#013 - Where to Build a DePIN Project? 🛠️

posted May 10, 2024

ionet silencio anyone arweave geodnet helium powerpod uprock wicrypt render natix xnet minima hivemapper wifimap envirobloq nosana dimo elooppeaqiotexhashkey

8 min

#013 - Where to Build a DePIN Project? 🛠️

Building a blockchain from scratch is no simple task. And if your focus is DePIN, this can easily become more of a distraction than an advantage. In most cases, it’s better to build on an existing blockchain, but which blockchain is best for DePIN?

The short answer is: There ain’t one. But stick around and we’ll show you what your options are.

This issue is brought to you in partnership with:

peaq - the Layer-1 for DePIN

DePIN Hub Leaderboards 🏅

Growth statistics of some standout DePIN projects based on social metrics and token price

In The News 📰

🔔 Verida Network announces their second air drop adding another 2.2 million VDA tokens to early participants in their Missions program.

🔔 io.net postpones their $IO token launch. The decision follows a cyber attack which saw fake GPUs imitating genuine GPUs.

🔔 MapMetrics migrates from Solana to peaq network. The move is a vote of confidence for peaq’s modular DePIN functions.

🔔 peaq network launches their $PEAQ token public sale, which runs until Thursday, May 16th. Read the announcement below to learn more about this hotly anticipated listing.

Feature

Where to Build a DePIN Project 🛠️

Whether you’re launching a decentralized physical infrastructure network, or looking to invest in one, you’ll first need to consider some key technical aspects; things like speed, transaction costs, modularity, and storage.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but if we were to group our options, there are basically 3 routes to follow:

Build your own blockchain
Share blockspace on a general purpose blockchain
Build upon a DePIN specific blockchain

Each option has its pros and cons, and there are several examples of DePINs operating on each one

Let’s take a closer look. 🔍

1. BYOB

No - not bring your own beer! It’s Build Your Own Blockchain. While this approach offers the highest level of control, it comes with a ton of extra hassle. 🤯

Not only do you need to focus on running a profitable DePIN, ensuring your hardware’s up to scratch and finding demand to match supply, you’ll also need an army of talented developers to run your blockchain, maintain uptime, and worry about nerdy things like consensus mechanisms. This is why most hardware-intensive DePINs outsource this part to the blockchain professionals, while focusing their efforts on the core aspects of their DePIN project. 🎯

There are however a handful of projects that manage this well, such as decentralized storage providers Filecoin and Arweave.

2. General Purpose Blockchains

Quite a few DePINs run on general purpose blockchains at the moment. Solana and Polygon are two of the most popular options. It won’t stay that way forever though…

Solana

We can’t talk about DePIN without mentioning Helium, who migrated from their own network to Solana in 2023. The migration happened the same day as a popular NFT mint, but both events coincided peacefully with minimal disruption. This is the magic of Solana’s parallel execution. 🪄

Solana is an easy decision as it offers lightning fast transactions, high throughput and ultra affordable fees. The adoption of the network is growing exponentially, so DePIN builders can be fairly confident in attracting users and developers. Solana’s still got some work to do though, as the chain has a history of going down and has suffered quite some congestion issues recently.

A few notable DePINs building on Solana include: Hivemapper, Render, Nosana, and UpRock.

Polygon

Another popular choice is Polygon, especially for projects looking to stay within the Ethereum ecosystem, but want to avoid those excessive L1 gas fees. Like Solana, Polygon provides access to a large demographic of users, developers and venture capital.

Polygon may not have the same fees and throughput metrics as Solana, but it offers comparable speed and the advantage of building in an EVM environment which is definitely a good way to attract experienced blockchain developers. 🧑‍💻

A few notable projects building on Polygon include: DIMO, GEODNET, and Wicrypt.

Base

OK, we’re gonna get speculative and throw Base in there too. 😲

There aren’t any major DePINs on Base yet, but with the constant threat of regulation hovering over the crypto industry, and Coinbase’s history of compliance and their stock listing, Base might just be seen as a safer bet for certain US-based projects.

Coinbase offers a seamless integration into their layer 2 blockchain, opening the door to 100M+ users. Building a DePIN on Base right now could potentially offer an early-mover advantage. ⚡

3. DePIN Specific Blockchains

Considering the inherent complexity of DePIN projects, the need for custom-built blockchain solutions is becoming more and more obvious. The two big options here are peaq and IoTeX, but that’s not all that’s on offer…

peaq network

peaq is home to the Economy of Things, a blockchain ecosystem designed for connected smart devices. The peaq team has been working hard for the last 7 years to create a home for the machine economy, the peaqosystem, and classify their many use cases within the boundaries of land, sea, sky and space. 🚜 🚤 🚁 🛰️

Built upon a Polkadot Parachain, peaq is a layer 1 blockchain that leverages Substrate pallets to design customisable blockchain parameters, while also offering compatibility with EVM smart contracts. Specific functions such as identification, verification, payments, and access rights, will enable machines to truly operate autonomously in the economy of things.

