DePIN projects saw revenue explode in 2024, reaching over $500 million—a 100x increase from 2022—according to a report from Messari.
AI-powered DePIN projects dominated revenue sources, followed by off-chain projects. This marks a major shift from the past two years, when on-chain developments accounted for almost all of DePIN’s revenue.
DePIN’s growth trajectory mirrors early DeFi and NFT boom
Blockchain intelligence firm Messari has published its comprehensive update on the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) industry.
According to the report, the number of active DePIN projects has nearly doubled in the past year. DePIN tokens now account for 5% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. Over 13 million devices worldwide contribute to DePIN operations daily.
By 2024, 20 DePIN projects have exceeded 100k active nodes, with five surpassing 1 million nodes.
Nodes in DePIN generally represent physical or digital devices that contribute resources to the network, such as storage, computing power, IoT sensors, network connectivity, or other types of infrastructure.
State of DePIN in 2024. Source: Messari
Investment in such projects has also soared, especially at the early stage. Private markets saw more capital raised at the pre-seed and seed levels than at Series A. In liquid markets, low fully diluted valuations (FDVs) were the main driver of high returns.
Among the top 22 DePIN tokens, only four have lost value since their token generation event (TGE). Virtuals Protocol has seen exceptional growth, gaining over 30,000% since its TGE. Other projects such as NEURAL and NodeAI have both grown by over 2,000%.
Crypto DePIN Project Returns Since TGE. Source: Messari
DePIN on the rise: advances, funding and innovations
Late-stage funding has mainly flowed to a few prominent DePIN projects backed by large venture capital firms. Furthermore, these projects have often launched tokens valued at 50-100x their book value, often reaching multi-billion dollar FDVs.
Community contributions have played a key role in the growth of the industry. Nearly $230 million was raised in 2024 through node sales, crowdfunding, and protocol-owned liquidity pools.
Meanwhile, Solana and Base have emerged as leaders in network infrastructure and consumer-facing applications, respectively. Solana’s low-latency design continues to attract infrastructure innovators, while Base benefits from Coinbase’s established brand and retail reach.
Furthermore, DePIN’s momentum has remained strong heading into 2025. Sui DePIN, the first DePIN layer on the SUI blockchain, recently announced its upcoming Initial DEX Offering (IDO).
However, in December, Chirp launched Kage, the first play-to-earn (P2E) game on the Sui blockchain. Kage combines gaming with IoT utility, featuring a “Pokémon Go”-inspired treasure hunt that rewards players through blockchain incentives.
The article DePIN revenue grows 100 times in 2024, research shows was first seen on BeInCrypto Brazil.
