#DePin is a type of project that appears relatively abstract, unlike public chains, DeFi, and MEME, which have intuitive experiences. However, DePin may actually have a broader application.
➤ The Undeniable DePin Track and Data
The uniqueness of DePin is reflected in two aspects:
First, the business areas and service objects of DePin. DePin is developing in cloud computing, cloud rendering, file storage, network hotspots, and even meteorology, and its service objects are not limited to the Web3 field.
For example, Aethir, as a decentralized cloud computing platform for AI training and inference, has already provided a large amount of cloud computing services to Web2 enterprises. GEODNET, based on GNSS satellite reference station geographic and meteorological data information platform, is working to provide services for agriculture, engineering, transportation, geology, and more.
Second, DePin data is relatively difficult to obtain. Although public chains operate differently, there are many similarities, and DeFi products and MEME data are more homogeneous, making this data relatively easy to access. The disparities between DePin projects can be significant, and their main work may not be executed on the blockchain, hence the data in this track is often overlooked.
Defillama is a very powerful data platform, but it mainly focuses on DeFi projects.
@tokenterminal is a comprehensive data platform that focuses on a broader range of project types and data.
Recently, @AethirCloud has established deep cooperation with Token Terminal.
How deep is the cooperation? Both parties have collaborated to establish an on-chain #Aethir smart contract marking registry, which is a specialized data tool for Token Terminal, used to identify various behaviors and data of Aethir applications on-chain. Based on this, Aethir's on-chain data can be standardized for calculation.
On this basis, Aethir has been included in the infrastructure category, making it somewhat comparable to other similar projects. Based on this, a comparison of several major DePin projects will follow.
➤ DePin Data Comparison
❚ Demand Side
Using protocol fees and protocol income as indicators to measure the demand situation of DePin projects.
◆ Protocol Fees
Protocol fees are calculated as the total amount paid by all users over a certain period, reflecting the ability of DePin projects to create economic value.
For example, over the past year, Aethir has generated a total of $58.7 million in protocol fees. In the infrastructure market statistics compiled by Token Terminal, it holds a market share of 5.7%.
Aethir's protocol fees have a significant characteristic: its protocol fees show a general upward trend and are not correlated with the bull and bear markets of Web3. March to April saw a significant decline in the cryptocurrency market, yet Aethir's protocol fees did not decline during this period.
This is because Aethir is an enterprise-level cloud computing power platform, and its clients and income sources mainly come from Web2 fields such as gaming companies and AI enterprises.
◆ Protocol Income
Protocol income is the retained portion after deducting dividends from protocol fees; it reflects the net capital inflow and income distribution system of the DePin project.
For example, over the past year, Aethir has accumulated $22.2 million in dividends, with retained protocol income of $36.5 million ($58.7 million - $22.2 million = $36.5 million).
The protocol fees and protocol income data in the table mainly come from Token Terminal, while Geodnet's data comes from Defillama.
◆ Data Comparison
In comparison, the protocol fees generated by public chains are the highest. Yes, public chains, as a decentralized accounting system or database, are essentially a form of DePin. However, public chains serve as the main carrier of the Web3 ecosystem and are not labeled as DePin.
Apart from public chains, Aethir is the DePin project with the highest protocol fees and protocol income. The once-popular Filecoin has protocol fees that are less than one-tenth of Aethir's.
◆ Value Comparison
Using FDV divided by protocol fees and protocol income, this ratio is similar to the calculation logic of the price-to-earnings ratio and can be used to assess and compare the value of projects.
Comparisons show that Aethir's FDV/Fees and FDV/Revenue ratios are the lowest, indicating that Aethir may be the most undervalued among these projects in the table.
Interestingly, it's not because Aethir has not launched on Binance's spot trading. Another project, $GEOD, has even fewer exchanges listed, yet this project's two ratios are still higher than Aethir's.
❚ Supply Side
◆ Active Nodes
DePin nodes refer to the physical infrastructure that truly provides services in a decentralized physical infrastructure network. This includes GPUs, CPUs, cloud servers, storage devices, wireless hotspots, etc.
The more active nodes there are, the stronger the service capacity of the DePin network, and the higher the total service cost.
The data on active nodes mainly comes from the official websites of various projects, and the data for Akash comes from the depinscan platform developed by IOTX (a data platform for DePin, where you can view social data, token market data, and even the distribution map of nodes globally).
◆ Data Comparison
Due to the significant cost differences among nodes of different types of infrastructure, active node data comparisons should be made within one category.
In the GPU type, it is evident that Aethir has the highest number of nodes. Among these projects, Render has the highest market capitalization ranking, but no active node data could be found on its official website; only a total node count since the project's inception was found, which is 5600, and this number is only 1.3% of Aethir's active nodes.
In the cloud service category, Ethereum has the highest number of nodes.
◆ Value Comparison
Still using FDV divided by the number of active nodes, this serves as a multiplier for value/cost to measure the value of DePin projects.
Although the costs of different types of nodes vary, the cost of GPUs is likely to be higher than that of cloud servers, storage devices, and other hardware. Therefore, Aethir's 'value/cost' multiplier is the lowest, further indicating that Aethir may be undervalued.
After Aethir, Helium's multiplier is also very low, suggesting it may also be undervalued from the supply side dimension.
❚ Ecological Integration
◆ Number of Active Addresses
According to Metcalfe's law, the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of active users. Therefore, using the number of on-chain active addresses as an indicator for ecological integration comparison.
The number of active addresses in the table mainly comes from Token Terminal, calculating the average daily active addresses over the past year. Theta's data comes from its official website and should be data from the past day.
◆ Data Comparison
Undoubtedly, the public chain with the most active addresses is Solana, followed by Ethereum. Of course, different uses of the DePin network are not directly comparable.
In the GPU computing category of DePin projects, Theta has the highest number of active addresses, but its data comes from its official site and is not annual average data, which may not be comparable to other similar projects. Under comparable conditions, Aethir has the highest number of active addresses among GPU computing DePin projects.
◆ Value Comparison
Without considering the comparability of the data, Theta may be an undervalued GPU computing category DePin.
Under comparable conditions, Aethir is an undervalued GPU computing category DePin.
➤ Final Thoughts
Aethir is the first GPU computing type DePin project to accept deep data acquisition from Token Terminal. Based on the ratios of FDV to demand, supply, and the square of the number of active addresses, $ATH may be in a state of undervaluation.
Unlike other projects, Aethir and other DePin projects mainly serving areas outside of Web3, their income is not correlated with fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market. Aethir's income shows a stable growth trend.
On the other hand, DePin projects represented by Aethir earn income from non-Web3 areas, which is extremely rare. This means that the main revenue model of such projects does not rely on the secondary market and may even attract funds from outside the cryptocurrency circle...
