DePIN: the blockchain business model that could rebuild global infrastructure

Infrastructure, i.e. roads, railways, harbours airports, electrical grids, mobile phone networks and now increasingly data centres, demand significant upfront cash, years of regulatory navigation and a balance sheet only governments and large corporations can support. Historical capital intensity has made infrastructure markets oligopolies: whoever builds first and biggest wins. Challengers require billions of dollars and decades to compete on equal terms, not simply a superior product.

Hivemapper has mapped 25% of roads globally

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DePIN initiatives could bootstrap infrastructure that would normally need hundreds of millions in venture or debt financing by recruiting thousands of participants to deploy hardware on a network’s behalf via token incentives. However, hardware remains necessary with the model - technology drastically transforms who funds and deploys it, dispersing cost and ownership across a global base of token-earning players rather than salary-driven participants. …