原文标题：Breaking Through the Competitive Red Ocean of the Web3 Industry: Where Should DePIN Head?
Original author: TinTinLand
Original source: medium
Compiled by: Vernacular Blockchain
The enthusiastic attention to the DePIN track has become the focus of the Web3 industry in 2023. How to promote the construction of artificial intelligence enabled by the DePIN track in a scalable, decentralized and secure way, and seek more innovative opportunities in the Web3 industry, has become an urgent problem to be solved.
Looking back at the recently concluded Consensus 2024 conference, what new insights and reflections did the well-known guests gain from it? Let’s explore this question together in the 45th issue of TinTinWeekly!
At 20:00 on June 13, the 45th issue of "TinTinWeekly" was successfully held. This live broadcast invited Fog Works' Chief Marketing Officer Felicia Deng, IoTeX Asia Pacific Community Leader Angela, PowerPod's founder Ting, io.net Asia Pacific Head Asa and Roam's Marketing Director Bo to gather in the live broadcast room to discuss the development status and innovative applications of DePIN tracks in different regions, and look forward to the transformation and breakthrough of DePIN in the future technology market! This online event attracted 22,000 viewers, many of whom interacted closely with the guests in the live broadcast room.
Replay link: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1gqxvQlgVRWJB
1. How to find the driving force in the new DePIN track that integrates artificial intelligence technology?
In fact, before last year, the concept of DePIN did not exist, but the founding members of the Fog Works team had already been deeply involved in this field and accumulated some projects with DePIN-oriented applications. "At that time, when we were developing some decentralized storage DApps, we found that many applications were not particularly user-friendly. Judging from the current development trend of the DePIN track, people are not only paying attention to the supply link, but also to the demand consumption scenario, which has become a highlight at the Consensus 2024 conference." Felicia Deng said.
Vertical applications are booming, and DePINSurf is accelerating forward. Angela pointed out that since last year's Token 2049 conference, more and more users have begun to pay attention to DePIN or DeFi tracks, and more topics have begun to explore how to integrate artificial intelligence technology into new explorations in these two technical directions. The number of vertical applications has also begun to increase, with infrastructure, DApps, and project teams entering DePIN, outlining a map of a decentralized network.
For example, IoTeX launched the world's first DePIN accelerator program, DePINSurf, this year, a program specifically for DePIN startups, investors, community builders, and ecosystem partners. It aims to help projects achieve rapid growth through the valuable experience and expertise of mentors, ecosystem partners, and other founders, thereby creating a stronger DePIN ecosystem. The second phase of DePINSurf was also announced at this year's Consensus 2024 conference, including some promotional activities related to DemoDay, making it an important focus for the development of vertical fields in the DePIN track.
2. Combining the advantages of Web3 to break through the fiercely competitive red ocean of Web2
In addition, products in the fields of smart wearable devices, car-mounted devices, smart watches and green energy technologies are also actively seeking opportunities to turn to the Web3 industry. "In the Web2 world, hardware competition has already faced a red ocean situation. How to break through by combining the advantages of the Web3 industry is the breakthrough direction for many traditional applications." Angela analyzed.
She also mentioned an AI+DePIN project that she has been paying attention to recently, which created a decentralized GPU computing power project and expanded the node application scenarios. By leveraging the concept of artificial intelligence computing power, many traditional applications can subvert technical logic and find new growth points in the industry. "At the Consensus 2024 conference, there were many interactions between senior figures and developers, and this in-depth communication atmosphere helped find innovative inspiration for the DePIN track."
Asa also reflected: “From my personal observation of the content of the Consensus 2024 conference, the industry is actively trying various DePIN projects, and the upstream and downstream technology stacks of DePIN are also gradually developing.
How to connect and transmit some related and similar technical nodes? How should the cost and structure of network information be maintained? These are the important points that the DePIN track has focused on infrastructure construction since this year. Therefore, further exploring and optimizing AI computing models and training mechanisms has become an important focus for expanding the industrial chain and designing technical forms. "
3. Differences in DePIN development environments: How can the East and the West cooperate to make common progress?
DePIN faces significant differences in development status and basic resources in different regions, especially in the North American Web3 community, which often has a strong community resource base. When some DePIN projects start to cooperate, how to connect upstream and downstream is crucial to closely follow market trends and find demand connection points. Felicia Deng pointed out that more and more projects are looking for daily life application scenarios and conducting innovation and integration projects based on the scenario expansion direction, aiming to optimize user experience and expose more similar or complementary DePIN track projects.
