Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) or distributed computing is emerging as one of the hottest sectors of 2024 within the crypto industry. With the potential for mainstream adoption, DePIN projects are highly versatile, offering numerous real-world use cases and applications that harness the power of blockchain technology. As of November 2024, the total market cap of DePIN projects exceeds $32 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $3 billion, according to CoinGecko.
Investment management firm VanEck continues to emphasize the growth of the DePIN market and its potential to onboard the next billion users into Web3 as a key theme for the crypto industry in 2024. This optimism is shared by Borderless Capital, which launched a $100 million DePIN Fund III in September 2024, targeting the rapid expansion of DePIN projects globally.
This article explores the forefront of this technological revolution, highlighting the top DePIN projects reshaping the landscape of blockchain and Web3.
What Is a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN)?
A Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) bridges the gap between blockchain's digital capabilities and real-world infrastructure, such as energy grids, wireless networks, and decentralized data storage systems. The DePIN concept uses tokenized incentives to reward contributors who power these physical networks with their resources, creating a distributed, secure, and efficient infrastructure.
Recent advancements in the DePIN market include:
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Increased Adoption: DePIN solutions are now being explored in industries like energy ecosystems, EV charging networks, and IoT device management, showcasing their ability to reduce costs and improve accessibility.
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Innovation by Leaders: Projects like U2U Network are developing modular, EVM-compatible blockchain solutions tailored for DePINs, enabling faster and more secure transactions.
This evolution represents a significant shift in the industry, paving the way for more resilient, cost-effective, and inclusive infrastructure services.
The Role of Hardware Decentralization in the DePIN Sector
Traditional infrastructure vs. DePIN | Source: Cointelegraph
Hardware decentralization remains a cornerstone of the DePIN ecosystem. By distributing the physical components of networks—such as antennas, hotspots, or data servers—across multiple participants, DePINs eliminate single points of failure and reduce centralized control.
Recent examples include:
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Helium Network: Now boasting over 335,000 subscribers to its Helium Mobile service, it exemplifies how decentralized wireless infrastructure can scale rapidly while rewarding individual contributors.
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Meson Network: With over 59,000 contributor nodes globally, Meson Network creates a decentralized marketplace for unused bandwidth, reducing costs and enhancing accessibility.
This decentralized hardware setup ensures a more robust and democratic system, allowing individuals to contribute resources and earn rewards, fostering community participation and resilience.
How Do DePIN Projects Work?
DePIN combines physical infrastructure with blockchain technology, enhancing security, scalability, and efficiency. This setup spreads out control and power, making the infrastructure more resilient and fair.
For instance, in the energy sector, DePIN allows homes with solar panels to sell extra electricity directly to their neighbors or back to the grid securely through blockchain.
Key features of DePIN include:
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Blockchain architecture: This acts as a secure, unchangeable record for transactions and helps automate them with smart contracts.
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Tokenization: This encourages network participation by rewarding contributors with digital tokens, which can be traded or used to buy services within the ecosystem.
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Interoperability: This ensures DePIN projects can work smoothly with other blockchain networks and traditional systems.
This innovative approach not only makes essential services more accessible but also encourages more sustainable and cost-effective resource management. DePIN is part of a larger move toward decentralization in technology, which could redefine how we interact with and manage physical infrastructure.
Advantages of DePIN Crypto Projects
Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) offer the following updated advantages:
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Enhanced Security and Resilience: Decentralized systems, backed by blockchain, mitigate risks associated with centralized control and single points of failure, ensuring uninterrupted services.
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Scalability and Efficiency: DePIN projects like Filecoin and Arweave leverage decentralized nodes to handle massive data storage needs efficiently. Arweave’s Q3 2023 ecosystem map showed 1.28 billion transactions and over 130 active projects, reflecting its scalability.
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Lower Costs and Democratization of Access: Projects like U2U Network leverage tokenized incentives to build networks without the need for heavy initial investments, fostering inclusivity.
