DePIN Surge: Behind the $32B Market Size, Why These 12 Projects are Worth Following?

DePIN( Decentralization Physical Infrastructure) is more popular than imagined.

According to the latest data, as of November 2024, the total market value of the DePIN sector has exceeded $32B, with a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $3B. Even more impressive, the investment firm Borderless Capital directly invested $100M to launch DePIN Fund III in September, and VanEck has also listed DePIN as a core theme of the cryptocurrency industry in 2024.

In simple terms, DePIN is about bringing physical infrastructure (energy networks, wireless networks, data storage) onto the blockchain and incentivizing ordinary users to contribute resources with tokens. This is not a castle in the air; there are already real scenarios being implemented.

Review of the Strongest Players in the Arena

1. Internet Computer (ICP) - “World Computer”

• Market Cap: $4.3B+
• Annual increase: 121%
• Core Gameplay: A globally distributed data center network, directly hosting Web applications on the blockchain.
• 2024 Major Events: Launching three major updates: Tokamak, Beryllium, Stellarator, planning interoperability with Solana

2. Bittensor (TAO) - AI version of DePIN

• Market Cap: $3.8B+
• Annual increase: 152%
• Core gameplay: Decentralization ML training network, users contribute AI computing power to earn TAO rewards.
• This year's action: integrating Proof of Intelligence and Mixture of Experts to build a peer-to-peer AI market.

3. Render (RENDER) - New Opportunities for GPU Miners

• Annual increase: 150%+
• Core gameplay: Connecting creators that need rendering with idle GPU miners
• Major Shift: Migrating from Ethereum to Solana in 2024 to Enhance Transaction Speed and Scalability

4. Filecoin (FIL) - Decentralization cloud storage

• Core Data: After the launch of the FVM virtual machine, the total locked value exceeded $200M
• Ecosystem Expansion: Supports Ethereum-compatible smart contracts, allowing developers to deploy custom proxies.

5. Helium - “Democratization” of wireless networks

• Annual increase: 190%+
• Current status: Over 335K Helium Mobile users
• 2024 Progress: Launch of IOT and MOBILE subnet Tokens, now deployed on Solana

6. The Graph (GRT) - The “Google” of data querying

• Market Cap: $1.93B
• Annual growth rate: 67%
• Supported Chains: Ethereum, NEAR, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon and 9 other mainstream chains
• 2025 Plan: Expanding from subgraphs to a complete data service market

7. Arweave (AR) - Permanent Storage

• Annual growth rate: 171%+
• Market Cap: $1.24B
• Key Innovation: Protocol 2.8 released in November, new packaging format enhances network efficiency and energy consumption.
• Data Volume: Over 28B transactions processed by Q3 2023, with over 130 active projects.

8. Grass Network (GRASS) - “Sell bandwidth for money”

• Launched only 4 months ago: has attracted over 2 million users
• October Airdrop: 100M tokens allocated to 1.5M wallets
• Token increase: 200%+, market value close to $600M
• Core logic: user contribution bandwidth → collect web data → train AI model

9. IoTeX (IOTX) - The “operating system” of IoT

• Market Cap: $410M+
• Annual increase: 90%+
• 2024 Breakthrough: Launch of IoTeX 2.0, modular infrastructure supporting verifiable DePIN
• Ecological Scale: 230+dApps, 50+ DePIN projects
• 2025 Goal: Connect 100 million devices

10. Theta Network - Decentralization CDN

• Market Cap: $1.5B+
• Annual growth rate: 76%
• New Product: EdgeCloud Edge Computing Solution, integrating cloud computing and edge nodes
• Highlights of 2025: EdgeCloud Phase 3 opens the market, community operates edge nodes.

11. JasmyCoin (JASMY) - IoT Data Sovereignty

• Founder: Former Sony executive
• Performance this year: annual increase of 366%, market cap surpasses $1.35B
• Rumored collaboration: NVIDIA, Ripple

12. Shieldeum - Web3 Security Guardian

• Financing: $2M USDT for node testing
• 2024 Progress: Multi-platform launch across Windows/Mac/Linux/Android/iOS
• 2025 Plan: Launch BNB Layer-2, expand security product line

How crazy is the market size?

• Current status: $32B market cap, annual growth of 28%
• Prediction: The DePIN market size may reach $3.5T by 2028
• Driving Force: Surge in demand for high-quality streaming, online content distribution, and data storage

But be aware of the “pit”

1. Technical Difficulty: The integration of blockchain and physical infrastructure is complex, requiring solutions for security, scalability, and interoperability.
2. Regulatory Pressure: Crossing regulatory boundaries between digital and physical infrastructure, compliance costs are high in multiple locations.
3. Market Recognition: It is necessary to demonstrate the cost advantages and ease of use compared to centralized solutions.

What should you pay attention to?

DePIN is not pure hype—these projects are backed by real on-chain data. But the key is:

• User growth rate (The numbers of Helium and Grass say it all)
• Ecosystem Activity (IoTeX has 230+ dApps)
• Institutional acceptance (Entry of VanEck, Borderless Capital, etc.)

From CDN to GPU rendering and then to AI training, DePIN is transforming internet infrastructure from “centralized repository” to “community crowdfunding”. Some projects have just launched for 2 years, while others already have over 1 million users.

Is this a real opportunity or the next bubble? Look at the data, look at the applications, look at user stickiness—don't just look at the price increase.