Interpreting Puffpaw: Is combining "Smoke-free to Earn" with DePIN a good business?

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

The market is dull; besides the wild gamble on MEME, what new projects and narratives will stand out?

A somewhat joking answer might be that for retail investors, quitting gambling might be less appealing than quitting smoking.

For VCs, after rolling out infrastructure, it’s time to roll out quitting smoking.

Yesterday, the project Puffpaw, which focuses on "Quit Smoking to Earn" on Berachain, completed a $6 million seed round financing, led by Lemniscap, with participation from Volt Capital, Spartan, Folius Ventures, Karatage, Seed Club Ventures, Hypersphere, Panga Capital, EVG, Corner, Social Graph Venture, and Nonce Classic.

Moreover, our imagination regarding DePIN is still too limited.

"Quit Smoking to Earn" sounds a bit humorous, but Puffpaw has its own DePIN device—by installing sensors and blockchain interfaces on smart e-cigarettes, it records users' smoking behaviors to achieve monitoring and incentivization.

Switching to a different e-cigarette while earning some coins seems to have advantages in terms of reducing resistance and enhancing public goodwill, making it appear easier to execute.

E-cigarette DePIN and Gamification of Smoking

Clearly, Puffpaw essentially still belongs to the e-cigarette category.

However, data shows that from 2023 to 2030, the global e-cigarette market will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.49%. The total market value is expected to increase from $18.32 billion in 2022 to $46.98 billion by 2030.

This means Puffpaw is emerging during the growth phase of the e-cigarette market. The number of smokers is certainly larger compared to gamers, tech enthusiasts, or athletes (referencing StepN), and the habit of smoking is easier to maintain.

This is indeed a large market. But you might ask, isn’t an e-cigarette still a form of smoking? Can this method really help with quitting?

Hold on, let’s take a look at Puffpaw's own e-cigarette, which is described as "Vape" in the English context.

Vape is short for "Vaporizer," typically referring to e-cigarettes or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). In simple terms, it is an electronic device used to heat liquid into vapor for users to inhale.

Unlike traditional cigarettes, it does not burn tobacco, thus not producing tar and many harmful substances associated with combustion; it allows precise control over nicotine intake, producing vapor instead of smoke, with a lighter scent.

This device has a clear feature: the DePIN of the device and the gamification of smoking.

The DePIN of the device refers to the built-in sensors and blockchain interfaces that can record users' smoking behavior data in real-time, such as smoking frequency, duration, and nicotine intake.

Puffpaw's official Twitter states that an e-cigarette device can be seen as a node in the project network, contributing data that is encrypted and uploaded to the blockchain, ensuring privacy and security.

At the same time, anonymized health data can be provided to medical research institutions, insurance companies, etc., allowing users to gain additional benefits.

On the user end, Puffpaw encourages you to reduce the nicotine content in your e-cigarette through gamification, earning more tokens, known as "Vape to Earn."

The core of this gamification lies in transforming the quitting process into an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

First, set goals; users can set daily smoking limits or gradually decreasing targets. Secondly, achieving goals or reducing smoking will earn token rewards.

Additionally, Puffpaw has designed social elements. Different players' e-cigarette devices can recognize each other’s data through embedded NFC, allowing users to connect instantly by tapping their vapes together. This also creates conditions for quitting groups or finding like-minded "smoking buddies."

According to Puffpaw's public information, the reasons it can help with quitting smoking are primarily based on the following gamification strategies:

1. Gradual Reduction: By precisely controlling nicotine intake, users can gradually reduce their dependence.

2. Incentive Mechanism: Using low-nicotine or nicotine-free e-cigarette models can earn more token rewards, encouraging users to transition gradually.

3. Factor Trade-offs: With the introduction of games and token rules, smokers must weigh and combine several factors to maximize their chances of earning tokens.

For example, if you choose a liquid with high nicotine content, the more you smoke daily, the fewer tokens you can expect to earn; conversely, with nicotine-free liquid, you will earn more tokens at the same smoking frequency.

At the same time, the project also considers some virtual NFT gameplay, such as different physical e-cigarette devices corresponding to different NFT levels. Under the same conditions, higher-level NFT tokens will naturally yield more.

So overall, this is a DePIN + GameFi approach, filling the gap left by StepN's lack of real running shoes.

Can It Succeed?

Considering the domestic situation, Puffpaw is certainly targeting a larger overseas market; different countries' e-cigarette sales organizations may become potential partners for the project.

Currently, Puffpaw has already collaborated with a local e-liquid brand in South Korea to research nicotine-free e-cigarette components and launch related products.

At the same time, the project's blog shows that it has received support from the Berachain Foundation, being the first DePIN project on Berachain, benefiting from Berachain's infrastructure and community.

Given that there are other DeFi and NFT projects within the Berachain ecosystem, Puffpaw seems likely to collaborate easily with these other projects, such as holding an NFT corresponding to the usage rights of one's e-cigarette device or accelerating the efficiency of quitting to earn.

Berachain has a somewhat unique image and mechanism design, making this quitting project an interesting focal point and topic.

Returning to the project itself, if someone is already a smoker, the conversion cost is relatively lower compared to previous projects.

You can be lazy and not want to wear an NFT running shoe to jog; you can have poor equipment and not own a good computer to play blockchain games; you can be afraid and not dare to scan your iris to upload identity information…

But switching to a different e-cigarette seems to present much less resistance.

Finally, smoking is harmful to health, and having a healthy perspective on new projects and models is the correct approach.