The Rise of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks: From Concept to Practice

Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) are playing a role in various fields such as energy, telecommunications, storage, artificial intelligence, and data collection as a product of the integration of blockchain and infrastructure networks. While many projects turned to token economics in the last crypto cycle due to failing to gain sufficient attractiveness on both the supply and demand sides, some surviving projects achieved sustainable profitability by solving real-world problems. Let’s take a closer look at a few successful cases.

Geodnet: The Innovator of High-Precision Positioning

Core Issues and Solutions

The accuracy of traditional Global Positioning Systems (GPS) often fails to meet the demands of advanced applications. The Geodnet network has improved positioning accuracy by 100 times through innovative technology, reaching centimeter-level precision.

Service Object

Geodnet’s high-precision geospatial data services are aimed at multiple fields, including autonomous vehicles, precision agriculture, smart city construction, national defense security systems, and space exploration projects.

Profit Model

• Data Authorization: Providing high-precision geospatial data to commercial clients.
• Node participation fee: Charges related to the installation and use of the equipment.
• Industry collaboration: Collaborate with fields such as autonomous driving and agriculture to integrate services into existing systems.

Geodnet reported a year-on-year revenue growth of over 500% in 2024, reaching 1.7 million dollars.

Token Economy System

Geodnet incentivizes participants using the native token GEOD:

• Miners receive token rewards based on data contribution and network uptime.
• Introduce a deflationary mechanism through the token burn mechanism in data trading.
• The average daily earnings for miners are approximately $4.30, with an expected investment recovery period of 3-4 months.
• Token distribution ensures liquidity and incentivizes early participants.
• Tokens are used for payments, staking, and governance within the network.

Participation Method

1. Become a miner: Purchase and set up mining equipment, connect to the network, and upload data.
2. Use the network: Subscribe to or purchase real-time dynamic correction data.
3. Develop Applications: Develop software for specific industries based on Geodnet data.
4. Participate in governance: Stake tokens and vote on proposals.

Helium: Redefining Wireless Networks

Core Issues and Solutions

Traditional mobile network operators face enormous infrastructure investment pressures. Helium creates a decentralized wireless network that leverages community-owned hotspots to provide affordable, scalable, and resilient network connectivity for mobile and IoT devices.

Service objects

• Consumers: Offer an unlimited data plan for $20 per month.
• Telecom providers: Implement WiFi offloading to reduce infrastructure costs.
• IoT device manufacturers: Providing LoRaWAN connectivity for low-power devices.
• Enterprises and institutions: Deploy dedicated wireless networks for asset tracking and environmental monitoring.

Profit Model

1. Direct-to-consumer mobile plan: Unlimited data service for $20 per month.
2. Operator WiFi diversion fee: Charge the telecom provider a diversion fee of $0.50 per GB.

Financial Performance

• Subscribers: Over 100,000 direct subscribers and 300,000 indirect WiFi diversion users.
• Revenue: Generates seven-figure annual income from mobile subscriptions and carrier diversion fees.
• Prediction: With the expansion of operator partnerships, the annual revenue potential of WiFi offloading services may exceed $50 million.

Token Economy System

The HNT token of Helium is at the core of its incentive and payment structure:

• Hotspot operators earn HNT by providing coverage and transmitting data.
• Tokens are used for network transactions, service payments, and governance proposals.
• The use of tokens to pay for network services will trigger a burning mechanism, reducing supply.

Participation Method

1. Deploy Hotspots: Purchase and set up compatible hotspots to provide network coverage and earn rewards.
2. Subscription service: Use a $20 monthly mobile plan.
3. Operator Cooperation: Telecom providers can integrate with Helium to offload data traffic.
4. Participate in Governance: Stake tokens to participate in network governance and decision-making.

Akash: A New Paradigm for Decentralization Cloud Computing

Core Issues and Solutions

The Akash network aims to address the high costs, scalability limitations, and centralization issues of traditional cloud computing providers. It allows users to profit from idle machines while reducing costs through a decentralized cloud computing marketplace.

Service Object

• Artificial Intelligence Developers: Need high-performance GPUs for model training and deployment.
• Startups and enterprises: seeking cost-effective and scalable cloud computing solutions.

Profit Model

• Market trading fees: Fees charged for computing resource leasing and payments.
• Computing resource leasing: Revenue sharing from GPU and CPU leasing.
• Developer tools: Charge for API integration and SDK licensing fees.
• Corporate Collaboration: Partnering with AI labs and Decentralization platforms to expand computing power.

Financial Performance

• The 2024 report generated $2.5 million in revenue from computing leases and expenses.
• GPU computing resource demand has increased by 33 times.
• The network supports over 400 GPUs.

Token Economic System

Akash uses the AKT token for payments, governance, and incentives:

• Payment: Purchase computing resources.
• Staking: Providers stake tokens to gain job opportunities.
• Incentives: Providers earn tokens for supplying resources.
• Governance: Token holders participate in protocol decisions.
• Destruction mechanism: Network fees are destroyed, reducing supply.

Participation Method

1. As a provider: Set up servers and list resources.
2. As a consumer: leasing computing resources to deploy workloads.
3. As a developer: Integrate Akash services using API and SDK.
4. Participate in governance: Staking tokens for voting on network upgrades.

Future Outlook

The development momentum in the DePIN field is strong, and its acceptance is expected to further increase in the coming months, giving rise to more sustainable, scalable, and profitable projects. In addition to consumer-facing applications, the infrastructure sector is also full of opportunities, including underlying blockchains, oracle services, smart contract services, middleware, and token issuance services. These infrastructure providers will benefit from the robust growth of DePIN projects, such as Solana, Peaq, Base, Story, Arweave, Opacity Network, and DeForm.