An under-valued narrative
The crypto world never sleeps, and neither do we! Let's dive into the 37th edition of the Gems Corner, bringing you an overview of the DePIN narrative.
Today, we will briefly look at an under-valued narrative with a cumulative TVL of $8 Billion. Introducing DePIN.
DePIN is an acronym for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks. DePIN heralds a paradigm shift from centralized-owned infrastructural networks to community-owned ones, incentivizing participants toward creating a decentralized future.
Max Thake, the co-founder of Peaq Network, defines DePIN as a term that describes decentralized applications that use tokens to incentivize people to provide services via real-world physical infrastructure/machines/devices. I couldn't agree more.
Prior to now, the key players in the data storage and computing space are web2 giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. These guys are centralized and have dominated the market for decades. But the thing is that their monopoly has some shortcomings in cost, security & supply.
When it comes to cost, DePIN alternatives are 10 times lower than that of centralized providers. As for supply, with the growing penetration of online infra, it might get to a point where demand will outstrip supply - hence the need for DePINs.
That said, DePIN is an attempt to decentralize real-world infrastructures using token incentives as a flywheel. Instead of relying on solo entities DePINs uses token incentives to attract, retain, and reward participants for their role in the network's growth & security.
Interestingly, what started with @Filecoin & @helium has morphed into a $8B+ narrative. Some of its verticals are storage, wireless, wifi, mobility, computing, IoT, database, environment, bandwidth networks, and much more.
The labor vertical is leading in on-chain revenue so far, followed by Wireless, Sensors, & AI. Imo, there's still a lot of room for growth and improvements. And with the recent reawakening of the DePIN narrative, it's only a matter of time.
According to the attached chart, Ethereum is the leading chain for DePIN projects. Although, Solana is coming up pretty fast as they're positioning as the chain for DePIN projects.
So far, the market leaders by market cap are:
• @rendernetwork $RNDR
• @Theta_Network $THETA
• @ArweaveEco $AR
The interesting thing I like about the DePIN narrative is that it replicates our on-chain experience in the real world through decentralization. And also enables people to feel the excellence of blockchain in their daily lives and activities.
It achieves this by incentivizing our very existence. With DePIN, people can use wifi, transportation services, storage, IoT infra, data, maps, etc., and get rewards for them. This isn't just the growth of a narrative, it's about driving crypto adoption at scale.
Will share the DePIN gems I’m looking at in the subsequent issue.
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Thanks for reading!
Until next Friday,
Viktor DeFi.
PS: I’d love to hear your feedback and comments.