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Innovation and Interoperability: Platforms like Streamr are focusing on integrating decentralized messaging and real-time data exchange with enhanced cross-platform compatibility.
With a market cap exceeding $32 billion as of November 2024, the DePIN sector demonstrates immense growth potential, bolstered by increasing interest from both venture capitalists and mainstream industries.
Best DePIN Crypto Projects to Watch in 2024-25
Now that you’ve gained a basic understanding of DePIN or distributed computing, it’s time to look at some of the best DePIN crypto projects in the market:
1. Internet Computer (ICP)
The Internet Computer (ICP) is a decentralized computing platform developed by the DFINITY Foundation, aiming to transform the internet by enabling the direct hosting of web applications and services on a public blockchain. Unlike traditional cloud services that rely on centralized data centers, ICP leverages a global network of independent data centers, creating a "world computer" that offers enhanced security, scalability, and decentralization. This architecture allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) without the need for traditional IT infrastructure, aligning with the principles of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) by providing a resilient and inclusive ecosystem.
In 2024, ICP achieved significant milestones, including the launch of the Tokamak, Beryllium, and Stellarator updates, which enhanced network performance and scalability. These developments have contributed to a resurgence in market performance, with ICP's price increasing by 121% over the past year. As of November 2024, ICP has a market cap of over $4.3 billion.
Looking ahead to 2025, the ICP roadmap focuses on further integrating artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and expanding interoperability with other blockchains, such as the planned integration with Solana. These initiatives aim to solidify ICP's position as a leading platform in the DePIN sector, offering robust support for decentralized applications and services.
2. Bittensor (TAO)
Bittensor is a decentralized, open-source protocol that merges blockchain technology with artificial intelligence (AI) to create a collaborative machine learning network. It enables machine learning models to train collectively, rewarding participants with its native cryptocurrency, TAO, based on the informational value they contribute to the network. This approach fosters a peer-to-peer marketplace for AI, promoting innovation and democratizing access to machine learning resources.
In 2024, Bittensor made notable advancements, including the integration of cutting-edge technologies like Proof of Intelligence and a Decentralized Mixture of Experts model, enhancing the exchange and collaboration of AI services within its network. These developments have bolstered TAO's market performance, with the token experiencing significant gains and achieving a market capitalization exceeding $3.8 billion as of November 2024, a gain of over 152% in the past one year.
Looking ahead to 2025, Bittensor plans to continue refining its decentralized machine learning protocol, aiming to expand its ecosystem and explore new applications across various industries, thereby solidifying its position in the decentralized AI sector.
3. Render (RENDER)
Render Network (RENDER) is a decentralized platform that leverages blockchain technology to connect creators in need of rendering services with providers who have idle GPU resources. By utilizing underused GPU power globally, the network offers scalable and cost-effective rendering solutions for tasks such as 3D graphics, animations, and virtual reality content. This decentralized approach not only optimizes resource utilization but also democratizes access to high-performance rendering capabilities, making it more accessible to a broader range of users.
In 2024, the Render Network transitioned from Ethereum to Solana, rebranding its token from RNDR to RENDER. This upgrade aimed to enhance transaction speed and scalability, with major exchanges supporting the token swap at a 1:1 ratio. Through 2024, Render Network continued to expand its services and user base, reflecting a growing adoption within the creative and technological communities. The platform's native token, RENDER, has experienced significant market activity and gained over 150% in the past year, with price predictions indicating potential growth in the coming years. Analysts project that RNDR could reach an average price of $7.51 in 2024, with further increases anticipated in subsequent years.
Looking ahead to 2025, Render Network plans to enhance its infrastructure and service offerings, aiming to solidify its position as a leading decentralized rendering solution. These developments are expected to drive further adoption and integration across various industries, including film, gaming, and virtual reality.
4. Filecoin (FIL)
Filecoin (FIL) is a decentralized storage network that enables users to store, retrieve, and host data in a peer-to-peer manner. By leveraging blockchain technology, Filecoin creates an open marketplace where storage providers and clients can transact directly, ensuring data is stored securely and verifiably over time. Users pay storage providers—computers that store and continuously prove file integrity—to securely store their files over time.
