hat is a DePIN track? What are the prospects for the future? A comprehensive interpretation of the development of the DePIN industry

Some innovations, such as Proof of Location and Proof of Backhaul, make DePIN projects easier to scale.

Witness Chain launched the first universal proof-of-location protocol on the testnet, providing security for over $14 billion in ETH re-staked through Eigenlayer.

DePIN sensors are cheaper, more versatile, and more powerful than in the past.

Now, with the DePIN project having a strategy to achieve more than 10,000 active nodes, contract manufacturers are willing to work with the founders to develop custom hardware.

Modularity is no longer a pipe dream: DePIN projects are helping each other to scale faster.

Rebundling at the hardware and software levels helps abstract complexity for users and enable deep integration of the DePIN ecosystem.

The optimal form factor drives the "come for the tool, stay for the network" behavior.

Network effects are most powerful when nodes provide first-party utility to both individual miners and third-party utility to other users on the network.

Local governments are looking to DePIN to address infrastructure challenges.

Public officials are using DePIN to advance issues that matter to voters and win elections, from securing AI sovereignty in Tanzania to bridging the digital divide in Mexico.

In 2024, the world will realize the huge demand for digital goods from AI.

With a handful of tech giants vying for control of critical AI resources, DePIN is the only hope for the rest of the world to gain a place in this race.

If you have faith in AI early on, on-chain agents are the area worth betting on.

Unlike the public stock market, which focuses on potential resources that limit the growth of AI, the demand for AI tokens in 2024 preempts the demand for DePIN tokens.

The toughest question in AI is attribution: which results are worth paying for?

How can "GPU-starved" developers (i.e., developers who rent AI infrastructure) know that a model is actually running, as opposed to a cheaper, slower, or biased model?

Bittensor made a breakthrough in 2024, earning the title of the king of decentralized AI.

While the price of its token is volatile, the rate at which world-class AI and crypto talent flows into the Bittensor ecosystem is only increasing.

Bittensor drivers include:

Autonomous agents seem to be on the verge of a Cambrian explosion.

The early growth of agents is similar to the rise of DeFi and NFTs in 2020-2021; If this trend continues, we could see proxies reach over $5 billion in monthly trading volume in the first half of 2025.

Agents (robots) are already the most active users on the public chain.

Crypto users naturally understand the potential of on-chain proxies after years of competing with sandwich/MEV bots for transaction execution, sniper bots for NFT minting, and more.

Despite being ignored by AI researchers, agents are showing viral growth in the real world.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, more than 13,000 agents issued tokens on the Virtuals platform, most of which are simple chatbots connected to social media accounts that users can interact with.

The most interesting agents are trading new markets for information, capital, and attention.

Agents can ingest information and act on it orders of magnitude faster than human traders, a ability that can be used to bring liquidity to long-tail markets that don't exist otherwise.

There are two key challenges for agents: how do they interact with the world and with each other?

Agents are 21st-century businesses that can quickly complete processes that would have taken decades in a matter of months.

3. In-depth insight into the industry

Wireless field

In 2024, adversaries have exposed the vulnerability of our telecommunications and network infrastructure.

2024 is the worst year on record for hacking, disruption and fraud on telecommunications infrastructure, exacerbated by hackers, criminals and dictators using AI-powered deepfakes.

Helium

Consumers are ready for something new: 2024 is a 0-to-1 breakthrough year for Helium Mobile.

Helium added more than 100,000 subscribers and 300,000 indirect users this year, driving annualized on-chain net revenue to seven figures across its two different lines of business.

Helium achieves something that few communities in the crypto space have been able to do: an unwavering focus on what matters.

Helium made the difficult decision to terminate its CBRS and multi-token experiments, ultimately paving the way for a rapid acceleration of its cellular Wi-Fi offloading business.

After a few more years of growth, Helium will surpass traditional mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in scale and profitability.

Helium Mobile is the first Mobile Hybrid Network Operator (MHNO) with a growing subscriber base and a global community-owned and operated network infrastructure.

The market is either pricing in Helium's future profitability or its growth...... But not both.

Helium is growing an order of magnitude faster than traditional telcos, and its community-based deployment model means it can continue to grow at that rate for decades to come.

At the rate of growth in the fourth quarter of 2024, Helium investors are paying for its expected 5-year growth of users to 500,000.

For those investors who believe subscriber growth will accelerate back to Q2 2024 levels, HNT (Helium Token) at current prices is like a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) over a 5-year time horizon, but at heart a Mobile Hybrid Network Operator (MHNO).

Dawn

Dawn is taking a solar-like approach to tap into the $100 billion-plus home internet market.

DAWN's testnet network spans more than 10 data centers and more than 1.5 million homes in the U.S., providing high-speed wireless internet and expanding to Africa and Latin America by 2025.