Transactions on peaq can be as low as $0.00025, while the team is working on getting block times down to sub-second levels. As we enter a new world of autonomous machines, low fees and fast transactions will be mission critical. 🤖

peaq’s mainnet is about to go live and their $PEAQ token sale has just begun over on CoinList 🚀 (see the announcement below)! Over 400,000 devices are registered in the peaqosystem, many of which will be expected to migrate from the Krest testnet very soon. New projects that are interested in working with peaq can apply for support through their grants program. 🤑

As for DePIN projects currently building on peaq, check out: Silencio, NATIX, and ELOOP.

Peaq was also generous enough to sponsor DePIN Hub’s first-ever DePIN Drinks 👏. Check out the promo video they played here.

IoTeX

From connectivity, to data availability, off-chain computing and more, IoTeX offers DePIN builders various layers of modularity to fine-tune their project architecture.

Besides their modular blockchain offering, IoTeX has created an entrepreneurial network for DePIN focused projects. The Mimo exchange and DePIN Liquidity Hub offer investors access to various DePIN tokens, while project grants, R3al World meetups and the DePIN Surf accelerator program are tailor-made initiatives to help founders launch DePINs in the most efficient way.

Projects that are active in the IoTeX ecosystem include ATOR, Wifi Map, enviroBLOQ, and XNET.

Minima

Let’s not forget about Minima, a quantum secure blockchain built for real-world infrastructure. While not as well-known in DePIN as peaq or IoTeX, Minima has been making steady progress on their protocol since 2018, securing partnerships with the likes of Volvo, Polestar, Veoneer and Ericsson.

Their low latency node-to-node communication offers GDPR compliance, a very real-world issue that not many crypto projects pay attention to. Minima sure lives up to its name, as it claims to be the only L1 blockchain lean and compact enough to run in full on any mobile or IoT device. 👀

Minima positions itself as an Enterprise DePIN and has done extensive research into its utility and fee predictability, creating a collaborative, not competitive, mining ecosystem. A large part of their focus is set on the automotive sector, with initiatives such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication, automated payments and digital service books.

Like peaq and IoTeX, Minima also offers a grants program to help founders build apps and tools that contribute to the Minima ecosystem. 🤝

Early Days for DePIN Chains

It’s still early days in the various DePIN native ecosystems, with plenty of room for growth ahead. The targeted focus and modular tech stacks are surely a big advantage for founders looking for an ideal homebase. The real challenge however lies in pulling users and liquidity over from the larger blockchain ecosystems. 🎣

DYOR on DePIN Hub

There are literally hundreds of DePINs active right now. The DePIN Hub site is the best place to see which DePINs are building what, and where. You can see for yourself on our blockchain-filtered project rankings page: https://depinhub.io/rankings/blockchains

But before you spend the next week investigating every single blockchain and all their unique selling points, there’s one key aspect you need to remember. It doesn’t matter how fast, cheap or modular the ecosystem is if nobody’s there to use the service. Focusing your energy on this core question will always be key to building a successful DePIN: Is there demand to match the supply? 🤔

peaq, the layer-1 blockchain for DePIN, has announced its upcoming token launch on Coinlist

The launch started Thursday, the 9th of May. Be sure to follow peaq on its official channels, Twitter/X and Discord, to stay up to date on all the latest. Those looking to participate should register and pass the KYC on CoinList ASAP, and fund their wallets.

The token launch follows months of rapid growth. With more than 25 DePINs across 10 industries choosing peaq as their layer-1 blockchain, 400,000+ devices, and a vast enterprise ecosystem, peaq is the largest and fastest-growing DePIN ecosystem in Web3.

Fill in the form below to secure your spot in peaq's upcoming public offering:

🧾 peaq Launchpad Whitelist 🧾

DePIN Hub Podcast🎙️

Brought to you by Peaq Network, harnessing the home of DePIN projects! 🚀

🎧 Tune in to our interview with Henrique Centieiro, Senior Research Manager at HashKey Capital. HashKey stands at the forefront of the digital asset revolution, fueling innovation in the blockchain industry since 2015. 🚀

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