In 2024, Filecoin made significant strides in expanding its ecosystem. The launch of the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) has opened the network's economy to new use cases, from easing on-chain payments to improving access to collateral markets, propelling Total Value Locked (TVL) to breach the $200 million mark. However, in times of market performance, the FIL token price remains mostly unchanged from 2023 into 2024, trading well below its highs of $11.47 in March 2024 as of November.
Looking ahead to 2025, Filecoin plans to continue enhancing programmability on the FVM, enabling the deployment of Ethereum-compatible smart contracts and allowing developers to create and deploy their own native actors. These developments position Filecoin as a pivotal player in the decentralized storage sector, offering scalable and secure solutions for data storage and retrieval.
5. Shieldeum (SDM)
Shieldeum is a Web3 cybersecurity platform that leverages an AI-powered DePIN to provide robust protection for cryptocurrency users and Web3 enterprises. By utilizing professional-grade data center servers, Shieldeum offers services such as application hosting infrastructure, data encryption, threat detection, and high-performance computing tasks. The native utility token, $SDM, is integral to the ecosystem, facilitating service payments, incentivizing node operators, and enabling governance participation through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
In 2024, Shieldeum achieved significant milestones, including the development of applications across major platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, thereby enhancing user accessibility. The network secured $2 million in USDT for rigorous node testing and operational assurance. Looking ahead to 2025, Shieldeum plans to expand its security product offerings, enter new markets, and develop a bespoke BNB Layer-2 blockchain tailored for node execution. These initiatives aim to strengthen Shieldeum's position in the DePIN sector and provide advanced security solutions for the Web3 community.
6. The Graph (GRT)
The Graph (GRT) is a decentralized indexing protocol designed to organize and make blockchain data easily accessible. By enabling developers to create and publish open APIs, known as subgraphs, The Graph facilitates efficient querying of blockchain data, thereby enhancing the development of decentralized applications (dApps). Its native token, GRT, serves as a utility token within the network, incentivizing participants such as Indexers, Curators, and Delegators who contribute to data indexing and curation.
GRT’s market cap stands at $1.93 billion at the time of writing, after registering over 67% gains in the past year. In 2024, The Graph continued to expand its ecosystem, supporting multiple blockchain networks including Ethereum, NEAR, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, Celo, Fantom, and Moonbeam. This multi-chain support underscores its commitment to providing comprehensive data services across various platforms. Looking ahead to 2025, The Graph's roadmap focuses on several key areas:
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World of Data Services: Expanding beyond subgraphs to deliver a rich market of data services on the network.
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Developer Empowerment: Supporting developers through enhanced development experiences and tooling.
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Optimized Indexer Performance: Boosting network performance with improved Indexer tooling and operational capabilities.
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Interconnected Graph of Data: Creating tools for composable data and an organized knowledge graph.
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Protocol Evolution & Resiliency: Delivering improvements for a more resilient, flexible, and efficient protocol.
These initiatives aim to solidify The Graph's position as a foundational layer in the decentralized web, providing robust and scalable data indexing solutions for the growing dApp ecosystem.
7. Theta Network (THETA)
Theta Network is a decentralized platform designed to enhance video streaming and delivery by leveraging blockchain technology. It enables users to share their excess bandwidth and computing resources, thereby improving streaming quality and reducing costs for content providers. The network operates on a dual-token system: THETA, which serves governance purposes, and TFUEL, used for transaction fees and as an incentive for participants. By integrating blockchain with video delivery, Theta Network addresses challenges like high delivery costs and inefficient infrastructure, positioning itself as a significant player in the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) sector.
