author: Paul Viraditakit, partner at Pantera Capital
Compiled by: Lovi, Foresight News
Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) represent the merging of blockchain networks and infrastructure. Currently, DePIN is present in industries such as energy, telecommunications, storage, artificial intelligence, and data collection.
During the last crypto cycle, many projects targeted market opportunities using the DePIN trend, but when their core products failed to gain enough traction on both the supply and demand sides, they turned to token crypto economics.
However, among the projects that survived, many companies spent time building the infrastructure, achieving sustainable profitability by solving existing problems, even without relying on the flywheel effect of token economics. Let’s take a look at some of these cases.
Geogrid
The basic problem has been solved
Traditional Global Positioning Systems (GPS) often lack the accuracy required for advanced applications, which require centimeter-level accuracy rather than meter-level accuracy. The Geodnet solution improves positioning accuracy by 100 times compared to traditional GPS technology.
Target customers
Geodnet serves industries that rely on high-resolution geospatial data, including:
- Self-driving vehicles
- agriculture
- Smart cities
- Defense and security
- Space exploration
Revenue model
- Data Licensing: Selling geospatial data to commercial customers.
- Node participation fees: fees related to the installation and use of mining machines.
- Partnerships: Collaborate with industries such as agriculture and autonomous driving systems to integrate Geodnet services into existing workflows.
In 2024, Geodnet recorded year-over-year revenue growth of more than 500%, reaching $1.7 million.
Token economy
Geodnet uses the native token GEOD to incentivize participants:
- Miners earn tokens based on data contributions and network uptime.
- Burning mechanism: Tokens are burned during data transactions, triggering a deflationary mechanism.
- Daily Profits: Average daily profits per miner are around $4.30, with an expected payback period of 3-4 months.
- Trading: Token distribution ensures liquidity while incentivizing early adopters.
- Token Usage: Used for payments, collection, and governance within the network.
Ways to participate and contribute
- Be a miner:
- Purchase mining equipment (cost ranges from $500 to $700).
- Set up your mining rig, connect it to the network, and upload 20 to 40 GB of data per month.
- Use the network:
- You can access real-time motor correction (RTK) data through a subscription or direct purchase.
- Application development:
- Develop software for specific industries based on Geodnet data.
- Governance:
- Participate in protocol governance by signing GEOD tokens and voting on proposals.
Helium
The basic problem has been solved
Traditional mobile network operators (such as T-Mobile) require huge capital expenditures to build base stations, maintain infrastructure, and expand coverage. Helium addresses this problem by creating a decentralized wireless network that provides affordable, scalable, and flexible networking for mobile and IoT devices using community-owned hotspots.
Target customers
- Consumers: Unlimited data for $20 per month using the Helium decentralized network.
- Telecom Service Providers: Offload WiFi to major operators, reducing their infrastructure costs.
- IoT Device Manufacturers: Providing connectivity for low-power IoT devices via the LoRaWAN protocol.
- Businesses and Enterprises: Helping organizations deploy dedicated wireless networks for asset tracking, sensors and environmental monitoring.
Revenue model
The Helium Network generates revenue through two main routes:
- Direct-to-consumer mobile phone plans:
- Offering unlimited data plans for $20 per month, allowing users to use Helium network hotspots and partner networks (such as T-Mobile).
- Carrier WiFi offloading fees:
- Charging telecom providers $0.50 per gigabyte, enabling them to offload data through decentralized hotspots of the Helium network rather than traditional base stations.
Financial performance
- Subscription Users: 100,000+ direct subscribers and 300,000+ indirect WiFi offload users.
- Revenue: Seven-figure annual revenue generated from mobile subscriptions and carrier offloading fees.
- Forecast: As carrier partnerships expand, potential annual revenue from WiFi offloading alone could exceed $50 million.
Token economy
The Helium Network’s HNT token is a key element of its incentive and payment structure:
- Earn Rewards: Hotspot operators earn HNT by providing coverage and data transfer.
- Usage: Tokens are used for network transactions, payment for network services, and governance proposals.
- Burning Mechanism: HNT tokens are burned when used to pay for network services, reducing supply.
Ways to participate and contribute
- Deploy the hotspot:
- Purchase a hotspot compatible with the Helium network and set it up to provide coverage and earn HNT rewards.
- Choose from 16 certified device types designed for IoT or mobile offloading.
- Consumer plans:
- Subscribe to Helium Network’s $20 monthly mobile plan for affordable mobile data coverage.
- Carrier Partnerships:
- Communications service providers can integrate with the Helium network to offload data traffic and reduce operating costs.
- Governance and stacking:
- Earn HNT tokens to participate in network management, suggest suggestions, and vote on major upgrades.
Akash
The basic problem has been solved
The Akash Network aims to address the high costs, scalability limitations, and centralization issues of traditional cloud computing providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. It does this by providing a decentralized cloud computing marketplace that allows users to take advantage of idle hardware while reducing costs.
Target customers
- AI developers: They need high-performance GPUs to train and deploy machine learning models.
- Startups and enterprises: Need affordable and scalable cloud computing to support data processing, storage, and AI-driven applications.
Revenue model
Akash Network generates revenue through:
- Market Transaction Fees: Charge transaction fees for computing leases and payments processed through the network.
- Compute Resource Rental: Earn a share of revenue from renting GPU and CPU used in AI training and workloads.
- Developer Tools: Charges API integration and SDK licensing fees to developers who use its computing infrastructure.
- Enterprise Partnerships: Collaborate with AI labs and decentralized platforms to expand computing capabilities.
Financial performance
- Annual Revenue: Akash Network reported $2.5 million in compute rentals and fees in 2024.
- Growth rate: The demand for GPU computing resources has increased by 33 times due to the emergence of artificial intelligence.
- Network Scale: Supports more than 400 GPUs.
Token economy
Akash Network uses AKT token for payments, governance and incentives.
- Uses:
- Payments: Buyers use AKT tokens to purchase computing resources.
- Staking: Service providers distribute tokens to gain business opportunities and enhance reputation.
- Incentives:
- Service providers earn AKT tokens for supplying computing resources.
- Tokens are distributed based on uptime, performance, and task completion.
- Governance:
- Token holders can suggest upgrades and vote on protocol changes.
- Burning mechanism:
- Network fees are burned, reducing the token supply.
Ways to participate and contribute
- As a presenter:
- Set up GPU, CPU or storage servers on the Akash network.
- List resources, set prices and start earning AKT tokens.
- As a consumer:
- Rent computing resources using Akash Network’s web interface or command line interface (CLI).
- Deploy AI training workloads, web services, and decentralized applications.
- As a developer:
- Access application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) to integrate Akash Network services into applications.
- Use GPU clusters to train deep learning or inference tasks.
- Participation in governance:
- Share AKT tokens to vote on network upgrades and resource pricing policies.
Looking forward
The above are just a small number of effective projects with sustainable revenues. In the coming months, acceptance of DePIN will undoubtedly increase again, giving rise to more sustainable, scalable and profitable companies.
The companies mentioned are consumer-facing, but another area that interests me is infrastructure. The areas in which these companies operate will benefit from the development of core DePIN projects, oracle services, smart contract services, middleware, token issuance services, etc., with examples including Solana, Peaq, Base, Story, Arweave, Opacity Network, and DeForm. .
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