Bankless: Understanding the Four DePIN Projects Based on Solana in One Article

Author: David C, Bankless; Translation: Baishui, Golden Finance

DEP is being bid for.

As supporters see new ways of adopting Crypto Assets and interest in Crypto Assets beyond our often isolated market, the momentum of Decentralization physical infrastructure networks is growing.

Driven by the rapid rise of HNT on the Helium Network (which has risen 70% in the past 30 days), the decentralized infrastructure network has become the focus of discussions on how to demonstrate the utility of cryptocurrency. Regardless of whether the industry’s narrative rise can break the current market downturn, people are increasingly excited about using cryptocurrency to expand access to physical and virtual resources, especially through the growing protocol on Solana.

Advantages of Solana’s DEP-IN

DePIN (Decentralization Physical Infrastructure) project is a blockchain-based network, where participants contribute resources in exchange for Token rewards. These can be physical resource networks such as cellular connectivity and energy allocation, as well as virtual resource networks providing computing power, bandwidth, and cloud storage.

Solana’s DePIN ecosystem has experienced a significant rise this year, with multiple protocols hitting all-time highs.

For example, the Decentralization GPU network Nosana set a historical high in the number of active GPU operators and rewards in July. Another distributed computing provider, Kuzco, has seen an 18-fold rise in online GPU numbers since its launch in March. Helium Mobile reports a 60% rise in new users in July, while the Decentralization map network Hivemapper set a new retention rate record for participants contributing to the network continuously for two months.

These milestones reflect the continuous rise of DePIN on Solana and highlight the platform’s ability to support scalable, high-performance Decentralization infrastructure networks.

Continuously rising physical infrastructure network

While DeVIN addresses the supply constraints of artificial intelligence, the potential to expand the physical resource network of the augmented reality world sets Cryptocurrency apart, making projects that create these solutions particularly noteworthy.

Helium

Helium is a Decentralization Blockchain network aimed at creating a global wireless infrastructure. The network operates through a Consensus Mechanism called Coverage Proof, in which participants provide wireless network coverage by running Helium hardware and receive Helium’s native Token HNT as a reward. These hotspots together form a large low-power IoT device network.

So far, by 2024, Helium has gained significant follow and adoption, especially for its MOBILE network, which is a sub-DAO of Helium that extends the concept of Decentralization to cellular networks and builds a Decentralization 5G network powered by Helium hotspots equipped with 5G radios. This model has proven to be effective, with MOBILE accounting for about 90% of Helium’s total revenue and supporting over 112,000 users with its own distributed coverage in collaboration with T-Mobile’s network for their $20 per month unlimited data plan. Another sub-DAO of Helium, the IOT network, is also rapidly expanding. For example, Greenmetrics.ai, an environmental monitoring system built on Helium, is collaborating with the city of Porto in Portugal to enhance its flood resistance using the network, while Heliotics is using the network to monitor the temperature and humidity of museums and libraries across Europe.

Looking ahead, the Helium Foundation sees the network as the launchpad for a new DEP, utilizing its global influence and community-driven approach to support a diverse array of Decentralization infrastructure projects. This vision is referred to as the “network of networks”, aiming to create a Decentralization ecosystem where multiple networks share resources and drive innovation across a range of applications from computing and storage to mapping and mobility.

DAWN

DAWN, developed by wireless provider Andrena, aims to achieve Decentralization of wireless internet services, with a focus on following regions that lack traditional infrastructure or have high costs.

Similar to the way solar panels allow consumers to sell electricity, DAWN enables users to share internet access. It employs a ‘proof of return’ system to measure Node throughput to ensure reliable connections and create a decentralized, trustless network. DAWN offers internet service for less than $10 per month, making it the lowest-cost provider in the broadband industry. To drive expansion, the protocol uses Medallions to reward holders with 12% of on-chain income in regions where Medallions are staked.

DAWN is currently testing its protocol with over 3000 households in New York City, generating $1 million in ARR in the process. It is expected to cover over 3 million American households upon release. DAWN is the native Token of the network, allowing users to purchase bandwidth and rewarding them for maintaining connections, referring others, and verifying the network.

Users can also sell surplus bandwidth and contribute resources to other DePIN projects such as FIL, Grass, or Akash. As DAWN prepares to launch its Token, Andrena plans to move its existing customers and revenue on-chain and further integrate with the Decentralization ecosystem.

Dabba

Dabba has received support from Y Combinator and Multicoin Capital. Its DePIN network focuses on providing high-speed internet access throughout India, where broadband penetration is still low. To address the massive connectivity gap, Dabba has gathered over 150,000 local cable TV operators (LCOs) to expand internet access nationwide. These LCOs are mainly concentrated in underserved areas, and they have the necessary tools, hardware, software, and capital to expand the network and grow the user base.

Dabba’s Decentralization approach utilizes DBT Tokens to ensure the smooth operation of the network economy through minting and burning functions, thereby accelerating infrastructure expansion, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas that are overlooked by large telecom companies focused on major cities.

Hivemapper

Hivemapper is a Decentralization map network that leverages the power of community collaboration to create and maintain high-quality maps.

Hivemapper was founded by Ariel Seidman, who previously led Yahoo! Maps, in 2015. It operates a network of dash cams owned by contributors, which collect data while the car owner drives and earn them HONEY Tokens in exchange for their contributions. These tokens can be used to access map data, drive user-driven ecosystems, and share economic benefits and communities for map development. Hivemapper’s Decentralization approach solves major industry challenges such as uneven coverage and outdated data by allowing anyone to contribute to the accuracy and freshness of the map.

The network also incentivizes users to improve map quality by training games and quality assurance checks through AI, further enhancing the reliability of the data. By integrating state compression technology on Solana, Hivemapper can manage a large number of transactions to effectively reward contributors, making the entire system scalable during development.

Future Outlook

As the market continues to cycle within existing value, the DePIN network has become a hopeful path to revive people’s interest in Cryptocurrency, extending its influence beyond traditional boundaries.

With its optimized scalability and low-cost transactions, Solana has become a natural home for these networks, providing the technical foundation for the flourishing development of the DEP protocol. This year, the overall rise of DEP, from virtual infrastructures like Nosana and Kuzco to physical infrastructures like Helium, Dabba, and Hivemapper, demonstrates Solana’s key role in driving the rise of decentralized infrastructure. By enabling access to physical and virtual resources, these networks not only prove the practicality of cryptocurrency in the real world but also position Solana as a leading platform in this vertical.

With the continuous expansion and development of these infrastructure networks, they are likely to provide the necessary impetus for the market to break free from the current stagnation and enter a new rise phase, while demonstrating the coordination ability of blockchain and Token to the outside world.