2024 DePIN Sector Insights: Challenge and Solution
2025-04-30 16:35:03
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DePIN Sector: From Behind the Scenes to Center Stage
In 2024, the DePIN sector is experiencing a renewed wave of attention. According to Messari's State of Depin 2024 report, more than 13 million devices worldwide are contributing to various DePIN networks everyday, the total market capitalization of DePIN related tokens has surpassed $50 billion. However, compared to the sector’s trillion dollar market potential, the current scale remains modest. The report highlights that in 2024, 20 DePIN projects have surpassed 100,000 active nodes, with five of them exceeding one million nodes. While projects have made initial progress in node deployment, they still face challenges around demand generation and monetization.
As one of the earliest representatives of DePIN, Helium continued to advance it's network upgrades and expansion efforts in 2024. Following the migration of its LoRa IoT network to the Solana chain, the number of new IoT hotspots reached 32,900 in Q4, while 5G mobile hotspots grew to 24,800. In addition, Helium significantly improved actual network utilization by partnering with traditional telecom operators. In the fourth quarter of 2024 , Helium offloaded more than 576 TB of data traffic for operators, marking a 555% quarter over quarter increase. In addition, Helium Mobile also surpassed 124,000 cumulative users.
Key Challenge of the DePIN Sector
Despite the promising outlook and impressive data , the DePIN sector’s market performance has been underwhelming. We believe this is largely due to persistent challenges exposed by early-stage DePIN projects, for which comprehensive solutions have yet to emerge.
High Hardware Costs (CAPEX):
Building a physical network inevitably requires hardware deployment, and participants are often responsible for purchasing the equipment themselves. This represents a significant investment for users and greatly raises the barrier to node expansion. For example, Helium initially required individuals to purchase specialized hotspot devices, with each unit costing between $500 and $1,000. This discouraged a large portion of small and retail participants; without strong incentives such as mining rewards, it was difficult to convert Web2 users into Web3 participants.
Cold Start Challenges:
The value of a DePIN network depends heavily on node coverage density and service utilization, leading to a pronounced cold start problem. Without a sufficient number of nodes, it is difficult to attract terminal users. In addition, in the absence of meaningful traffic, there is little motivation for new nodes to join. This dynamic is similar to the GameFi sector, where players flood in when token prices rise but trigger a death spiral when prices fall. Many early stage projects have primarily relied on token incentives to drive supply side growth, but have struggled to stimulate real demand.
Node Quality Issues:
Driven by incentive mechanisms, some nodes attempt to maximize mining rewards through cheat behavior, which ultimately degrades overall network performance. For example, during Helium’s early development, cases of falsified node locations, clustered deployments, and mutual attestations were reported, significantly undermining the network’s effective coverage and data authenticity.
Sybil Resistance Mechanisms:
Most current DePIN projects still lack robust mechanisms to defend against Sybil attacks, with insufficient verification of device identity and data authenticity. This opens the door to falsified data being recorded on-chain. At the same time, overly strict Sybil resistance mechanisms can trigger concerns about insider favoritism. For instance, in 2024, several Layer 2 projects that launched on exchanges faced allegations of unfair early access due to aggressive anti-Sybil filters. Therefore, teams must strike a careful balance between security and user experience by designing transparent and well calibrated validation systems ensuring neither side is compromised.
Traditional DePIN in Practice: Lessons from Helium
In 2019, Helium became one of the first projects to launch a decentralized wireless network, entering the market through IoT hotspots and earning recognition as a pioneer in the DePIN space. By launch the HNT token, Helium incentivized individuals to purchase and deploy hotspots, enabling low-power, wide-area network coverage for IoT devices. This incentive model achieved significant success on the supply side. Within a few years, nearly one million LoRa hotspots were deployed globally. At its peak, Helium had built the world’s largest privately operated IoT network, covering hundreds of cities. However, Helium’s early success was largely limited to node scale, while the realization of actual network utility lagged behind.
Due to the fragmented nature of IoT applications and generally low willingness to pay, Helium network lacked stable revenue from terminal users for a long time. The token economy was largely sustained by CEX or DEX and the influx of new participants. At one point, despite being valued at several billion dollars, Helium’s network generated less than $2,000 in monthly data revenue. This stark contrast revealed a structural flaw in the DePIN model, a heavy focus on infrastructure buildout, with insufficient attention to operational utility. Without real demand, even a massive node network becomes an empty promise, only can capable of driving short-term token price increases, but offering little long-term value.
