The DEPIN track has been very popular recently, no matter which sector it rotates to. There are endless discussions about #DePin. Why is this track so popular? What are the certain opportunities? Organize a continuously updated special topic, let's communicate and learn together, and start

1/ What are we talking about #DePin

DePin "decentralized physical infrastructure network", the core problem it wants to solve comes from the "centralized physical infrastructure network", the typical representatives are Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, etc. Almost every year we see several news reports of "XX cloud failed again, causing XX impact". The root cause is that centralized management, cost control and growing user needs cannot be taken into account at the same time.

In order to solve this problem, the concept of DePin was born. By introducing token incentives, it attracts individuals and companies from all over the world to participate and build a network of physical infrastructure devices owned and tokenized by users and enterprises.

Imagine that just like miners maintain the underlying operations of the blockchain, if a large number of individual users could be used to maintain the foundation of an information and network, wouldn’t this ideal state have a lot of room for imagination?

2/ Why this cycle#DePintrack has a “narrative”

In fact, the concept of DePin is not new. A long time ago, something called "Thunder Box" proposed a similar concept, but it did not take off. Now with the industry foundation and user base of WEB3, DePin has become possible. Regarding the DePin narrative of this cycle, I have a few opinions:

🔸Just like the previous popular Stepn, many WEB2 concepts are combined with WEB3 models, becoming new narratives with room for imagination.

🔸This round of bull market is supported by ETFs, so "institutional bull" has become a very high possibility. I think #DePin's story is what institutions like.

🔸Depin not only has many stories, but is also the direction with the most offline applications of blockchain technology so far.

🔸Capital is hot. According to Messrai, the current valuation of the entire track is about 9 billion US dollars. It is expected to grow to 3.5 trillion US dollars by 2028. It is still early, so it is worth studying (C) (X)

3/ Grass

Grass is a platform built by WyndNetwork around the concept of "web crawling". Its core purpose is to incentivize users to share their idle network bandwidth through tokens, allowing users to earn passive income without compromising their personal privacy. It is currently one of the most popular "0-cost + must-have + pay-for-scraping" projects:

🔸Role Assignment

- User: Contribute idle bandwidth resources and earn Tokens

- Platform: Collect bandwidth resources contributed by users and sell them to institutions in need to make money

🔸Capital likes: Just completed a seed round of financing of 3.5 million US dollars led by @polychaincap and @tribecap, and the valuation should be more than 15 million US dollars

🔸 Very good at making up stories (C) (X): Depin + AI + Oracle + Data Privacy + Sol Chain Ecosystem + Technology Giant Partners + Top Institutional Financing, etc., basically stitching together the hottest concepts and sectors at the moment. At this speed and starting point of the story, if it is listed on a big exchange, the valuation will definitely not be low

🔸Easy to use

- Register an account with VPN and download the Grass plugin for Google Chrome

- Open the plugin, log in again and click conencted

- After connecting, turn off the VPN and just open the web page on your computer - Earn points by lying down and wait for airdrops in the future

Regarding the issue of network speed that users are concerned about, the official said that the background will not occupy too much bandwidth resources, and at most 0.3% of the bandwidth will be used. I personally tested it and felt that it was almost unnoticeable. This is a very important project, and it may be the next RNDR.

4/ “US Mobile” helium_mobile

To be honest, I think this round of Depin market was kicked off by this old project $mobile. Helium Mobile is a project launched by the old decentralized wireless communication network @helium last year. In the same year, it signed a five-year mobile virtual network operator agreement with telecommunications giant T-Mobile. The recent popularity may just be the appetizer:

🔸 Seized the WEB3 hotspot: Helium migrated to the Solana network and linked Helium Mobile’s business with Solana’s Saga mobile phone, providing SIM cards and free trials to its mobile phone users, which attracted the attention of many users.

🔸Captured WEB2 users: Helium Mobile launched an unlimited 5G package in the United States in early December with a monthly fee of only 20U (only 5U in the Miami pilot). The data package fee in the United States is very expensive, and Helium Mobile's price is currently the cheapest

🔸You can describe him as a "Luckin Coffee-style blood-sucking attack", the United States' "Pi coin", and an invincible ground pusher.

🔸Token empowerment: An exploration mapping plan was launched, allowing users to help the team improve the network base station distribution plan. Participants can receive $Mobile, and the tokens can be used to pay for package fees.

Under the dual superposition of Solana empowerment and DePIN narrative, the price of $mobile has been rising. There have been some pullbacks recently, and I continue to increase my position.

5/ $IOT

$IOT and $Mobile are from the same father, Helium. The protocol token of the Helium IoT network. It is mined by LoRaWAN hotspots through data transmission income and proof of coverage. This project has some connections with $HNT

Compared with $HNT and $Mobile, $IOT has less market attention. The purpose of $HNT is to reward "the construction and operation party that deploys IOT", while $IOT is to reward "the party that uses IOT data transmission"

The maximum supply of $IOT in this project is 200 billion, which is halved every two years. $IOT holders can be exchanged for $HNT in the Helium wallet.

In this wave of DePin's rise, $Mobile also took off and performed well recently. However, since it is an old project and an old currency, the atmosphere of the currency circle that only speculates on new and not old may not allow $IOT to fly for too long. I personally still choose $Mobile.

6/ WIFI ( wifimapapp )

WiFi Map is a WiFi hotspot location and connection platform project from 2014, with over 450 million free WiFi hotspots added by its community. With a mobile app at its core, it has built-in features such as eSIM, offline maps, WiFi finder, VPN and wallet.

$WIFI is deployed on the horse hoof. Users help develop the ecosystem by adding hotspots, verifying networks, and testing network speeds, thereby earning $WIFI tokens, which can be used to redeem premium services in the APP or as reward tokens.

It's a bit weird, I haven't studied it too deeply, but the current market value and other data of the entire currency look pretty good. I bought some when DEPIN was hot, and sold it when it was hyped on OKX. Now it seems that the price has adjusted back, I will continue to pay attention and consider whether to buy it again