1. What is DePIN? DePIN is an emerging concept that stands for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure. At its core, it incentivizes users through token rewards to share their resources such as storage1. What is DePIN? DePIN is an emerging concept that stands for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure. At its core, it incentivizes users through token rewards to share their resources such as storage

Learn/Crypto Basics/Hot Concepts/What is DePIN?

What is DePIN?

Author: MEXC Research Team

Sep 21, 2026MEXC Research Team

5 min

#Beginners

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1. What is DePIN?

DePIN is an emerging concept that stands for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure. At its core, it incentivizes users through token rewards to share their resources such as storage space, wireless networks, broadband, cloud computing capabilities, etc., to collectively build and maintain network infrastructure.

The DePIN concept first appeared at the end of 2022 in Messari's public naming contest for web3 physical infrastructure. Subsequently, Messari adopted this concept in its annual and special reports, making DePIN the unified name for this track.

2. The Advantages of DePIN

Compared to traditional physical infrastructure networks, DePIN has the following advantages:

2.1 Low Cost and Quick Startup

DePIN eliminates the costs associated with traditional physical infrastructure construction and maintenance, as well as the expense of having numerous employees. By incentivizing users through token rewards to share their personal network resources, it reduces entry barriers for the industry. Additionally, the startup speed of DePIN, which connects existing hardware to the network, is much faster than traditional infrastructure construction, providing a competitive advantage for global expansion without barriers.

2.2 Decentralization

Networks built through DePIN rely on thousands of nodes, mitigating the risks of data loss from malicious attacks or technical failures. This is a significant advantage over traditional physical infrastructure networks.

2.3 Open Governance

DePIN allows anyone, anywhere, to participate in and build physical infrastructure that suits their needs. In contrast, traditional infrastructure projects are often dictated by a centralized entity, determining the terms and conditions of your usage.

3. DePIN Classification

According to Messari's taxonomy, the DePIN sector can be divided into two main categories: Physical Resource Networks and Digital Resource Networks.

Physical Resource Networks encompass wireless networks, geographic spatial networks, mobile networks, and energy networks. Digital Resource Networks encompass storage networks, bandwidth, and computing networks. Examples of both are shown in the image below:

3.1 Physical Resource Network (PRN)

Physical Resource Networks deploy location-dependent hardware equipment using incentive measures to provide cryptographic network services that are consumable and irreplaceable. Its main advantage lies in significantly reducing capital investment and operational expenses. As mentioned earlier in the advantages of DePIN, Physical Resource Networks allocate traditional capital investment and operational expenses to network participants.

3.2 Digital Resource Network (DRN)

Digital Resource Networks encourage users to deploy hardware using incentive measures to provide replaceable digital resources. An important feature of this network is its focus on reusing existing idle resources without requiring participants to purchase new hardware. Digital Resource Networks aim to provide solutions for small and medium-sized data centers and enterprises to utilize a large amount of idle resources.

4. Popular DePIN Projects

4.1 Filecoin (FIL)

Filecoin is a decentralized storage network built on the IPFS protocol and is a leading project in the decentralized storage sector. The project aims to establish an efficient marketplace to provide services for globally available storage space, allowing users to pay storage fees at low costs.

4.2 Arweave (AR)

Arweave and Filecoin belong to the same field, both focusing on decentralized storage. Arweave adopts a method called "permanent storage," by storing data on the blockchain, ensuring that information is never lost.

4.3 Worldcoin (WLD)

Worldcoin was founded by Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, with the aim of enabling everyone to participate in the global economy. Considering that the majority of people worldwide currently lack a digital means to verify their identity, Worldcoin's vision is to build the world's largest and most equitable digital identity and currency system.

4.4 Helium (HNT)

Helium is a decentralized blockchain network designed specifically for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In its early stages, Helium attracted a large number of users through blockchain technology and token incentives, encouraging users to deploy wireless networks to build a decentralized network. The low barrier to entry for Helium hotspot devices also played a significant role in attracting users. Later, due to low user numbers, the project migrated to the Solana network in 2022.

4.5 IOTA (IOTA)

IOTA is an open-source distributed ledger technology designed specifically for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, aiming to support data and value exchange between IoT devices. What sets IOTA apart is its adoption of a data structure called "Tangle," which enables fast transaction confirmations and high throughput while reducing energy and computational resource consumption. This makes IOTA a potential solution for facilitating economic interactions between IoT devices.

4.6 io.net

io.net is a decentralized computing power network built on Solana, allowing users with idle computing power to provide computing power to resource-intensive artificial intelligence companies. Currently, the project is in the near-listing stage of its token and is one of the highly anticipated DePIN+AI projects in the market.

5. How to Participate in DePIN Projects

The DePIN track first drew market attention in mid-2023 and is still in its early stages. For ordinary users looking to get involved, the easiest way is to acquire relevant tokens. Currently, MEXC has listed all the popular DePIN projects mentioned in this article for both spot and futures trading . You can trade them on the MEXC exchange.

Let's take the WLD token as an example. Open and log in to the MEXC App, type WLD in the search bar on the homepage, select [Spot] to enter the K-line page, click [Buy] to enter the trading page. Choose the order type, enter the quantity, and click [Buy WLD] to complete your purchase.

Disclaimer: This information does not provide advice on investment, taxation, legal, financial, accounting, or any other related services, nor does it constitute advice to purchase, sell, or hold any assets. MEXC Learn provides information for reference purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and exercise caution when investing. The platform is not responsible for users' investment decisions.

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