Original article: https://polkadot.com/blog/depin-web3-infrastructure/
By Joey Prebys
Compiled by: OneBlock+
Web3 is solving real-world problems for real people.
In the latest episode of the Decentralized Mic podcast, the project leaders of Silencio, Acurast, and DePIN Hub delved into a trend that is reshaping the Web3 landscape: decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs). These projects are no longer just concepts that stay in the digital world, but truly connect the physical world and create tangible value for users.
From noise monitoring to distributed computing, DePIN is demonstrating how Web3 technology can go beyond speculation and hype and return to its original vision - building a more open, fair and decentralized world. This article will analyze DePIN's operating mechanism, practical application cases, and how it can become a key driving force for the large-scale adoption of Web3.
🔮 What is DePIN?
DePIN, the full name of which is Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks , means "decentralized physical infrastructure network". Its core concept is to "liberate" the construction and operation of real-world infrastructure from centralized enterprises and have it jointly contributed and owned by individual users around the world.
In the DePIN model, anyone can participate in network construction and receive incentives by contributing real assets such as computing resources, sensor data, and network bandwidth. It is like an evolution of the sharing economy, and has the on-chain composability and incentive transparency of Web3. It is considered to be a key bridge connecting the on-chain world and the real world.
Daniel Andrade of DePIN Hub said that the native incentive mechanism of Web3 enables these networks to have stronger spontaneous expansion capabilities. In the past, it was necessary to rely on the infrastructure deployed on a large scale by large companies. Now ordinary users can also participate and benefit, and the Token model is "an accelerator for everything to grow wildly."
⚙️ Real DePIN project
Among the many explorers, Silencio and Acurast are representative projects at the forefront of the DePIN ecosystem, focusing on environmental data collection and distributed privacy computing respectively.
Silencio: Collecting urban noise with your phone
Silencio uses the smartphones that people carry with them every day to build a global noise map generated by the public. Users only need to walk in the city, and the phone will anonymously record the decibel data of the environment in the background and upload it to the chain. This data can be used to assess urban noise pollution, assist in site selection, optimize urban planning, etc., and is highly practical.
Silencio is developed based on the peaq network of the Polkadot ecosystem, with a particular emphasis on privacy protection and user data sovereignty. Unlike many Web2 platforms that collect personal data without consent, Silencio has been adhering to the concept of "privacy first, user ownership" from the beginning. Users only upload noise intensity, do not record, and have full control over whether the data is uploaded or not. As Silencio CMO Daniel Ferraro said: "We only collect decibel data, never record, and users have full control over their data."
In addition, Silencio takes advantage of the smartphones that users already have, eliminating the need to purchase additional hardware, significantly lowering the barrier to entry. As the number of users grows, the platform is also constantly launching new features, such as location-based noise filtering and upcoming AI tools, to optimize user experience and data quality.
Acurast: A privacy-preserving computing network built with old cell phones
Acurast turns discarded smartphones into decentralized cloud computing nodes. It is also built on Polkadot and uses the native trusted hardware modules of mobile phones to provide high-security computing services such as data analysis and AI processing without relying on centralized servers. Users participate in the network by sharing the idle computing power of old phones and receive rewards.
Unlike relying on virtual machines, Acurast directly uses the device's native hardware components, fundamentally enhancing system security and making the execution and protection of computing tasks more reliable.
By distributing computing power in everyday devices, Acurast is promoting the "democratization" of cloud infrastructure, reducing dependence on super-large data centers, and allowing everyone to contribute and benefit. Acurast co-founder Alessandro De Carli pointed out: "Wherever there are people, there are Acurast computing activities." To date, the project has deployed more than 65,000 computing nodes in 133 countries.
🚴 How does DePIN incentivize user participation?
One of the core challenges of DePIN is how to attract and retain users for long-term participation. Projects like Silencio and Acurast not only rely on token incentives, but also benefit from real-world customer revenue.
Take Silencio as an example. The project makes profits by selling anonymous environmental data to companies. 75% of the revenue will be used to destroy tokens or give back to the community. CMO Daniel Ferraro emphasized that they designed a model of "feeding back the ecosystem through advertising or data sales revenue" from the beginning.
Acurast focuses more on the resilience of the incentive structure. Alessandro used Bitcoin as an example to illustrate that a robust system should have a self-regulating mechanism to increase rewards after users leave, thereby maintaining the network's attractiveness. This design concept is also reflected in Acurast's incentive structure, avoiding short-term games of throwing high and catching low.
In addition, some DePIN projects are also trying to use points mechanisms, lotteries, pledges and other means to increase user stickiness and reduce volatility during market downturns.
🎾 Why is DePIN important?
DePIN is a return to the original intention of Web3.
DePIN is not driven by financial hype or "meme economy", but by providing real value and connecting real users through an actually available infrastructure network. Whether it is providing noise pollution analysis for cities or providing privacy computing services for AI, the DePIN project is building long-term and inclusive digital public resources.
“Web3 has gone through several identity crises in the past,” said Alessandro of Acurast. “DePIN is bringing us back to our roots. Not profit-seeking or gambling, but using software to coordinate human effort to solve real problems.”
This spirit of "pragmatism + collaboration" is also the core concept that Polkadot has always advocated - decentralization, interoperability, and participation by everyone. Silencio and Acurast chose to develop in the Polkadot ecosystem because its existing cross-chain infrastructure and modular design provide natural support for DePIN without reinventing the wheel.
🏃 DePIN is the popular entrance to Web3
For ordinary people who don’t understand wallets and don’t want to bother with nodes, DePIN provides an unprecedented “low threshold entry”.
Ordinary users only need a smartphone to participate in contributions and get incentives, without having to configure a wallet in advance or understand complex chain concepts. This experience is closer to Web2 applications, but retains the asset sovereignty and privacy advantages of Web3.
Daniel Andrade said that many users in developing countries have obtained stable income by participating in the DePIN network. In some areas, an extra $10 to $50 per month can bring significant improvements. He called it "a new way of earning money without reporting to the boss," similar to Uber and Airbnb in the blockchain era.
This "bottom-up" construction method not only releases a huge amount of idle global resources, but also gives more people the power to shape the systems they use.
👀 Looking to the future: Interoperability, AI and the DePIN Association
Regarding the next evolution of DePIN, the guests agreed that "composability" and "seamless experience" will be the key.
In the future, DePIN projects will be more interconnected and collaborative. For example, the environmental data provided by Silencio can be called by other applications through SDK, while Acurast provides the privacy computing resources needed to process this data. The collaboration between multiple projects will greatly improve the efficiency of the system and the user experience.
At the same time, the establishment of the DePIN Association is also promoting standard unification and cross-project cooperation. Multiple projects are jointly building common protocols and open ecosystems to reduce repeated development costs and accelerate collective innovation.
This echoes the trend of chain abstraction: in the future, users will not need to understand the underlying blockchain, they only need to open the application, contribute value, and get rewards like using ordinary apps, truly realizing the "Web2 experience of Web3".
🚩 Conclusion
Although DePIN is still in its early stages, it has a clear development direction and outstanding practical value, and is becoming a key engine for the resurgence of Web3.
It gives ordinary people the opportunity to participate in infrastructure construction, bringing practical scenarios, real users and long-term value to Web3. This spirit of returning to reality and encouraging collaboration may be the most valuable asset of Web3.
As Silencio's Ferraro puts it: "Community is our most valuable resource. Growth, resilience, and real change, begin there."