Overseas projects "wait patiently" while domestic projects "seize the market first"
"For this question, we can even trace it back to the development gap between the Web2 industry in the East and the West. If we look at the Web3 field, this difference in thinking still exists," Angela made a detailed analysis. Western countries may be slower in building the basic technical foundation of the project, focusing more on the infrastructure and technical level, and not immediately prioritizing market expansion. They gradually cover more application scenarios and market space in a cycle of about 1-2 years through stable technical improvement.
Of course, this approach also has some disadvantages, such as delays in meeting market demand, and by the time their projects mature, there will be more competitors in the industry. In contrast, the Asian market emphasizes efficiency and speed when developing projects and bringing them to market, and all business development actions are very fast, reflecting the spirit of "wolf culture". However, this also brings problems such as infrastructure vulnerabilities, insufficient technological advantages, and lack of strategic planning for subsequent development. "Therefore, in the face of differences in Eastern and Western markets and technologies, we need to learn from each other's strengths and work together towards the vision of creating potential projects through cooperation and communication," Angela concluded.
4. Lack of consensus may become an important pain point for the long-term development of DePIN
Ting pointed out that at the current stage of development, an important problem facing DePIN is the lack of consensus (there is no clear consensus in this bull market). As the market size of the entire industry continues to grow, collaborative projects and investors are needed to jointly think about product value and user experience direction to promote the development of the DePIN track.
"In this process, the East and the West can play to their respective strengths. For example, the hardware industry capabilities and delivery capabilities of Western projects are lower than the foundation of China's supply chain. The construction foundation and technical narrative of some Chinese facilities can learn from the initial development advantages of Western countries. Only through more room for cooperation can the East and the West promote common development."
“The difference in DePIN demand mainly stems from the fact that the attitudes of Eastern and Western communities may be completely different even for the same product. This is influenced by values, historical culture, and social factors, such as differences in WiFi communication needs based on population density, which may lead to different network node layout patterns. In addition, when Web3 application products in the industry are introduced to North America, they can provide users with a service scenario system with real value, allowing users to deeply enter the service environment of the product rather than just try it out. This is also the reason why domestic users have not yet fully entered the Web3 application world in many cases,” Bo added.
5. Challenges and opportunities coexist, and effective output is the key issue
When talking about the challenges of the future development of DePIN track, the guests gave their own insights from different perspectives. Felicia Deng believes that the sensitivity of network data itself and the control of laws and regulations of various countries have brought various practical obstacles to the market promotion of DePIN technology. How to coexist harmoniously with technology and art in such a huge environment is very important.
1) Build a liquidity center pool to attract new users
"DePIN projects are often overlooked in the entrepreneurial stage from 0 to 1, but this process is not only crucial but also full of difficulties. Common problems, such as insufficient liquidity and mismatch between supply and demand, plague the planning and operation of the project. For users, what kind of benefits they can get from the project experience is also a practical consideration," Angela reminded the audience in the live broadcast room. Currently, many ecosystems are thinking about how to build a liquidity center pool around DePIN to maximize and increase the number of users, as this is an important bargaining chip for sustainable development.
2) Create valuable users and meet more application scenarios
Not only do we need to overcome various challenges from a technical perspective, but we also need to solve the major problem of how to capture users in the DePIN field. Asa believes that the fundamental solution to the problem lies in how to create new and valuable users, because only by meeting the needs of real users can the project achieve sustainable development. Many projects are now blindly pursuing "efficiency improvement and cost reduction" and forgetting the original intention of serving users. If we only focus on the economic income part, it is actually difficult to have room for sustainable development in the industry. Meeting more business scenarios and ensuring user privacy and compliance operations are very important for new technology narratives.
Bo agreed, adding that an important challenge faced by many startup teams is how to create a simple and easy-to-understand project manual. For applications with strong practicality and high barriers to entry, it is crucial to make the product introduction more practical and feasible. Teaching users how to use the product has risen to the level of community user education. We need to refine a set of product promotion rhetoric to effectively output the pain points and development potential of the project.
In order to achieve the goal of creating a healthy and sustainable DePIN ecosystem, the insights of the Consensus 2024 conference are not all. At the end of the live broadcast, the guests also analyzed and looked forward to the future development of DePIN, hoping to further reduce operating costs under the trend of data-driven development, turn to high-quality projects that improve project operating performance, and attract more users to join the upstream and downstream shared ecosystem to create a benign project community. The development of DePIN has not stopped, and it requires our wisdom and innovative power.