Recently, Dune and Slice Analytics jointly released the latest research report on DePIN, which conducted an in-depth analysis of the development status, market performance and on-chain data of multiple core DePIN projects on Solana.
Some data make people optimistic about the development prospects of DePIN. For example, (as of April 2025), the total on-chain market value of global DePIN projects (excluding independent project L1/chain) has reached US$7.1 billion, of which the total market value of DePIN projects on Solana is US$3.25 billion. Based on the average market value of each project, Solana once again leads with US$191.3 million, followed by Cardano ($97.6 million), Cosmos ($93.2 million), Sora ($80.1 million) and EVM ($40.6 million).
In the DePIN field, the computing and wireless categories together account for 93.4% of the market share and are the categories with the highest average market value.
However, as a project that combines on-chain and off-chain, DePIN is still one of the crypto fields where it is more difficult to track on-chain activities because it relies on off-chain hardware and third-party integration. The opacity of data and processes is a challenge that DePIN is currently facing.
1. The computing and wireless networking categories account for 93.4% of DePIN’s market share. What industry signals does this reveal?
1. Strong infrastructure attributes determine demand rigidity
Computing (such as GPU, CPU, edge computing, etc.) and wireless (cellular, WiFi network, LoRa network, etc.) tracks can occupy 93.4% of the DePIN market share, indicating that in the future Internet era, the computing operation and network connection used to generate a picture and render a model are indispensable foundations, which can be regarded as the core infrastructure layer for the integration of Web3 with AI and the Internet of Things. They do not provide "optional services", but the "foundation" for the operation of all decentralized applications. Especially in the AI-driven era, the explosive growth in computing power demand for training and reasoning has made computing DePIN a core track of "supply shortage".
2. First-mover advantage and scale network effect
Wireless projects such as Helium have formed a wide range of community nodes and basic coverage after years of deployment; computing projects such as PowerVerse have seized the trend of integration of Web3 and AI and expanded rapidly. Their first-mover advantage and scale network effect come from the fact that networks and computing are indispensable attributes of the Internet. The supporting attributes determine that whether the above fields are decentralized or not must be needed by the market, industry and users.
Decentralization accelerates this adoption process. For project development, in the DePIN model dominated by network effects, deployment density and early market penetration directly determine its subsequent growth space.
3. Market pricing tends to be practicality-oriented
The two categories of computing and networking can occupy most of the market share of DePIN, which is related to their "measurable" nature: computing resources can be directly valued through GPU prices and training task orders, and wireless services can be charged according to network traffic and coverage. The market tends to give these practical networks a higher valuation because they have real income (such as on-chain fees, API calls, computing power leasing, etc.) rather than pure narrative.
📌Industry signal summary :
● From Narrative to Product-Market Fit
● The decentralized infrastructure track is evolving towards real income
● The integration of Web3 and AI/IoT basic layers is taking shape, and resource-based DePIN (computing power, bandwidth) has become the preferred landing path
2. How to understand “computing networks provide high-market-cap utility tokens for AI workloads”?
AI model training and reasoning are highly dependent on high-performance GPUs, but Web2 giants such as AWS and Google Cloud cannot meet the needs of all developers (high prices and concentrated resources). Decentralized computing networks allow developers to obtain the resources required for AI at a lower cost by marketizing idle GPU computing power. The essence of this GPU marketization operation is to marketize resources.
The tokens in the DePIN project can be seen as "payment vouchers" for resource access. They not only play the role of governance tokens, but also serve as a medium of exchange for actual resources bound to "GPU hours" and "task computing power shares", so it is easy to form a clear valuation basis. As the use of AI increases (such as AI-generated images, videos, codes, etc.), the practical demand for these tokens will naturally grow, forming a "revenue-supported valuation".
📌 In short:
DePIN computing tokens are a resource tokenization model driven by the triple forces of “high-frequency usage + cost savings + network scale externalities”. The market value is based on the conversion demand of real AI workloads, rather than idle speculation.
3. The value of DePIN: On-chain data verifies product market fit (PMF)
The report points out that some DePIN projects have generated nearly $6 million in on-chain revenue, which is a very convincing data for a relatively early track. This fact shows that DePIN is a decentralized field that truly brings value and makes people pay. Compared with meme projects, DePIN on-chain revenue is a verifiable indicator of PMF, which has more long-term value than TVL, community popularity, etc. The real revenue value also further determines the value and valuation anchor of the token, which provides real market value for the DePIN project to build a healthier token economic model.
📌Conclusion : The real value of DePIN lies in that it connects the infrastructure in the real world with the crypto economy. Compared with meme projects, the value flow has real application support, verifiability and income model.
4. Challenges and suggestions for transparency in DePIN computing
Computational DePIN projects rely on a large amount of off-chain resources (GPU, nodes) and off-chain execution logic, while the chain only records limited data such as payments and task results. This results in much lower transparency than pure on-chain financial projects (such as DEX).
For example, in a decentralized cloud computing system, when users put computing power on the chain and cast it into NFT for circulation, the transparency and traceability of parameters such as real-time load, temperature, specifications, and usage data of the early equipment are issues that need to be addressed. The project party can grade different computing power nodes according to their stability, reliability, etc., and write the grading results into the NFT metadata so that the demand side can understand the quality of computing power more intuitively. When casting NFTs, add annotation options for computing power usage scenarios, such as applicable to AI model training, video rendering, etc., to facilitate screening by the demand side.
Once the off-chain data of computing equipment is not open and transparent enough, it will inevitably affect the development and operation of decentralized cloud computing. However, there are some ways to do this.
1. Introduce a “proof mechanism” to improve verifiability
a. Prove the authenticity and accuracy of off-chain computations using techniques such as zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), trusted execution environment (TEE), or proof-of-work (Proof-of-Compute);
b. For example, io.net and PowerVerse can provide off-chain task execution summaries on the chain and perform hash verification on the task execution results.
2. Standardized on-chain metrics
Develop unified on-chain indicators to facilitate consensus building among analysts, investors and users. For example:
i. Active computing power supply (GPU hours/day)
ii. On-chain order success rate
iii. Distribution of user computing task completion time
iv. Token unit price vs actual computing power ratio
3. Open API and tracking dashboard
Similar to the dashboards provided by Dune or Slice Analytics, a set of trusted data interfaces and public query services should be maintained by the computing DePIN official, allowing the community to visually understand the network operation status.
4. Establish a third-party audit mechanism
a. Cooperate with professional Web3 data service providers to conduct periodic data verification of on-chain settlement and off-chain computing power scheduling;
b. You can explore the use of decentralized oracles (such as Pyth, Chainlink) to feed off-chain data to the chain.
📌Core goal : Use on-chain proof logic to package off-chain execution, narrow the data credibility gap, improve transparency and credibility , and establish credible valuation and growth expectations for the entire DePIN ecosystem.
Conclusion
Currently, DePIN is still in its early stages of development, and relevant consensus and norms are still being established. However, as a new frontier for blockchain applications, DePIN’s value potential is still huge. In essence, DePIN combines on-chain value with marketable value in the real world, which is a further expansion of pure on-chain value.
Together with PowerBeats, keep watching DePIN.
