Unit Network

Unit Network is a no-code tokenization platform and decentralized exchange running on its own Substrate-based Layer-1 blockchain. Any user can create a token in about 60 seconds, lock real digital assets (BTC, ETH, SOL, and more than a dozen others) into that token's on-chain treasury to give it verifiable backing, and immediately list it for trading on the built-in DEX. Every trade generates a 2% fee that flows to four parties simultaneously: the referring user, liquidity providers, the UNIT network treasury, and the individual token's treasury. The model positions Unit Network as infrastructure for what the team calls the "token economy" — a world where communities, creators, cities, and businesses each issue and govern their own digital currency rather than relying on traditional financial intermediaries.

Background and Founding

Unit Network was founded in 2019 with a headquarters in London. Co-founders include Michael Healy (CEO), Kat Miroshnikova, Joe Rotondi, Stephan Earnhart, Paul Healy, and Maira A. Healy has been active in blockchain and internet software since 2010, with prior ventures spanning encrypted video conferencing technology, student social networks, and mobile applications. The team's stated ambition from the outset was to build a generalizable economic layer for the internet — similar in spirit to how WordPress or Wix democratized website publishing — but applied to the creation and governance of digital currencies.

In February 2025, Unit Network closed an $18 million funding round led by Blockchain Founders Fund and Outlier Ventures, with participation from Cristina Venture (White Star Capital), Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar (Rootstock), Joshua Seims (Metastable Capital), Richard Wang (Draper Dragon Fund), Thomas Hessler (Zanox), Yuval Rooz (DigitalAsset.com), and a cohort of prominent individual investors including musician Oliver Tree and professional poker players Alec Torelli and Huck Seed. The funds are earmarked for scaling blockchain infrastructure, expanding cross-chain integrations, and growing tokenization use cases in real estate, gaming, and digital commerce.

Blockchain Architecture

Unit Network operates on a proprietary Layer-1 blockchain — Unit Mainnet — launched in October 2024 and built with the Substrate framework originally developed by the Web3 Foundation and Parity Technologies for the Polkadot ecosystem. Substrate is a modular blockchain toolkit written in Rust that allows developers to configure consensus, governance, and runtime logic without building from scratch. Because Unit Network uses Substrate, it shares underlying primitives with Polkadot parachains and is listed as a Polkadot parathread, though as of mid-2025 the network is running in a testing and early production state rather than as a fully secured parachain slot.

The chain supports 13 connected blockchain networks and provides cross-chain asset wrapping through a vault-and-collateral system. Users who want to bring external assets (for example, BTC or SOL) onto the Unit Network chain must lock their assets with a vault operator. Vault operators post UNIT tokens as collateral; if a vault fails to honor a redemption, the smart contract automatically seizes and redistributes that collateral. This mechanism avoids relying on a single custodian or external bridge.

Core Mechanism: The Three-Step Token Lifecycle

Token creation on Unit Network follows a three-stage flow:

1. Create. A user fills out a web form — token name, symbol, supply, and basic parameters — with no coding required. The token is minted directly on-chain in approximately 60 seconds with no listing fees or waiting periods.

2. Back with real value. The token creator (or supporters) deposits approved digital assets into the token's dedicated treasury smart contract. The treasury is publicly visible on-chain, meaning anyone can verify exactly what assets underpin any given token before buying it. Supported backing assets include BTC, ETH, SOL, DOT, and more than a dozen other major digital assets.

3. Trade, stake, and grow. Once backed, the token is immediately tradeable on the built-in DEX. Each trade strengthens the treasury proportionally through the fee mechanism described below, creating a reflexive relationship between trading activity and reserve depth.

DEX and Fee Architecture

Unit Network operates a fully on-chain decentralized exchange. Unlike most DEX designs that route fee revenue only to liquidity providers or a protocol treasury, Unit Network distributes its 2% swap fee across four recipients in equal 0.5% shares:

• Referrer — the user who invited the trading party to the platform
• Exchange pool — distributed pro-rata to liquidity providers who supplied the pool used in that trade
• UNIT treasury — accrues to the network's core reserve
• Traded token's treasury — flows directly into the treasury of whatever token was bought or sold

Withdrawals carry a separate 1% fee, split evenly between the UNIT treasury and the vault operator who handled the cross-chain settlement. This structure means that trading activity directly compounds the backing value of every token on the platform, not just UNIT itself.

