The DePIN revolution is underway: 12 game-changing projects you can't miss (2025 Year-End Guide)

DePIN Ecosystem Explosive Growth, Market Reaches $3.2 Billion

Last year, we witnessed an unnoticed revolution. While traditional cloud computing was still charging exorbitant fees, a group of projects was redefining the infrastructure economy using blockchain technology.

According to the latest data, the total market cap of the DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) sector has surpassed $3.2 billion, with 24-hour trading volume approaching $300 million. Even more impressive, top global investment institutions are taking notice—Borderless Capital launched its third phase of a $100 million DePIN fund in September 2024, directly targeting this sector.

In simple terms, DePIN turns your idle hardware resources (GPU, bandwidth, storage, CPU) into tradable assets. This is not the future; it’s already happening.

What is DePIN? Why is it suddenly so popular?

Imagine: your home GPU is idle, your network bandwidth is surplus, your hard drive space is unused. In traditional models, these resources are wasted. But in the DePIN world, they can become money.

DePIN connects resource providers (like you) and demanders (like AI companies) via smart contracts. You contribute resources and earn rewards in tokens. The system automatically settles, fully transparent, with no middlemen.

Core advantages include:

• Cost Collapse: Avoid the sky-high leasing costs of centralized data centers
• Reliability Surge: Distributed architecture eliminates single points of failure
• Democratized Access: Ordinary people can participate in infrastructure building
• Token Incentives: Participants benefit directly, rather than profits being monopolized by big corporations

This explains why VanEck and other major institutions list DePIN as one of the most important crypto themes for 2024.

DePIN Project Map: Who is Leading?

1. Internet Computer (ICP) — Building the “Global Computer”

Current Price: $3.03 | Market Cap: $1.66B | 24h Change: -1.07%

ICP’s ambition is grand: replace cloud giants like Amazon AWS with distributed nodes. It creates a “world computer” through a global network of independent data centers, allowing developers to deploy applications directly on the public chain.

The 2024 upgrades Tokamak, Beryllium, and Stellarator significantly boost performance. The price has more than doubled in a year (+121%), with a focus in 2025 on integrating AI capabilities and interoperability with Solana.

Why bullish on it: If you believe cloud computing will be decentralized, ICP is the flag bearer in this race.

2. Bittensor (TAO) — Distributed Learning Network for the AI Era

Current Price: $222.60 | Market Cap: $2.14B | 24h Change: -0.75%

What Bittensor does is fascinating: it enables thousands of machine learning models worldwide to compete and collaborate in a peer-to-peer network. Participants earn TAO tokens based on the value of the information they contribute.

Imagine Wikipedia’s model applied to AI—no single company controls all data, but the community co-builds. The 2024 launch of “Proof of Intelligence” has pushed TAO’s price up over 152%.

Why bullish on it: If the future of AI is decentralized, TAO is already building the infrastructure.

3. Render Network (RENDER) — GPU Computing Marketplace

Current Price: $1.28 | Market Cap: $665.86M | 24h Change: +1.34%

Need GPU power for rendering 3D, VFX, or AI image generation? RENDER connects idle graphics cards with creators who need computing power. In 2024, it migrated from Ethereum to Solana, greatly improving speed and cost efficiency.

The past year saw over 150% growth. The clear message: in the AI-generated content era, GPU supply chains will become strategic assets.

4. Filecoin (FIL) — Pioneer in Decentralized Storage

Current Price: $1.25 | Market Cap: $908.45M | 24h Change: -1.73%

FIL has built an open storage marketplace—you have hard drive space, and someone is willing to pay to use it. The Virtual Machine (FVM) upgrade opens new application scenarios, with total locked value surpassing $200 million.

While token prices remain relatively stable, the ecosystem is quietly expanding. It’s a patient project, suitable for long-term holders.

5. The Graph (GRT) — Blockchain Data Indexing Infrastructure

Current Price: $0.04 | Market Cap: $391.87M | 24h Change: +0.71%

Without The Graph, querying blockchain data for decentralized applications (dApps) would be extremely inefficient. GRT incentivizes indexers, curators, and delegators to optimize this process.

Supports multiple chains like Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum. Annual growth of 67%, steady and reliable.

