The DePIN ecosystem continues to grow rapidly thanks to initiatives from companies utilizing the technology. Helium Foundation and Crust Network are expanding the options for using the decentralized physical infrastructure network within power grids and real estate tokenization. The number of unique World Mobile users surpassed 100,000.
The team at World Mobile, a global wireless DLT network, announced that the number of unique daily users of the platform surpassed 100,000. The figure grew by 400% over the past year. The catalysts for the network’s growing popularity were the team’s initiatives in Africa, Asia, and the U.S.
According to the official website, World Mobile deployed 1,859 decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) nodes called AirNode, of which:
- 5 are located in the U.S.;
- 680 are located in Zanzibar;
- 1,113 are located in Pakistan.
World Mobile supports network participants with the World Mobile Token (WMT) launched on the Cordano network. The token is used to pay for all transactions, including calls and data usage. The World Mobile team plans to release WMT on the Base, Ethereum, and BNB Chain networks this year.
Another major member of the DePIN ecosystem announced further expansion. In a blog post, the Helium Foundation team revealed plans to expand the network’s functionality beyond wireless. In particular, the team plans to launch a new proof-of-location subnet.
The Swedish energy project Srcful with its token ENERGY will become Helium’s subnet and will start using Helium access points to operate a virtual power plant (VPP). In this way, small energy sources such as household solar panels and batteries will be networked together, and households will be able to share the excess energy they produce, receiving ENERGY tokens in return. The corresponding proposal to update the Helium firmware is already under consideration and is highly appreciated by the community.
In early 2024, telecommunications company Telefónica used the Helium network to expand its wireless coverage in Mexico.
DePINs found their application in data storage of tokenized assets. For example, Crust Network, a decentralized cloud storage provider, partnered with the Xcavate tokenization protocol to keep all real estate data intact. This approach will improve data security by preventing single points of failure and enhancing data integrity. The initiative is designed to increase trust and transparency in the real estate tokenization process.
Experts named the DePIN sector as one of the trends of 2024. DePIN solutions improved the food trading market this year. However, despite the positive outlook, the sector’s performance declined by 19.2% last month.
