In the past two years, DePIN has been extremely popular, giving rise to many star projects.
With the rapid development of AI technology, market attention has shifted to the AI sector. So, how is the DePIN sector doing now?
In fact, the DePIN sector is not static; it is seeking new narrative support. The latest trend is its integration with AI, with Roam being a representative project.
We can use the Roam project to take a closer look at the changes happening in the DePIN sector.
1. What exactly is DePIN?
DePIN stands for Decentralised Physical Infrastructure Networks.
In simple terms, it is a decentralized hardware network that encourages users to share personal resources through token incentives to build infrastructure networks, including storage space, communication bandwidth, cloud computing, energy, and more.
The essence of DePIN is resource integration: incentivizing users to share resources through tokens, allowing resources to flow efficiently to those in need.
DePIN projects can be divided into three main categories:
Storage (e.g., Filecoin): Provides cloud storage services similar to Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services.
Computing Power (e.g., Render Network): A decentralized GPU rendering platform.
Network (e.g., Helium): Attracts global users to purchase Wi-Fi devices to form a network through token incentives.
DePIN is quite similar to Bitcoin; it requires an initial investment to purchase physical devices and then continuous mining. This differs from purely on-chain projects, as it connects with the physical world, creating a non-closed system that brings positive externalities to the entire industry.
DePIN leverages the paradigm shift of the existing blockchain ecosystem, with Solana becoming the preferred platform due to its high-speed blockchain and features. The synergy created by combining the Solana blockchain with DePIN protocols is also why there was a surge in DePIN interest previously.
2. What is the current market landscape of DePIN?
According to data from DepinScan, there are nearly 4.56 million devices across approximately 196 countries or regions, with a market value of $7.1 billion. Roam holds the largest number of DePIN devices, with 1.18 million.
From the number of DePIN devices, we can see that there are already several giants in the DePIN sector, including Helium and IoTeX. However, the new leader is Roam, which is notably the only DePIN project that has not yet issued tokens, allowing ordinary users to participate and potentially benefit from airdrops.
The geographical distribution of DePIN devices is also quite interesting, with hardware primarily concentrated in three regions: the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia has a particularly high concentration, including countries like India, Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan.
Among these countries, South Korea has the highest concentration, indicating a strong atmosphere in the crypto industry.
Overall, DePIN has brought about a new wave of wealth creation, with Southeast Asia leveraging its manufacturing and labor advantages to fully engage in this sector.
3. What is the new leader Roam project?
Roam belongs to the network sub-sector of DePIN, and can be summarized as: Roam is a combination of Web3 and Wi-Fi, a decentralized wireless network, and a decentralized telecom operator.
Roam ranks first in the DepinScan node data and has become the leader in the DePIN sector. @weRoamxyz @weRoamCN
Roam offers various types of products, starting with Wi-Fi hardware, allowing users to purchase proprietary hardware for mining. It later expanded to eSIM cards, where users can apply for eSIM cards and earn free data by completing various tasks.
Using the Roam app, users can connect to nearby Wi-Fi networks for free, and by adding Wi-Fi or checking in at Wi-Fi locations, they can earn Roam Points or eSIM rewards (these two rewards are mutually exclusive, allowing users to choose), which are the same as the Roam Points generated by Roam routers.
In Roam's technical architecture, the Roam Telecom Data Layer is a key concept, serving as the data and service layer within the decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) that Roam is building.
This data layer achieves its functionality through four main ecological modules:
Roam Network - Focuses on building the physical and digital infrastructure of the network, ensuring global Wi-Fi coverage and service quality.
Roam Growth - Encourages user participation in network construction through incentive mechanisms (such as providing eSIM and data rewards), enabling continuous income for network participants.
Roam Discovery - Aims to support and incubate new projects or applications that can operate within the Roam ecosystem, promoting broader technological and service innovation.
Roam Community - Focuses on community building and governance, providing a platform for users to participate, provide feedback, and co-govern, enhancing community engagement and autonomy.
The Roam Telecom Data Layer provides a new paradigm for the DePIN sector.
In its future plans, there are two main directions: one is to accelerate the implementation of the Roam Telecom Data Layer, and the other is to deeply integrate Roam with AI.
4. How does Roam specifically achieve integration with AI?
If Roam were to remain solely within the DePIN sector, it would not have any differentiated advantages compared to other projects.
Roam is integrating with AI, leveraging its communication data advantages to provide high-quality usable data for AI projects.
AI projects have three key elements: computing power, algorithms, and data.
Data is currently a critical bottleneck in the AI sector, especially communication data, which is primarily controlled by traditional telecom operators and is not open.
In other words, in the AI era, the data monopoly of traditional giants hinders comprehensive model training and global data integration.
Roam's innovation lies in addressing one of the most pressing data challenges for AI: the inaccessibility of operator-level data.
Users participating in OpenRoaming construction receive free eSIM data rewards. When users travel to any country, the eSIM Top Up product allows their data to automatically convert to local data.
Roam has opened a channel to provide operator services through WEB3 means. In return, the data generated in this process, under privacy protection, can become a data source for all AI companies.
Providing data does not mean exposing user privacy, as Roam employs decentralized identity (DID) and verifiable credentials (VC) technology, integrating zero-knowledge proofs (ZK).
The Roam Discovery Program is actively expanding its service boundaries and ecosystem scope by strategically integrating and connecting multiple DePIN ecological partners to jointly build a rich and diverse AI training data ecosystem. This multi-party cooperation model not only broadens the sources of data but also enhances the depth of data quality.
Roam's data services go far beyond providing basic operator-level data for AI use; it is building a comprehensive data ecosystem.
By collaborating deeply with ecological partners across various fields, Roam can integrate and provide multidimensional data resources, including but not limited to real-time weather monitoring data, globally distributed CDN service data, renewable energy usage data, decentralized authentication records, and innovative payment and lending behavior data.
Notably, Roam can also collect and process behavioral data generated by AI agents during social interactions and payment transactions, as well as operational status information from various intelligent systems, providing comprehensive data support for AI model training and optimization.
This diversified data integration capability offers unprecedented dimensions and depth of data for AI model training.
AI + DePIN is building decentralized infrastructure for the AI era.
5. How can ordinary users participate in DePIN?
After discussing these projects, how can ordinary users get involved?
Before understanding how to participate, let's first look at how Roam has rapidly developed.
Roam's core strategy consists of two elements: free services and airdrops.
Traditional telecom operators charge for data usage, while the decentralized telecom operator Roam provides users with free data, which can be earned by completing tasks, making it very attractive.
On the other hand, purchasing proprietary hardware can accelerate mining, but users can also participate in the project without buying hardware; simply sharing their Wi-Fi can also earn points, allowing them to participate in future airdrops, significantly lowering the entry barrier.
Free services and airdrops are powerful tools for Web3 projects, attracting users through direct incentives and maximizing the subsidy wars seen in the Web2 industry.
Of course, this is also an opportunity for ordinary users.
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