators can also earn additional income through re-staking. Full nodes and relay nodes support the distribution of blockchain data and provide services such as state synchronization, parallel tip generation, indexing, querying, and APIs.

Execution Layer: There are two key components, the scheduler and the executor. The scheduler is the core component for parallel scheduling and executing transactions, utilizing optimization algorithms to achieve maximum parallelism and minimal conflicts; the executor uses dual virtual machine (EVM and WASM) engines to quickly and flexibly execute smart contracts. Pharos also utilizes optimistic execution and the ‘Pipeline Finality’ algorithm, allowing for the rapid aggregation of execution results and effective determination of the final state. In the Pipeline Finality algorithm, Pharos prioritizes transaction finality to enhance user experience and sets a maximum finalization time for each block.

Source: Pharos

Settlement and Re-Mortgage Layer: Validators in the main network can participate in SPN re-mortgage to enhance dual rewards for SPN and the main network. Using the Pharos re-mortgage protocol can quickly launch SPN to ensure shared security, resource pooling, and incentivize validators.

In addition, Pharos supports multi-asset protocols and can seamlessly integrate with rehypothecation protocols such as Babylon and Eigenlayer to expand the interoperability and security of the entire network.

Data Availability Layer: Achieve high throughput and low latency storage using Authenticated Data Structures (ADS). Pharos indicates that its blockchain-based verifiable storage solution can increase throughput by up to 15.8 times, saving 80.3% in storage costs. For SPN, the cross-SPN protocol combined with native restaking is claimed to achieve sub-second finality.

In addition, the Pharos Gas model adopts the Ethereum Gas mechanism, compatible with EIP-1559 (base fee + priority fee). The base fee is dynamic and recalculated at the beginning of each epoch.

The ecological potential and application scenarios of Pharos

Pharos co-founder and CEO Alex Zhang revealed to The Block that real-time payments and RWA are the two main use cases Pharos prioritizes. Pharos has also established a strategic partnership with ZAN, the Web3 brand of Ant Group’s Ant Digital Technology, focusing on jointly developing Web3 infrastructure with a focus on node services, security, and hardware. Alex Zhang emphasized that the collaboration with ZAN will focus on RWA use cases, while another partnership with the Global Stablecoin Payment Network (WSPN) will focus on stablecoin payment use cases.

According to the Pharos official website, Pharos has the following use cases:

• Institutional-grade RWA tokenization: supporting on-chain assets such as renewable energy, real estate, supply chain finance through zkDID authentication and on-chain/off-chain credit systems. Pharos CTO has stated that Pharos’ RWA application aims to price assets with trusted data and blockchain technology, rather than centralized financial institutions.
• Central limit order book contract for the entire chain or spot DEX: supports advanced order types such as take profit, stop loss, time-weighted average price (TWAP), etc.
• Real-time payment: With 1-second finality and extremely low transaction costs, it helps to achieve a seamless hybrid payment system.
• Expandable DePIN
• Unified Liquidity Across Multiple Virtual Machines: Supporting cross-virtual machine interoperability of EVM and WASM smart contracts, developers can build cross-chain applications under a unified account system, reducing the cost of deploying multiple chains.

How to trade?

Considering that Pharos adopted the SAFE form in last year’s seed round financing, with attached token warrants, and the test network has deployed the native token PHRS as network fees, we can reasonably expect Pharos to launch its native token. Pharos official account stated that within 24 hours of the Pharos test network going live, there were more than 110,000 real users.

The specific interaction strategy of Pharos is as follows:

1. Connect Wallet:https://testnet.pharosnetwork.xyz/

2. Faucet test coins claim:

• Pull down the page, you can claim 0.2 PHRS every 24 hours (human-machine identity verification required).
• In ZAN(The website https://zan.top/faucet/pharos）every0.2 PHRS can be claimed within 24 hours (registration required).
• In https://testnet.zenithswap.xyz/faucetFaucet claiming USDC or USDT (failed to claim).

3. Complete on-chain tasks and social tasks.(https://testnet.pharosnetwork.xyz/experience)

On-chain missions include:

• Exchange tokens on Zenith (https://testnet.zenithswap.xyz/swap) and provide liquidity;
• Transfer PHRS tokens to another address;
• Invite friends.

4. Explore other ecological projects of Pharos afterwards.（https://testnet.pharosnetwork.xyz/ecosystem）

The Challenges and Opportunities of Pharos

Pharos may demonstrate differentiated competitiveness in the field of RWA on-chain and high-performance DeFi with the technical accumulation and resource integration capabilities of core members from the Ant Group. Its modular architecture and SPNs design provide flexible customization space for enterprise applications, while EVM compatibility reduces the migration threshold for developers. However, balancing performance with decentralization, addressing regulatory compliance requirements (especially in the RWA field), and building a sustainable token economic model will be key challenges faced after its mainnet launch.

With the comprehensive opening of the test network, whether Pharos can occupy a place in the Web3 infrastructure track depends on the speed of technology landing, the efficiency of ecological cooperation partners, and the acceptance of traditional financial institutions. If it can fulfill its performance commitments and bridge the value closed loop between RWA and DeFi, it is expected to become the core hub linking real-world assets and the blockchain world.

Statement:

1. This article is reproduced from [ Foresight NewsThe original title is “Mining Manual | Pharos: Modular L1 with High Performance and On-chain RWA”, copyright belongs to the original author [KarenZ, Foresight News], if you have any objections to the reprint, please contactGate Learn TeamThe team will process it as soon as possible according to the relevant procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute any investment advice.
3. The other language versions of the article are translated by the Gate Learn team, if not mentionedGateUnder no circumstances may translated articles be copied, disseminated, or plagiarized.