author & date of publication: Tomas | 12.8.2025
Imagine you could build a global telecommunications network without needing to invest billions of dollars in transmitters and infrastructure. What if this network, competing with giants like AT&T or T-Mobile, was built by a community of thousands of people, each of whom simply plugged in a small device at home?
This isn’t science fiction, but the reality brought forth by projects like Helium, and it is a perfect demonstration of the power of DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) – one of the most tangible and disruptive trends quietly challenging old, capital-intensive business models and rewriting the rules of the game for entire industries. DePIN represents one of the few Web3 sectors that is demonstrably generating real revenue from tangible services, directly competing with established Web2 corporations.
At the heart of this revolution is a simple but ingenious idea: instead of a single company owning and building whole infrastructure, DePIN utilizes crypto-economic incentives to motivate individuals and small businesses to share their own resources. Whether it’s the unused bandwidth of your internet connection, the free space on your hard drive, the computing power of your graphics card, or the data from the camera in your car, DePIN can transform it all into a component of a new, global, and community-owned network. The result is an infrastructure that is often orders of magnitude cheaper, more resilient, and more accessible than that offered by traditional corporations.
To provide a comprehensive guide through this burgeoning sector, this article will first present an overall “map” of the DePIN ecosystem. We will then dive into an analysis of the projects that define this space: Helium, Render, Hivemapper, Geodnet, Filecoin, and Aethir. Finally, we will look to the future and highlight three innovative projects with high potential: Teneo, Wingbits, and Decen Space.
To understand the immense potential of DePIN, it is first necessary to comprehend its internal engine – an ingenious model capable of building a global infrastructure from the ground up. This model, known as the “Network Flywheel”, is the foundation of every successful DePIN project. It is a self-sustaining, ever-accelerating cycle that transforms initial community enthusiasm into a real, monetizable, and competitive network.
The flywheel cycle begins with incentivization. The protocol offers attractive token rewards at its inception. This prospect of profit attracts the first wave of operators (“Miners/Deployers”), who provide their hardware – be it a Wi-Fi router, a GPU server, or a rooftop sensor – and thus begin to build the physical network. As the number of these providers grows, the network becomes more robust, accessible, and affordable. This naturally attracts demand: developers who build their applications on the new, efficient infrastructure, and end-users who utilize these applications. The real-world usage of the network then creates genuine demand for the native token, which is needed to pay for services. The growth in token price subsequently increases the attractiveness of rewards for operators, which in turn attracts even more hardware. The entire cycle thus reinforces itself and accelerates exponentially.
Most DePIN projects consist of four main components. The first is the physical infrastructure itself – the hardware in the real world that forms the backbone of the network. The second is the off-chain compute layer, which is the software running on this hardware that performs the actual work and processes data. The third component is the blockchain layer, which functions as a transparent and immutable ledger for managing rewards and transactions. The final piece of the puzzle is the crypto-economic protocol – the rules of the game and the tokenomics that ensure all participants are motivated to collaborate towards a common goal.
The DePIN ecosystem is diverse and dynamic, but for better orientation, we can divide it into two main groups. The first is Physical Resource Networks, which focus on interacting with the real world. This includes wireless networks (e.g., mobile connectivity), geospatial networks (collection of map and location data), mobility networks (shared transport, vehicle data), and energy networks.
The second group is Digital Resource Networks, which provide the foundational building blocks of the digital world. This includes the Compute category, offering decentralized computing power for AI and general purposes. Next is Storage, focused on secure and censorship-resistant storage of files and databases. Finally, there is Bandwidth, which provides bandwidth for services such as content delivery (CDN), private networks (VPN), or data collection for training AI.
The following chapter focuses on established DePIN projects that have already achieved significant network scale and demonstrable utilization. These networks not only prove the functionality of the DePIN model but are actively generating revenue and competing with traditional centralized services.