The platform claims support for swaps across more than 18,000 tokens with no additional bridges or gas fees beyond the base 2% trade fee, and it reports more than $50 million in aggregate treasury value across all tokens on the network.

Token Types and the UNIT Token

The platform supports multiple token categories, each suited to different economic actors:

• Industry tokens — representing a sector such as real estate, music, or gaming
• City tokens — municipal or geographic communities (Unit Network highlights Barcelona as an example)
• Business tokens — a company or brand converting its customer base into co-owners
• Personal tokens — individual creators, athletes, or professionals issuing claims on their future earnings or work
• Project tokens — startups and DAOs raising capital from global supporters on user-defined terms

At the center of the network sits UNIT, the native protocol token. Unit Network describes UNIT as a "crypto-backed, stable, and governance coin" that secures the network's economic integrity. The UNIT treasury accumulates a 0.5% cut from every trade across every token on the platform, meaning its reserve grows in proportion to overall network activity. UNIT holders also participate in governance, giving them influence over protocol parameters and treasury deployment.

As of early 2025 the platform reported over 10,000 tokens created and over 100,000 token holders globally. The website quoted a UNIT price of $0.05 and a combined ecosystem market cap above $500 million, though independently verified circulating supply and market cap figures were not publicly available through major aggregators at time of writing.

Use Cases and Real-World Applications

Unit Network has promoted its platform as a tool for financial inclusion, arguing that traditional banking and capital markets exclude the majority of the world's population from ownership of productive assets. The platform's no-code interface and mobile-accessible design are positioned to serve communities in regions with limited banking infrastructure.

Concrete use cases the team has highlighted include:

• Creator economies — musicians, writers, journalists, and artists tokenizing their work or future output
• Community currencies — neighborhoods, cities, or diaspora groups issuing tokens to coordinate local economic activity
• AI-era ownership — as AI automation reduces the value of labor, Unit Network positions its tokens as a mechanism for individuals to hold equity-like stakes in the economy rather than depending solely on wages
• RWA tokenization — real estate, commodities, and other physical assets represented as on-chain tokens with verifiable treasury backing

Solana and Multi-Chain Integration

Unit Network is not a Solana-native protocol — it operates its own sovereign Layer-1 chain. However, SOL is listed among the supported backing assets that can be deposited into any token treasury on the platform, giving Solana holders a direct way to participate in Unit Network's token economy without selling their SOL. The platform's cross-chain vault system handles the SOL-to-Unit-Network bridge through the collateralized vault mechanism described above. As Unit Network expands its integration roadmap — funded in part by the 2025 raise — further Solana-specific tooling or liquidity initiatives may be announced.

Security and Audits

No publicly disclosed third-party security audit reports were available for Unit Network as of the research date. The platform relies on Substrate's battle-tested runtime framework for base-layer security, and the vault collateral system provides an economic backstop for cross-chain asset guarantees. Users and developers evaluating the platform should treat the absence of published audit documentation as an open risk factor, particularly given the relatively recent launch of Unit Mainnet in late 2024.

Team and Organization

Unit Network operates with a core team of approximately 21 people. The founding team spans backgrounds in entrepreneurship, blockchain development, community building, and product design. CEO Michael Healy has been a visible spokesperson at major blockchain conferences and has presented on the token economy concept at TEDx-affiliated events. Co-founder Kat Miroshnikova has focused on community and ecosystem growth. The broader team includes Joe Rotondi, Stephan Earnhart, Paul Healy, and Maira A in leadership roles. The company is registered in London and maintains an international community presence through conferences, the Unit Masters educational program, and regional ambassador networks.

Summary

Unit Network occupies a niche that sits between a no-code SaaS platform and a Layer-1 DeFi protocol. Its treasury-backed token model, four-way fee distribution, and no-code creation flow differentiate it from standard token launchpads that offer no backing mechanism. The $18M Series B in early 2025, backed by credible institutional investors in the Web3 space, provides runway to expand cross-chain integrations — including deeper Solana support — and push into real-world asset tokenization. The primary open questions are whether the network can attract deep liquidity at scale and whether the UNIT token's accumulation model can maintain reserve credibility as the platform grows.