Deep dive into the Asia-Pacific DEP IN 'Why Choose Solana', inventory 8 major projects, financing and investment growth potential

This article focuses on the DePIN project related to the Solana ecosystem in the APAC region, covering five major categories: wireless networks, energy, sensors, health networks, and Computing Power. It explores the growth potential and industry dynamics of DePIN in the Asia-Pacific region. (Background: 'DePIN Day' landed in Hong Kong in February: Fluence and Titan Network jointly support, discussing the future of DePIN) (Background: First DePIN lawsuit by SEC against Helium fraud, unregistered issuance of Cryptocurrency securities MOBILE, HNT, IOT big dump) Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun boldly predicted at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that 'Physical AI' is the final stage of AI development, emphasizing that AI will evolve from 'Generative AI,' 'Agent AI' to 'Physical AI,' enabling reasoning, task execution, and real interaction with the physical world. He specifically cited: 'The self-driving car industry... this will be the first trillion-dollar robot industry.' To drive such a future, in addition to a large amount of Computing Power, data, and energy, a significant amount of infrastructure is needed to be involved. In the blockchain field, the race to build such infrastructure undoubtedly belongs to DePIN. Overall, DePIN is still in a very early stage, representing an opportunity for everyone to invest in the trillion-dollar industry's infrastructure to reap rich rewards. Why is DePIN exploding? DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) refers to an infrastructure network open to everyone, allowing connection to real-world physical equipment such as Computing Power, storage, power, data, etc. To incentivize participation in such a mechanism, DePIN rewards participants with Cryptocurrency, distributes profits, and drives infrastructure development and resource optimization. This model differs from the monopoly of single large enterprises and servers in the infrastructure landscape, not only eliminating single points of failure but also allowing global users to participate, provide, and use services under a new economic dynamic, and even share resources, potentially allowing billions of users to enter Web3. With Huang Renxun's call to action, DePIN has evolved from a marginal concept to the most promising track in the Web3 ecosystem. Recent indicators have shown exponential growth. According to the Messari report, from 2022 to 2024, the DePIN ecosystem has experienced the following changes: Number of projects: From 2022 to 2024, the number of projects has risen to 1,170, a 12x increase. Market Cap: From less than 500 million USD to 5 billion USD, accounting for 5% of the altcoin market. Revenue: From less than 500 million USD to 50 billion USD, with AI-related revenue accounting for 350 billion USD, becoming the main driver. Market awareness: From 2% to 49%, growing over 25 times, with AI-related awareness accounting for as much as 98%. Why has Solana become the preferred choice for DePIN projects? To become a track that accommodates billions of users, the choice of public chain is crucial for DePIN. Looking at the market, many large and well-known DePIN project parties have chosen Solana, embracing various real-world Decentralization network services, especially excelling in the infrastructure field. Here are a few core areas: Bandwidth networks: Including Helium Mobile (mobile network), DAWN (fixed wireless network), and DoubleZero (fiber network). Among them, Helium Mobile has surpassed 100,000 users, DAWN's WiFi coverage exceeds 1.5 million households, demonstrating strong growth in network expansion and market demand. CDNs (Content Delivery Networks): Covering Pipe Network (mainly in the US market), Gradient (focused on the Asian market), and Blockcast (multicast technology), these projects aim to improve global data transmission efficiency in a decentralized manner. GPU Computing Power platforms: Including Render (3D rendering), io.net (distributed cloud computing), and Nosana (focused on large language model training). Among them, Render's Token $RNDR Market Cap reaches as high as 2.27 billion USD, becoming the second-largest Token in the DePIN field by Market Cap. Its Decentralization GPU network saw a revenue growth of 325% from the second to the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting the rapid rise in Decentralization computing demand. According to the Messari report, more than 13 million devices participate in DePIN operations daily, and among the top five networks by Node count, four are built on Solana on-chain, namely Grass, Dawn, Roam, and Gradient, further highlighting Solana's dominant position in the DePIN field within the ecosystem. We believe this advantage stems from Solana's characteristics: high throughput, low latency, and cost-effective Money Laundering, meeting the high-performance requirements of DePIN projects for fast data processing and real-time network interaction. Additionally, it significantly reduces the cost of hardware equipment and Node operation on-chain, providing an ideal platform for developing real-world Node networks. The APAC region has the potential for DePIN explosion. Since we mentioned Physical AI, we can see that many DePIN developments revolve around real-life as a carrier. For example, Helium Mobile in the US is filled with a large amount of free WiFi networks, and the connection between geography and reality is particularly important in many DePIN platforms. In the Greater China region, investors cannot ignore the development and investment potential of DePIN in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, we specifically assess the regional characteristics and dividends of DePIN in the Asia-Pacific region and the opportunities it brings to this track. Physical AI and DePIN deployment have inherent chip supply manufacturing and demographic structure challenges, as well as government support capabilities. Therefore, we will discuss the following three categories: Population dividend brings natural network effects: Countries such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines have hundreds of millions of potential users, providing reliable data resources. These regions are also well-suited for the development and expansion of shared decentralized Nodes and infrastructure. Hardware manufacturing and supply chain advantages: DePin devices require a large number of low-cost deployments and lower user thresholds, and China, Taiwan, and South Korea are major semiconductor, manufacturing, and Internet of Things (IoT) manufacturing countries, providing the most cost-effective hardware deployment advantages for DePIN. Policy support and infrastructure promotion: Multiple countries in the Asia-Pacific region actively invest in digital infrastructure and smart city construction, new energy layouts, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea's layout in 5G, smart transportation, renewable energy, etc., align closely with the development direction of DePIN. China is even the world's largest market for new energy vehicles. In conclusion, the Asia-Pacific region is definitely the key to widespread adoption and the explosion of DePIN...