Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks, or DePINs, refers to networks that connect the digital realm to real-world (physical) building blocks via blockchain technology to revolutionize how digital elements are managed and controlled. The rising technology uses incentivization – through crypto rewards – to decentralize physical infrastructure resources such as compute power and data across several fields such as transport, energy and wireless connectivity.
For a better understanding, DePINs work by spreading out tasks and responsibilities across many computers and servers to build one large, decentralized server. Instead of collecting all the data or processing all functions using one large server, these decisions are made in one server. Simply, DePINs allow smaller units to chip into the processes of one larger server. The benefit of using decentralized servers? They provide a more private, decentralized, cheaper and faster “technique” that is accessible to all global participants.
This piece discusses some of the leading DePIN services that show promise in 2024 and beyond. We will discuss how they work, their benefits and how you can start earning rewards from each by providing compute power.
Understanding the Value of DePINs
Before listing the top DePIN blockchains, we need to understand how DePINs aim to revolutionize physical infrastructures and the benefits they offer over traditional systems such as cloud systems offered by Amazon, Google, Microsoft, etc. Here are some of the benefits that DePIN platforms offer:
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Incentivization
DePINs introduce an economic model of rewarding users who share their physical infrastructure. This novel innovation encourages people to take part in and contribute resources to make the network stronger and more reliable. Most DePINs use tokens to reward community contributors. The tokens can be utilized within the network, representing various rights, such as governance power or a share of the network's revenue.
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Lower risks of a single point of failure
One of the biggest advantages of DePINs is decentralization, as mentioned above. Traditional infrastructure mainly relies on a single participant to control the whole process which could be potentially risky, in case of failure.
DePINs decentralize the process with each participant responsible for only a portion of the network and redundancies are built into the system by other participants. This results in potential network risks being spread among many participants and not a single entity, making the network more resilient and adaptable to market changes.
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Save on costs
Reverting to the earlier point, traditional network infrastructure depends on a single entity to set up and manage the servers, which could be costly. They need to absorb all the costs for the development and management of the servers.
DePINs share these costs across a community, who delegate resources to set it up or manage it. They adapt to the deployment costs and provide more or less resources according to their capacity. The cost to deploy infrastructure is distributed on a network of participants instead of a single entity.
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Faster deployment and adoption to market
Physical infrastructure usually requires big upfront investments and involves a lot of bureaucracy. DePINs simplify the process of setting up a physical infrastructure which allows for faster deployment and adaptation to local needs. This agility benefits consumers and creates opportunities for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs to participate in providing and sharing services.
The Top DePIN Projects To Look Foward To In 2025
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Neurochain AI: Democratizing The Power of Artificial Intelligence
As artificial intelligence becomes a component of our daily lives, democratizing the technology is key to ensuring its growth. Neurochain AI, a DePIN service focused on AI, is exactly doing this by offering users an inclusive, democratic and accessible platform to leverage AI infrastructure and models. The platform combines AI infrastructure, decentralized blockchain technology, and a community-driven ecosystem to offer developers an AI-focused DePIN with global scalability, incentivized collaboration and affordable to all participants.
Neurochain AI is a one-stop shop for all the tools necessary to build and use AI dApps. The platform comprises several key components that can all be leveraged to earn or save costs on AI infrastructure. Its fully decentralized consumer-grade hardware GPU DePIN paired with its AI model quantization allows users to contribute their unused compute power to others for rewards.
Second, the platform also includes an Android app that facilitates users' addition of compute power to the wider AI network to help optimize the AI models. Additionally, developers can leverage the ready-to-use AI infrastructure, eliminating the need to build their own AI infrastructure from scratch. This saves time, reduces costs, and simplifies the development process.
Users can also participate in providing, collecting and validating data that is used to train AI models for rewards. This scales the platform, providing an accessible AI compute ecosystem, ensuring accuracy and enhancing model performance.
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Spheron Network: Decentralizing Underutilized Compute Services
One of the most widely used cases of DePINs is the pooling of compute resources. Spheron Network is one of the platforms revolutionizing how users utilize their unused or underutilized GPU resources. The platform allows users to easily lease powerful GPU hardware from a collection of a vast network of computing power providers worldwide. With Spheron, users can lease and monetize their underutilized GPU hardware resources while ensuring maximum utilization.
Spheron leverages its Decentralized Compute Network (DCN), a platform that creates an efficient, secure, and seamless ecosystem for compute suppliers to share their GPUs. The DCN provides high-performance computing users with additional computational power for tasks such as machine learning, scientific simulations, and CGI rendering. DCN features an on-chain Supply Market for trading and allocating resources, a transparent economy powered by a native token system, and leverages the Arbitrum L3 chain for scalability and efficiency. The DCN intelligently manages resource allocation, ensuring optimal performance and longevity for all participating GPUs.
Notwithstanding, Spheron also introduces Fizz Nodes, which are lightweight versions of the ‘provider nodes’, allowing smaller devices such as computers and laptops to participate in the ecosystem. This innovative approach enhances the connectivity across the network while providing better flexibility and accessibility for users without GPUs. Fizz Nodes can collaborate to form subnets within the network, consisting of a Provider Node and multiple Fizz Nodes, creating their own economies and governance systems.
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WingBits Network: Decentralized Geolocation
While compute services take a huge chunk of the DePIN plaudits, these decentralized infrastructures can also operate as geo, traffic, environmental and infrastructure health monitors. They do so by leveraging blockchain technologies and the distributed architecture of physical sensors. One such example is WingBits, a geolocation infrastructure that helps users track aeroplanes and the weather.
Simply, WingBits users require a physical sensor that collects data on air traffic, checks it and stores the data securely across the network. For providing the data, users earn native $WINGS tokens as rewards. As more data providers join the network, WingBits is able to provide more accurate geo and weather services to potential customers, which could be essential to other economic fields such as agriculture, air travel and city planning.
Conclusion
DePINs represent a groundbreaking shift in how we approach physical infrastructure. By leveraging blockchain technology and incentivizing participation, these networks offer a more efficient, cost-effective, and accessible way to manage and utilize resources.
As the projects mentioned in this article continue to develop and mature, we can expect to see even greater innovation and adoption in the years to come. DePINs have the potential to transform industries, empower individuals, and create a more decentralized and resilient future for all.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