6. Theta Network (THETA) — Video Streaming Revolution

Current Price: $0.27 | Market Cap: $266.80M | 24h Change: -1.18%

Traditional video live streaming costs a lot, paid to CDN operators? Theta enables users to share idle bandwidth to participate in video distribution. Its EdgeCloud solution combines cloud and edge computing.

Yearly growth of 76%, with the third phase launching in 2025—a truly decentralized computing marketplace.

7. Arweave (AR) — The Dream of Permanent Storage

Current Price: $3.46 | Market Cap: $226.80M | 24h Change: +0.11%

AR’s promise is bold: permanent storage. Unlike traditional chains with temporary data, Arweave uses an innovative SPoRA consensus mechanism to encourage miners to retain historical data.

Version 2.8, launched in November 2024, significantly improves network efficiency. Yearly growth of 171%, more than doubling in a year. A long-term project.

8. JasmyCoin (JASMY) — IoT Data Sovereignty Movement

Current Price: $0.01 | Market Cap: $299.54M | 24h Change: -0.80%

Founded by former Sony executives, JASMY connects IoT devices with blockchain. Core claim: your data, your control.

Surged 366% within a year (by mid-2024), rumors of partnerships with NVIDIA and Ripple. The focus in 2025 is on establishing strategic alliances with mainstream IoT manufacturers.

9. Helium (HNT) — Democratizing Wireless Networks

Current Price: $1.51 | Market Cap: $280.79M | 24h Change: +0.33%

Helium incentivizes ordinary people to install and operate wireless hotspots. Helium Mobile already has over 335,000 users. Now running on Solana, with faster speeds.

Annual growth of 190%. One of the most mature DePIN applications.

10. Grass Network (GRASS) — Data Collectors in the AI Era

Current Price: $0.30 | Market Cap: $130.10M | 24h Change: -0.76%

GRASS allows you to sell idle network bandwidth to companies training AI with high-quality web data. In 2024, a large-scale airdrop distributed 100 million tokens to 1.5 million wallets.

From zero to a $600 million market cap in just weeks, with token prices up over 200%. One of the hottest new projects right now.

11. IoTeX (IOTX) — Perfect Integration of IoT and Blockchain

Current Price: $0.01 | Market Cap: $68.39M | 24h Change: +0.20%

After IoTeX 2.0 launched, the ecosystem rapidly expanded to over 230 dApps and 50+ DePIN projects. Its own consensus mechanism (Roll-DPoS) ensures low latency, suitable for IoT applications.

Annual growth of 90%. The goal for 2025 is to connect 100 million devices.

12. Shieldeum (SDM) — Web3 Security Infrastructure

Current Price: To be updated

Using DePIN models for cybersecurity. Shieldeum offers services like application hosting, data encryption, and threat detection. Raised $2 million USDT in 2024, developed cross-platform applications.

An emerging project with huge potential as security needs grow.

What other issues does DePIN face?

Technical complexity: Combining physical hardware with blockchain is not simple, requiring solutions for interoperability, security, and scalability.

Regulatory uncertainty: DePIN projects span both digital and physical infrastructure regulation. Different countries have inconsistent rules, posing risks.

Slow market adoption: Why would enterprises migrate from AWS to DePIN? Unless cost advantages are clear. It takes time and scale.

Institutional investors are optimistic about explosive growth from 2025-2028

Market research predicts the DePIN sector could reach $3.5 trillion by 2028. Based on:

• Explosive growth in AI computing demand
• Decentralization trend in cloud storage and content delivery
• Exponential increase in connected IoT devices

From $320 million to $3.5 trillion—that’s 100x growth potential.

Bottom line: DePIN is not hype, but an infrastructure transformation

The core value of DePIN lies not in token speculation, but in:

1. Economic incentives changing the game—resource owners can profit directly for the first time
2. Decentralized reliability—dispersed systems are more risk-resistant than centralized ones
3. Cost revolution—marginal costs approaching zero for supply

If you believe blockchain will redefine infrastructure, DePIN is at the forefront of this shift. The winners in this sector are not yet fully determined, but the scale and direction are clear.

In 2025, pay close attention to the progress of these 12 projects.