Happy Year of the Dragon 🐉 and a Feliz Carnaval! 🎉🕺💃
Welcome back to the DePIN Hub Newsletter, your quick start guide to the world of decentralized infrastructure.
It’s been 15 years since Satoshi dropped the whitepaper and we’re still waiting for that killer crypto use case. DeFi degens want to bring finance on-chain while Web3 gamers tell us GameFi is THE gateway. Here at DePIN Hub we see it differently. If crypto’s going to go mainstream, it needs to be universally appealing with a low barrier to entry. Today’s issue takes a closer look at the physical devices that are bridging the gap between virtual blockchains and you, the people.
Let’s get hands-on 👐
In this issue
🏅 DePIN Hub Leaderboards
📰 In The News
⚙️ 5 DePIN Devices Bringing Crypto to Reality
🎙️ Podcast Updates
👋 Parting Words
DePIN Hub Leaderboards
Growth statistics of some standout DePIN projects based on social metrics and token price
In The News 📰
IOTEX just announced R3al World, a DePIN focused event taking place at ETH Denver on February 28th. The Hotspotty team will be there, so if you’re in town, make sure to come say hi 👋
This is your chance to get some hands-on experience with real-world products being built by your favorite DePIN projects. You can expect a showcase of the latest gear, such as vehicles, servers, hotspots, mobile apps, wearables, and more.
Sign up here to register for the event 🤘
Hivemapper recently revamped their mobile app and introduced a new feature called Buzz.
This third pillar of the Hivemapper ecosystem enables users to participate in road reporting straight from their smartphone. Buzz fits in neatly with Hivemapper’s other core functions, providing dashcam data and using AI to train map data, giving users yet another way to earn HONEY tokens 🐝
Tech Bullion has listed DePIN Hub as one of the top DePIN projects to watch in 2024. 👀
As the crypto industry matures and physical integrations become more commonplace, DePIN looks set to play a pivotal role in this growing sector. Rest assured, the team at DePIN Hub will be here to guide you on your path
Feature
5 DePIN Devices Bringing Crypto to Reality ⚙️
We can’t onboard a 100M users into crypto if we have nothing to put in their hands. It’s one thing to talk about the merits of decentralization but another thing altogether to convince people to change their ways.
DePIN offers us a chance to get physically connected with the blockchain. It introduces people to the unique problem-solving capabilities that crypto networks can offer. This is thanks to the awesome products that have been brought to market recently.
Let’s look at some of the signature devices that are riding the next big wave of crypto adoption 🌊
1. Weather XM WS2000 Weather Station
It doesn’t get any more real-world than the weather!
Weather XM’s various stations help improve forecast accuracy by increasing the quantity of weather data collection points. Instead of relying upon a handful of centralized stations, users can group together their personal station data to create hyper-localized weather reporting.
Forget those old-school mercury meters, these bad boys track much more info than “hot or not”. We’re talking:
- Atmospheric pressure
- Temperature
- Precipitation
- Humidity
- Wind
- UV
Weather XM stations are easy to install and reward their owners in $WXM tokens. The project offers 3 stations, each one with a different connectivity option and price point. The WS2000, pictured above, forwards its data over LoRaWAN and is preconfigured for the Helium network. This particular station will set you back $400.
If you’re interested in this version, or their WiFi and 4G-LTE models, head over to the WeatherXM shop to order your station 🌧️🌦️🌤️☀️
2. Wicrypt Spider Wi-Fi Hotspot
Wicrypt is tackling internet connectivity in Africa with their set of long-range WiFi routers 🛜
The Spider hotspot, pictured above, enables up to 70 concurrent connections, and can cover distances up to 200m. The hotspot feeds WiFi internet (up to 300 Mbps) to its users thanks to its Sim card slot and 4G-LTE receiving capabilities.
This is a perfect solution for busy areas such as markets, cultural centers and sporting venues, but is equally impactful in residential areas. It’s a savvy investment for business owners; besides granting WiFi access to their customers, hotspot owners also receive $WNT tokens for helping to build out the Wicrypt network.
This product is ideal for the African market and is currently being sold for approximately $270 and you can even purchase in USDT and USDC. If you prefer paying in more traditional ways, check out their Shopify store.
Solid, scalable and affordable internet solutions are the basis for a flourishing African DePIN ecosystem 🌱
3. ATOR Relay
ATOR is building an anonymity layer to route the traffic for DePIN projects.
The ATOR Relay will serve as the entry point into this layer. This is a lightweight model, meaning you don’t need a 19” rack to house it. Security is paramount and the model comes equipped with an encryption chip and CryptoAuth key generation. It can support 1,000 Mbps Ethernet but also works on WiFi and is easily configurable via USB.
Users running nodes on the ATOR network will be eligible for $ATOR tokens, but the added bonus of using ATOR’s official Relay is that you won’t need to lock up the additional 100 $ATOR tokens for 180 days.
The first 1,000 units were reserved in a presale late last year, where users could mint an Atornaut NFT for 0.1 ETH. The owners of the NFTs will be invited to pay 250 $ATOR to redeem their Relay once these are ready to ship. There are a handful of Atornaut NFTs trading on OpenSea if you want to get in on the action.