The THETA token has gained over 76% in the past year, taking its market cap to over $1.5 billion as of November 2024. In 2024, Theta Network introduced EdgeCloud, a next-generation edge network solution that combines cloud and edge computing to support advanced applications in video, media, and artificial intelligence (AI). This development aims to create a global computing grid powered by a community of node operators and infrastructure providers. Looking ahead to 2025, Theta plans to release EdgeCloud Phase 3, featuring an open marketplace that connects clients with edge nodes operated by community members. An intelligent coordinator will efficiently route tasks and payloads to the appropriate nodes, marking a crucial step toward Theta's vision of establishing a global computing grid.
8. Arweave (AR)
Arweave is a decentralized storage network designed to provide permanent data storage by leveraging blockchain technology. Unlike traditional blockchains that form a linear chain of blocks, Arweave utilizes a "blockweave" structure, where each block is linked to multiple previous blocks. This design enhances data retrieval efficiency and ensures redundancy. The network employs a unique consensus mechanism called Succinct Proof of Random Access (SPoRA), which requires miners to demonstrate access to random previous data blocks, thereby incentivizing the preservation of historical data. Arweave's native cryptocurrency, AR, is used to pay for data storage, creating an economic model that supports sustainable, long-term data preservation.
In November 2024, Arweave released its 2.8 protocol upgrade, introducing a new packing format that enhances network efficiency, scalability, and energy efficiency. This update reduces costs for miners and improves the network's overall performance.
As of mid-November 2024, AR is trading at approximately $19, with market analysts predicting a potential increase to $21.42 in the short-term. AR has a market cap of $1.24 billion, up by over 171% in the past year. Looking ahead to 2025, Arweave plans to continue expanding its ecosystem by integrating with more decentralized applications and enhancing its developer tools to facilitate broader adoption of permanent data storage solutions.
Here’s a deep dive into Arweave’s technology and how it works.
9. JasmyCoin (JASMY)
JasmyCoin (JASMY) is a cryptocurrency developed by Tokyo-based Jasmy Corporation, aiming to integrate blockchain technology with the Internet of Things (IoT) to enhance data sovereignty and security. Founded in 2016 by former Sony executives, the project seeks to create a decentralized data marketplace where users have full control over their personal information. By leveraging blockchain, Jasmy enables secure and trustless data exchange between IoT devices and decentralized protocols, empowering individuals to manage and monetize their data without relying on centralized entities.
In 2024, JasmyCoin experienced significant growth, with its price surging by over 366% in the past year, reaching a market capitalization of $1.35 billion by mid-June. This growth was bolstered by strategic partnerships, including rumored collaborations with NVIDIA and Ripple, enhancing the project's credibility and adoption. Looking ahead to 2025, Jasmy plans to establish strategic alliances with leading IoT device companies, develop new functionalities, and showcase the tangible benefits of IoT data utilization. These initiatives aim to solidify Jasmy's position in the DePIN sector by promoting data democratization and user empowerment.
10. Helium (HNT)
Helium is a decentralized wireless network designed to provide long-range connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. By leveraging blockchain technology, Helium incentivizes individuals to deploy and maintain Hotspots—devices that offer network coverage and mine the native cryptocurrency, Helium Network Token (HNT). This approach enables a cost-effective and expansive network, facilitating IoT applications such as smart agriculture, logistics, and environmental monitoring. The Helium Network operates on the Solana blockchain, enhancing its scalability and transaction speed.
In 2024, Helium continued to expand its network, focusing on integrating 5G capabilities to support a broader range of devices and applications. The introduction of subnetwork tokens like IOT and MOBILE, redeemable for HNT, has diversified the ecosystem and incentivized specific network activities. The HNT market cap has grown by over 190% in the past year to touch nearly $990 million at the time of writing,
Looking ahead to 2025, Helium plans to enhance its Proof-of-Coverage mechanism and increase global network coverage, aiming to solidify its position as a leading decentralized wireless network provider.
11. Grass Network (GRASS)
Grass Network is a decentralized platform that enables users to monetize their unused internet bandwidth by contributing to a network that scrapes public web data for artificial intelligence (AI) training. By running a Grass node, individuals allow the network to utilize their idle bandwidth to collect and process unstructured web data, which is then transformed into structured datasets essential for AI model development. This approach not only provides users with passive income but also supports the advancement of AI technologies by supplying high-quality data.
