Like @VitalikButerin says, DePIN isn't new – what's the big deal now?
Our short answer: Today, DePIN is built different.
Our long answer:
Decentralized storage, compute, & marketplace apps have been around for a decade, but early visionaries under-estimated build complexity.
Building a "deUber" meant wrestling with a full stack from hardware to connectivity to smart contracts to frontend and beyond.
DePIN verification alone is one of the biggest existential questions in all of crypto – according to @a16zcrypto.
A few ambitious teams tried/failed, resulting in the category not advancing.
Meanwhile, the majority of capital and attention in Web3 funneled into sexy DeFi, ICO, NFTs, and GameFi apps.
But behind the scenes, real world infrastructure projects built away...
IoTeX has been building DePIN since 2017.
And we believe DePIN is for every builder.
That's why we've meticulous crafted DePIN modules to make DePIN building easier and faster.
Real-world optimized IoTeX L1, verifiable off-chain compute @w3bstream_com, DePINscan, DePIN Liquidty Hub, DePIN AA crypto wallet, and the list goes on and on.
The hard work is finally paying off.
With the modules in place, we've seen a rapid increase in smaller teams start ambitious DePIN projects.
Covering areas like distributed telecom (@WayruNetwork), EV-charging (@PowerPod_People), compute (@InferixGPU), ESG, "DeFi for DePIN", and so many more.
The demand for AI data adds another layer.
IoTeX sees the data collection side as a killer use case of DePIN, crowdsourcing data in real time to feed data-ravenous AI models.
We are finally seeing DePIN dApps that can compete with and ultimately surpass the growth rates of software-centric dApps and rebuild society's base infrastructure in the image of decentralization and user-ownership.
So after a decade, why is DePIN actually about to get off the ground?
The demand is here, the capital is here, and the building blocks are here.
DePIN is built different – and it's built on IoTeX.