DePIN: Asset Tokenization’s ‘Physical’ Analog

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies run on blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that could retool or transform payment and market infrastructures and is lately being deployed to tokenize a wider array of real-world assets (RWAs).

Now another “real world” crossover, with resemblances to decentralized finance (DeFi), is emerging: DePINs, or decentralized physical infrastructure networks. This represents a convergence that one company in the field, IoTeX, puts in the context of artificial intelligence: “To unlock its full potential, AI needs real-time, real-world data from real machines and humans.”

The GENIUS Act brought regulatory clarity to crypto – and to stablecoins specifically – that is lacking, but necessary, for DePIN, IoTeX head of product Aaron Basi argued in a Cointelegraph article.

Aaron Basi of IoTeX

“Unlike many blockchain use cases,” Basi wrote, “DePIN is already operational and growing fast . . . DePIN protocols across the ecosystem collectively generate over $250 million in revenue. These are not pilots; they are functioning networks delivering value to users and contributors” while still in a legal “gray...