Part of the Polkadot ecosystem, Phala Network is a decentralized data storage network. Its creators describe their mission as "tackling the issue of trust in the computation cloud."

Privacy preservation challenges in an era of cloud computing have led to a push for Web3.0 innovations bent on eliminating third-party intermediaries such as Amazon and Google.

Phala Network boasts of being a community-driven, confidential smart contract network.

PHA is the network's native asset used for incentivizing security and facilitating governance.

The network is enabled by a TEE-Blockchain Hybrid Architecture.

It’s based on Substrate and it runs as a parachain of the Polkadot ecosystem.

According to its whitepaper, Phala supports cross-chain integration.

When was PHA created and how much was it worth?

Phala was founded in 2018 by the Phala Network Foundation. It is led by former Google Software Engineer Hang Yin.

PHA began trading in the open market in September 2020. Around that time, it was worth about $0.10.

How is the price of PHA determined?

The total supply of PHA is 1 billion.

In May of 2021, PHA reached an all-time high of $1.40 amidst a rise in crypto sentiment generally and heavy buying as the coin found its way to major exchanges. Since the end of last year, as sentiment waned, PHA fell to below $1.

Why does PHA have value?

The Phala project is built on Polkadot, which is one of the blockchain industry’s leading smart contract projects, as CoinJournal has pointed out.

PHA gives holders the chance to vote on proposals that have an impact on the project’s future direction; and PHA can also be used to pay for services on the network, as Capital.com pointed out.

Is PHA secure?

Phala applies Trusted Environment Execution (TEE) which allows confidential data to run in an isolated and private environment. Sensitive data is only processed in hardware secure enclaves isolated from the rest of the world, per the network

Stakepool delegation, designed to ensure the stability and security of Phala Network, has exceeded 180 million PHA, as of October 2022, according to the network.

What are the main benefits of PHA?

The Phala Network leverages a network of nodes to provide low-cost, reliable data storage and processing.

Phala applies Trusted Environment Execution (TEE) which allows confidential data to run in an isolated and private environment. Sensitive data is only processed in hardware secure enclaves isolated from the rest of the world, per the network.

The trustless nature of Phala is also often touted. Only authorization actions are allowed. "Secure and reliable data storage and processing based on decentralized storage and our random scheduling algorithm," Phala said.

What do critics say about PHA?

While PHA has managed to move above all moving averages, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) moved above the overbought level, as CoinJournal recently pointed out.

"Therefore, there is a likelihood that the coin will pull back sharply as the excitement about the new listing wanes.