Capex costs:
Building a material network is definitely required to spread devices, and participants are often responsible for buying equipment themselves. This is a major investment for users and greatly raises the barrier to expanding the knot. For example, helium initially asked individuals to buy specialized hot point devices, as the cost of each unit ranges between $ 500 and $ 1,000. This inhibits a large part of the young participants and retail trade; Without strong incentives such as mining bonuses, it was difficult to convert Web2 users into Web3 participants.
Cold start challenges:
The value of the DePin network depends on the intensity of the knot coverage and the use of the service, which leads to a clear starting problem. Without enough nodes, it is difficult to attract peripheral users. In addition, in the absence of a meaningful traffic, there is a little motivation for the new contract to join. This dynamic is similar to the Gamefi sector, where the players explode when the prices of the distinctive symbol rise, but it raises the cycle of death when the prices decrease. Several early stage projects relied mainly on symbolic incentives to push the growth side growth, but have struggled to stimulate real demand.
Node quality problems:
Payed by incentive mechanisms, some contract tries to increase mining bonuses through fraud behavior, which generally degrades the network performance. For example, during the early evolution of Hillium, cases of fake sites of the node, combined publishing operations, and mutual witness, greatly undermining the effective coverage of the network and data originality.
Sibel resistance mechanisms:
Most current DePin projects still lack the strong defense mechanisms against SYBIL attacks, with insufficient verification of the identity of the device and the authenticity of the data. This opens the door to falsify data recorded on the series. At the same time, very strict SYBIL resistance mechanisms can lead to concerns about internal favoritism. For example, in 2024, she faced many layer 2 projects that were launched on the stock exchanges of unjust early access due to aggressive control filters. Therefore, the teams must achieve an accurate balance between security and the user experience by designing transparency and calibration systems well, ensuring that none of the two sides are at risk.