Helium is a decentralized wireless network poised to disrupt the traditional telecommunications model. Rather than relying on a single corporation to build capital-intensive transmitters, Helium empowers anyone to purchase and operate a small hotspot. Collectively, these hotspots form a global network with a dual purpose: a low-power network (LoRaWAN) serving millions of IoT devices, and a 5G network for mobile data delivery. Each hotspot owner provides coverage for their local area and earns rewards for transferring data on behalf of end-users. This dynamic perfectly illustrates the “network flywheel” effect: a robust and reliable community-built network naturally attracts other businesses to build their own products upon this new infrastructure.
A prime example is Heliotics, which leverages the Helium network to connect its smart devices, offering enterprises comprehensive solutions for industrial monitoring and automation, such as factory machine monitoring or agricultural sensor applications.
Ultimately, the final product for Helium’s end customer is connectivity – whether for a business requiring low-cost IoT device connectivity or for an individual seeking an affordable mobile plan through the Helium Mobile service.
Render Network is a decentralized network that provides massive GPU computing power for 3D rendering. Instead of relying on their own or rented expensive servers, 3D artists and studios can upload their projects to the Render network. The network automatically divides the task into thousands of small parts and distributes them for processing to thousands of idle GPUs connected to the network by people from all over the world. After the computations are complete, the individual parts are assembled into a final image or video. For the customer (artist, architect, film studio), the final product is a finished, professionally rendered visual content (images, animations, video sequences), delivered in a fraction of the time and at a significantly lower cost than with centralized competitors.
Hivemapper is building a decentralized and constantly updated map of the world. It utilizes a network of drivers who install a special camera in their vehicles. During their regular drives, this camera automatically collects high-quality image data and metadata. This data is then processed by artificial intelligence, which creates detailed and current map layers, and is uploaded to the global map. Drivers are rewarded for every kilometer mapped. For the customer (e.g., logistics companies, autonomous vehicles, real estate portals), the final product is access to highly current and detailed map data via an API. This data is often fresher and more detailed than what traditional map services offer. Hivemapper collected over 1 million kilometers of unique road data in just three months. For comparison, it took Google 12 years (from 2007 to 2019) to collect 16.1 million kilometers. These figures indicate that Hivemapper’s data collection pace is approximately three times faster than Google’s was in its early days.
Geodnet is creating a global geolocation network with centimeter-level accuracy. It achieves this by building a dense network of reference RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) stations. Each station, operated by the community, receives signals from GPS and other satellite systems, calculates inaccuracies caused by atmospheric effects, and sends this correction data to the network in real-time. Devices in the field (e.g., a tractor or a drone) can then use this correction data to refine their position from meter-level to centimeter-level accuracy. For the customer (farmers, surveyors, drone operators), the final product is a continuous stream of RTK correction data available over the internet, which they can subscribe to. This data stream allows them to achieve extreme positioning accuracy for their machinery and devices.
Filecoin is a decentralized storage network that functions as a global marketplace for free hard drive space. Anyone with spare storage can become a “provider.” Users who want to store data select a provider from the marketplace and enter into a deal with them. The data is encrypted, split into parts, and stored. Providers must regularly prove, using cryptographic proofs, that they are still storing the data intact, for which they receive rewards. For the customer, the final product is a verifiably, securely, and permanently stored data file. The service is ideal for long-term archiving, storing NFT metadata, scientific data, and any data that requires high resistance to censorship and loss.
Aethir is building a decentralized network for GPU computing, focusing on the two most demanding markets: artificial intelligence and cloud gaming. Unlike other networks, Aethir does not focus on consumer hardware but aggregates enterprise-grade GPUs from large data centers. It then offers this massive computing power to clients who need it for training AI models or for streaming graphically intensive games to end-users without the need for powerful hardware. For the customer (a gaming studio, an AI company), the final product is instant, on-demand access to high-performance, enterprise-grade GPU power at competitive prices. For gamers, the result is the ability to play the latest games on any device.
