No longer a PPT concept, which DePIN projects have real income?

Written by Paul Veradittakit

Compiled by: Luffy, Foresight News

Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) is the fusion of blockchain and infrastructure network. Currently, DePIN is present in industries such as energy, telecommunications, storage, artificial intelligence, and data collection.

In the last crypto cycle, many projects took advantage of the DePIN craze to target directions with huge market opportunities. However, when the core products failed to gain enough traction on both the supply and demand sides, they turned to cryptocurrency token economics.

However, of those projects that have survived, many companies have spent time building infrastructure, and they have achieved sustainable profitability by solving existing problems, without even relying on the flywheel effect of the token economy. Let’s take a look at some of these cases.

Geodnet

Core issues to be solved

Traditional global positioning systems (GPS) often lack the accuracy required for advanced applications that require centimeter-level rather than meter-level accuracy. Geodnet Network's solution improves positioning accuracy by 100 times compared to traditional GPS technology.

target customers

The Geodnet network serves industries that rely on high-precision geospatial data, including:

• self-driving cars
• agriculture
• smart city
• Defense and Security
• space exploration

Profit model

• Data Licensing: Sell geospatial data to commercial customers.
• Node participation fees: fees associated with the installation and use of mining machines.
• Partnerships: Working with industries such as agriculture and autonomous driving systems to integrate the Geodnet network's services into existing workflows.

In 2024, Geodnet Networks reported revenue growth of more than 500% year-over-year to $1.7 million.

Tokenomics

The Geodnet network uses native token GEOD to incentivize participants:

• Miners earn tokens based on data contribution and network uptime.
• Destruction mechanism: Tokens are destroyed during the data transaction process and a deflation mechanism is introduced.
• Average daily income: The average daily income of each miner is approximately US$4.30, and the expected investment payback period is 3-4 months.
• Circulation: The distribution of tokens ensures liquidity while incentivizing early adopters.
• Token purpose: used for payment, staking and governance within the network.

How to participate and contribute

1. Become a miner:

• Purchase mining equipment (cost between $500 - $700).
• Set up and connect the miner to the network and upload 20 - 40GB of data per month.

2. Use the Internet:

• Access real-time kinematic (RTK) correction data via subscription or direct purchase.

3. Develop applications:

• Develop software for specific industries based on data from the Geodnet network.

4. Governance:

• Participate in protocol governance by staking GEOD tokens and voting on proposals.

Helium

Core issues to be solved

Traditional mobile network operators such as T-Mobile require huge capital expenditures to build base stations, maintain infrastructure and expand coverage. Helium solves this problem by creating a decentralized wireless network that leverages community-owned hotspots to provide affordable, scalable, and resilient network connectivity to mobile and IoT devices.

target customers

• Consumers: Pay $20 per month for unlimited data provided by the Helium decentralized network.
• Telecom providers: Implement WiFi offloading for major operators and reduce their infrastructure costs.
• IoT device manufacturers: Provide connectivity for low-power IoT devices via the LoRaWAN protocol.
• Enterprises and Institutions: Helps organizations deploy private wireless networks for asset tracking, sensors and environmental monitoring.

Profit model

The Helium network generates revenue through two main avenues:

1. Direct-to-consumer mobile plans:

• Offering unlimited data plans for $20 per month, users can use Helium network hotspots and partner networks (such as T-Mobile) at the same time.

2. Operator WiFi offloading fee:

• Telecom providers are charged $0.50 per gigabyte to offload data through the Helium network's decentralized hotspots rather than traditional base stations.

financial performance

• Subscribers: more than 100,000 direct subscribers and more than 300,000 indirect WiFi offload users.
• Revenue: Generates seven-figure annualized revenue from mobile subscriptions and carrier offload fees.
• Forecast: Potential annual revenue from WiFi offloading alone is expected to exceed $50 million as carrier partnerships expand.

Tokenomics

The Helium network’s HNT token is at the heart of its incentive and payment structure:

• Earn Rewards: Hotspot operators earn HNT by providing coverage and transmitting data.
• Purpose: The token is used for network transactions, payment for network services, and governance proposals.
• Burning mechanism: HNT tokens are burned when used to pay for network services, reducing the supply.

How to participate and contribute

1. Hotspot deployment:

• Purchase and set up a hotspot compatible with the Helium network to provide network coverage and earn HNT rewards.
• Choose from 16 approved hardware types designed for IoT or mobile offloading.

2. Consumer package:

• Subscribe to Helium Network's $20 per month mobile plan to get affordable mobile data coverage.

3. Operator partnership:

• Telecom providers can integrate with the Helium network to offload data traffic and reduce operating costs.

4. Governance and pledge:

• Stake HNT tokens to participate in network governance, make suggestions and vote on key upgrades.

Akash

Core issues to be solved

Akash Network aims to solve the high cost, scalability limitations and centralization issues of traditional cloud computing providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and others. It solves these problems by providing a decentralized cloud computing marketplace that allows users to monetize idle machines while reducing costs.

target customers

• Artificial Intelligence Developers: Need high-performance GPUs to train and deploy machine learning models.
• Startups and Enterprises: Need affordable and scalable cloud computing to support data processing, storage, and AI-driven applications.

Profit model

The Akash Network generates revenue through:

• Market Transaction Fees: Transaction fees are charged for calculating leases and payments processed over the network.
• Computing resource leasing: Share of revenue generated from GPU and CPU leasing for AI training and workloads.
• Developer Tools: By charging developers for using its computing infrastructure API integration and SDK licensing fees.
• Enterprise partnerships: Work with artificial intelligence labs and decentralized platforms to expand computing power.

financial performance

• Annual Revenue: Akash Network reported $2.5 million in 2024 from computing leases and fees.
• Growth rate: Due to the popularity of artificial intelligence, the demand for GPU computing resources has increased by 33 times.
• Network scale: Supports more than 400 GPUs.

Tokenomics

The Akash network uses the AKT token for payments, governance, and incentives.

1. Purpose:

• Payment: Buyers use AKT tokens to purchase computing resources.
• Staking: Providers stake tokens to gain access to jobs and increase their reputation.

2. Incentive:

• Providers earn AKT tokens for supplying computing resources.
• Tokens are distributed based on uptime, performance, and task completion.

3. Governance:

• Token holders can propose upgrades and vote on protocol changes.

4. Destruction mechanism:

• Network fees are burned, reducing the token supply.

How to participate and contribute

1. As a provider:

• Set up GPU, CPU or storage servers on the Akash network.
• List resources, set prices and start earning AKT tokens.

2. As a consumer:

• Rent computing resources using Akash Network's web interface or command line interface (CLI).
• Deploy AI training workloads, web services, and decentralized applications.

3. As a developer:

• Access the API and SDK to integrate Akash Network services into your applications.
• Leverage GPU clusters for deep learning training or inference tasks.

4. Governance participation:

• Stake AKT tokens to vote on network upgrades and resource pricing policies.

Looking to the future

These are just a few of the projects that work well and generate sustainable income. In the coming months, DePIN acceptance will undoubtedly increase again and lead to the creation of more sustainable, scalable and profitable companies.

The above companies are all consumer-facing, but another area that excites me is infrastructure. The underlying blockchain, oracle services, smart contract services, middleware, token issuance services, etc., these companies are in areas that will benefit from the development of the DePIN project. Some examples include Solana, Peaq, Base, Story, Arweave, Opacity Network and DeForm.