Besides the official Relay model, ATOR will enable other DePIN hardware to operate through its network and they’ve partnered with Hotspotty to help with this integration 🤝.
It’s never too late to secure your data 😎.
4. DIMO Macaron
The DIMO Macaron is literally a plug and play device. Or rather plug and drive.
All modern cars have an OBD-II (on-board diagnostics) port, this is where mechanics hook up to access your car’s valuable data. The port’s position differs from car to car, but you’ll usually find it somewhere under the dashboard. The best part is that your car doesn’t need to be brand new, as Macarons are compatible with cars dating as far back as 2008.
The Macaron sends its data over the Helium IoT network, and even comes with 3 years connectivity included in its ultra affordable $99 price. Its small form factor makes it unobtrusive for the driver and as it’s powered by the car itself, you won’t need to worry about changing batteries.
ICYMI, we encourage you to check out the great conversation Hotspotty Co-founder Daniel Andrade had with DIMO Co-founder Alex Rawitz on this episode of the DePIN Hub podcast. 🎙️
Also, our very own highway hero Michael Sothan shot a beginner's guide video for the DIMO Macaron, covering everything from unboxing, to installing and connecting through the app.
If you want to monetize your car’s data, click here to get started on your $DIMO earning journey 🚗
5. GEODNET MobileCM Triple-Band GNSS Base-Station
GEODNET is turning to a decentralized solution to build out their Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) correction network.
This is made possible thanks to sophisticated antennas that improve positioning to centimeter level accuracy, while also earning their owners $GEOD tokens. DePIN deployers are literally mining the sky!
The GEODNET triple band GNSS base station is satellite agnostic, meaning it’s compatible with the 4 major constellations: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and BeiDou. In order to get this working, you’ll need a clear line of sight to the sky, but this can be achieved in both urban and rural environments.
A GEODNET mining station costs $695 but there are some super interesting reward multipliers available (up to 14x) to incentivize map coverage. If you’re aiming for one of these regions, securing your ROI could happen quicker than you might expect. You can read more about that in our recent GEODNET article. And don't forget to give our podcast interview with GEODNET Co-founder Mike Horton a listen too!
The units are currently in high demand, with deliveries set to ship by the end of March at the earliest. We recommend getting in touch with EasyNav who have worldwide distribution rights. Let them know we sent you with this Discount Code: HOTSPOTTY.
In a world of autonomous devices, providing precise positioning will be a high-value service 🛰️
6. Bonus: NATIX on your smartphone
The gateway to DePIN could already be in your pocket!
With all the advanced sensors included on modern smartphones, you’d be surprised what you could achieve. Think microphone, camera, gyroscope, temperature, accelerometer, and so on. MacGyver would be jealous!
NATIX is one such project that chose the smartphone route. Compared to Hivemapper’s physical dashcam, NATIX takes an app-first approach to tackling the issue of fresh map data. The app is 100% free to download and use, so the barrier to entry is pretty much non-existent.
Ready to test drive Natix for yourself? Download their app now and paste in hotspotty (all lower case) as your referral code to score 35,000 bonus points! 🚀
If you'd prefer to explore these types of DePINs first, before you go hands-on with dedicated hardware, take a look at these other awesome projects that have integrated smartphones into their strategy:
If all this sounds exciting to you, then just imagine what it’s like to work in DePIN. Not on a protocol level, but as an actual deployer, managing a fleet of devices and filling out the coverage map of your favorite projects 👷♂️
Stay tuned folks, because that’s where we’re headed in our next issue!
DePIN Hub Podcast🎙️
Brought to you by 🐤 Chirp, harnessing the power of DePIN to be your global IoT solution provider 🚀
Want to ‘mine the sky’?
If you’re like - ‘what the heck?’ - tune in! On this episode you’ll learn how to get centimeter-accurate satellite positioning with the co-founder of one of DePIN’s most ambitious projects - GEODNET 📡 🛰️
🔗 GEODNET is offering super hexes to massively boost rewards from 4-14x! 💸 See if your region qualifies here 👉 Superhex Mining Form
👩💻 Are you ready to transform your online meetings into rewarding experiences? Imagine ending the month not just with completed tasks but with rewards too! 🌟
Huddle01 offers - secure, efficient, and reliable communication ✅🔒! Don't miss out on our latest episode featuring Ayush Ranjan, the visionary co-founder and CEO.
🔗 Learn more 👉 Huddle01's Website
🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe at: https://links.depinhub.io/youtube-podcast
🎧 Listen to the podcast on:
🎙️ Spotify: DePIN Hub on Spotify
🎤 Apple Podcasts: DePIN Hub on Apple Podcasts
DePIN Hub Telegram Group 💬
🔔 Join our new DePIN Hub Telegram group for the latest updates and vibrant community discussions! Join now at https://t.me/depinhub! 🚀🤝
Parting Words 👋
11 months uptime is a pretty good streak, right?
Yours in Decentralization,
The Hotspotty Team