However, Helium did not remain stagnant. In 2022, the team proposed a multitoken architecture and the introduction of subDAOs to differentiate incentives across its networks, such as LoRa and 5G. In 2023, Helium abandoned its own Layer 1 chain and migrated to the Solana ecosystem to improve performance and reduce maintenance costs. More importantly, Helium began actively expanding the demand side. Through a partnership with a US mobile carrier, it launched Helium Mobile, integrating 5G small cells into the traditional telecom market and enabling mass consumers to become direct users of the network. By cobranding hotspots with telecom operators, Helium helped fill geographic coverage gaps. By the end of 2024, it's network had attracted over 120,000 mobile users, and hotspots began handling real voice and data traffic.
Helium’s trajectory illustrates a critical lesson for DePIN, Simply scaling nodes through incentives is not a sustainable strategy. The real challenge lies in improving network utilization and lowering the barriers to user participation,or more plainly, achieving meaningful commercialization will determine the next phase of success or failure.
CyberCharge: Exploring DePIN through Low Barrier Infrastructure
In the search for breakthrough applications in the DePIN space, some teams have shifted their focus toward infrastructure sectors that are more closely integrated into everyday life. CyberCharge emerged in 2024 as a representative example of this trend. Unlike Helium, which concentrates on communications networks, CyberCharge targets the high-frequency, essential demand for device charging by building a decentralized, shared charging network. Its core product is the world’s first Web3 enabled smart charger, which innovatively introduces a Charge-to-Earn (C2E) model—transforming routine charging activities into crypto based rewards.
CyberCharge aims to bridge the gap between users and physical infrastructure, enabling anyone to participate in DePIN network construction and access services with extremely low barriers to entry. After purchasing a charger, users simply need to charge a device for five minutes to generate a "proof of charge," recorded by the charger’s built in chip, and receive a token reward. This allows users to contribute genuine charging services and energy consumption data to the decentralized network seamlessly, turning everyday consumption behavior into mining activity and dramatically lowering both technical and application thresholds. With this innovative design, CyberCharge is regarded as a significant breakthrough in the DePIN Sector, with the potential to attract a large number of users who have never interacted with Web3 before. As the project describes, the CyberCharge smart charger is quickly becoming the first mining device for many young users—and helping to drive the large-scale migration of Web2 users into the Web3 ecosystem.
In addition, each CyberCharge device is equipped with a "CyberChip" security module, which leverages advanced AI technology to verify the authenticity of charging activities. Only actual energy consumption can generate a valid "proof of charge" and earn rewards. This integrated hardware-software solution prevents issues such as the falsified location reporting and resource wastage seen in Helium’s early stage, ensuring the authenticity of network nodes and the credibility of collected data.
CyberCharge has also invested heavily in enhancing user engagement and activity. Beyond basic Charge-to-Earn functionality, the app introduces a rich set of interactive features and reward systems. One example is the "AI Doggy" pet system, where users can adopt and nurture pets by completing charging tasks, interact with other users, and even breed new pets—creating a dynamic connection between charging behavior and in-app progression. Additionally, the app offers various mini games, allowing users to earn tokens during their spare time while entertaining themselves. Those game elements significantly enhance the platform’s appeal and help establish a self sustaining ecosystem loop—encouraging users to transition from charging to participating in the broader ecosystem, earning rewards, and contributing to internal resource circulation and growth.
Overall, CyberCharge stands out among the new generation of DePIN projects. Through its thoughtful selection of application scenarios and innovative technical designs, it has injected new vitality into the sector by lowering participation barriers, safeguarding network authenticity, boosting user engagement, and creating fresh value within the ecosystem.
Prospects and Reflections
From the perspective of 2025, the DePIN sector blending blockchain with physical infrastructure is steadily moving beyond proof-of-concept and toward large-scale application. Messari projects that DePIN could achieve 100x to 1,000x growth over the next decade, gradually capturing market share from traditional centralized players. Achieving this potential depends on solving current pain points, with pioneers like Helium and DIMO offering lessons, and new projects such as CyberCharge injecting fresh momentum.
Looking ahead, low barriers, high-frequency use, and strong user interaction are emerging as key design trends. By linking blockchain incentives to essential real-world needs like charging and navigation, DePIN projects can attract users and foster lasting service demand. Teams are also exploring more sustainable business models, such as service subscriptions and data monetization, to reduce reliance on token rewards.
Opportunities will come with challenges. Regulation, hardware supply chains, and competition will all shape DePIN’s path forward. Yet the vision of building shared, decentralized physical networks remains compelling. As more projects emerge, there is cautious optimism that DePIN could eventually create infrastructure collectively owned and maintained by millions—marking a powerful new chapter for blockchain technology.
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