In 2024, Grass Network experienced significant growth, amassing a user base of over two million during its beta phase. The platform's native token, GRASS, was launched through a substantial airdrop, distributing 100 million tokens to nearly 1.5 million eligible wallets on October 28, 2024. This distribution has enhanced the token's accessibility and appeal within the crypto community. Since its launch, the GRASS token is up by over 200%, enjoying a market cap of almost $600 million.
Looking ahead to 2025, Grass Network plans to expand its infrastructure and user engagement strategies, aiming to further decentralize AI data acquisition and processing. The project's roadmap includes the development of staking mechanisms and governance models to empower the community in decision-making processes, thereby fostering a more inclusive and robust ecosystem.
12. IoTeX (IOTX)
IoTeX is a decentralized platform that integrates blockchain technology with the Internet of Things (IoT), aiming to establish a secure and scalable ecosystem for machine-to-machine interactions. Utilizing a unique Roll-DPoS consensus mechanism, IoTeX ensures high throughput and low latency, making it well-suited for IoT applications. The platform's native token, IOTX, serves multiple purposes, including transaction fees, staking, and governance participation. By enabling seamless communication between devices and fostering trustless data exchange, IoTeX plays a pivotal role in advancing decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN).
IOTX has a market cap of over $410 million as of November 2024, a gain of over 90% in the past year. In 2024, IoTeX launched IoTeX 2.0, a significant upgrade that introduced a modular infrastructure to support verifiable DePINs. This enhancement includes DePIN Infrastructure Modules (DIMs) and a Modular Security Pool (MSP), providing essential capabilities and a unified trust layer for DePIN projects. The ecosystem has expanded to over 230 decentralized applications (dApps), with more than 50 DePIN projects, positioning IoTeX as a leading platform in the DePIN sector. Looking ahead to 2025, IoTeX plans to onboard 100 million devices and unlock trillions of dollars in real-world value on-chain, aiming to become the DePIN layer for the entire crypto universe.
Challenges of DePIN Technologies
The DePIN sector faces several challenges that must be addressed to realize its full potential:
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Technical Complexity: Integrating blockchain technology with physical infrastructure is intricate, requiring expertise in security, scalability, and interoperability. Ensuring seamless communication between decentralized networks and physical assets is essential for reliable operations.
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Regulatory Hurdles: Navigating the regulatory landscape is complex, as DePIN projects intersect with both digital and physical infrastructure regulations. The evolving nature of blockchain regulations adds another layer of complexity, necessitating compliance across multiple jurisdictions.
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Market Acceptance: Achieving widespread adoption requires DePIN technologies to demonstrate clear advantages over traditional systems in cost, efficiency, and user experience. Overcoming skepticism from established industries and proving the reliability of decentralized systems are critical for broader market acceptance.
Addressing these challenges is crucial for the success and growth of DePIN projects. While the opportunities are significant, realizing them will require careful navigation of these complex landscapes.
Future Outlook for the DePIN Sector
The DePIN sector is experiencing rapid growth, with a combined market capitalization exceeding $32 billion, marking a 28% increase over the past year. This expansion is primarily driven by sectors such as computing, storage, and artificial intelligence, highlighting their substantial impact on the industry.
Market forecasts are optimistic, projecting that DePIN could reach a market size of $3.5 trillion by 2028. This anticipated growth is fueled by the increasing demand for services like high-quality streaming, online content delivery, and comprehensive data storage solutions. The shift from centralized to decentralized networks promises more efficient, inclusive, and resilient infrastructure solutions.
Conclusion
In summary, the DePIN sector is poised for significant growth, offering transformative approaches to traditional digital infrastructure. With a focus on security, scalability, and decentralization, DePIN projects are attracting increasing attention from investors and traders in the crypto space. As the demand for decentralized solutions grows, DePIN projects are set to play a pivotal role, presenting compelling opportunities for technological innovation and investment diversification.