Alongside the established leaders in the DePIN sector, there is a whole range of innovative projects in earlier stages that deserve attention. Although they still have to prove themselves, we have selected three that, in our opinion, show extraordinary potential due to their unique approach and the market they are targeting. In the following section, we will take a closer look at their visions and solutions.
Teneo is a decentralized and permissionless network of autonomous AI agents that transforms real-time data from the public internet into structured data valuable for AI systems, researchers, and builders. The network operates on the principle that any user can run a Teneo Community Node – an AI agent running directly in a browser – which independently and without central control collects, processes, and structures information flows from social media or other open sources. This creates a community-driven infrastructure for AI: each node is an active contributor, absorbing and transforming data that would otherwise remain locked in hidden APIs or expensively licensed services.
The current data ecosystem suffers from fragmentation and control by large platforms – Teneo overcomes this barrier by placing decentralized storage and data processing directly with the users. For the customer, the final product is access to a continuous stream of high-quality, verified data available via an API. This data can be used for training AI models, verifying information in real-time, chatbots or managing other decentralized networks.
The scale and activity of the Teneo decentralized network are demonstrated by several impressive metrics. The network has onboarded over 6 million community nodes to date, with an average of 750,000 actively connected at any given time. This vast infrastructure has already delivered over 700 million data points and is currently expanding its output by more than 45 million new points each day. Furthermore, its deep-rooted integration within the Web3 ecosystem is highlighted by 3.3 million connected wallets and 2 million on-chain digital identities (DIDs).
Wingbits is creating the largest decentralized network for air traffic monitoring in the world, disrupting a market dominated by a few centralized firms. The model is based on a simple principle: a community of enthusiasts around the world installs small, affordable antennas that receive publicly broadcasted ADS-B signals from aircraft. The data from these antennas is sent to the Wingbits network in real-time, where it is aggregated and verified, creating an extremely detailed and global picture of the activity in the sky. For the customer (e.g., airlines, insurance companies, logistics firms, financial analysts), the final product is access to unique and highly accurate air traffic data, both in real-time and in historical context. This data is often more comprehensive than that from traditional sources.
Decen Space aims to democratize access to the space industry, which is currently extremely centralized and capital-intensive. Their vision is two-phased. In the first phase, they are building a global, community-owned network of ground stations that can track and communicate with existing satellites in orbit. In the second, more ambitious phase, they plan to launch their own constellation of small satellites (cubesats) that will be fully owned and operated by this decentralized network. In the first phase, the final product is access to a network of ground stations for tracking and communicating with satellites (Ground-Station-as-a-Service). In the future, the final product will be affordable and censorship-resistant access to satellite data and connectivity for a wide range of applications.
As we have shown in this analysis, DePIN is not just another fleeting trend in the crypto world. It represents a fundamental and sustainable model for building and managing physical infrastructure with the potential to disrupt established, trillion-dollar monopolies. Unlike many other Web3 sectors, DePIN stands firmly on the ground – its value is not derived from speculation, but from real-world utilization and the revenues generated by providing tangible services that people and businesses actually need.
The success of pioneering projects like Helium, Render, and Hivemapper proves that the foundations and infrastructure for these new business models are already in place.
The next critical phase is adoption, which will, of course, be gradual. This journey mirrors the transition from on-premise IT to the cloud a decade ago. Back then, institutions harbored significant fears about security and control, but today, the cloud is the unquestioned standard that businesses rely on without a second thought. The current “cloud vs. decentralized cloud” debate is simply about overcoming similar barriers – a fear of the unknown. But in the end, price is always the deciding factor.
The success of today’s leaders paves the way for a new wave of innovators, such as Teneo, Wingbits, and Decen Space, who are pushing the boundaries of what is possible into even more ambitious areas.
Disclaimer: In the interest of full transparency, we would like to inform our readers that our company holds investment positions in several projects mentioned in this analysis, specifically Helium ($HNT), Render ($RNDR), Heliotics and Teneo. This material is for purely educational purposes and should not be considered financial advice.
