In a perfect world, the Internet works like tap water: you turn it on and it flows. No problems. No one really wants to think about a “best hotspot,” SIM cards, or the nearest cell towers. Users just want a fast and stable connection wherever they are. The good thing is that they are silently understanding it without even knowing it.
The internet we have is broken (and expensive)
Traditional telecommunications infrastructure is heavy and expensive. Each tower requires site leasing, permitting, maintenance and marketing. Each expansion takes months or years (both construction and paperwork) and can cost between $5 million and $100 million, meaning installing even a small cell tower can drain a company’s finances by up to $300,000.
In this system, we don’t actually pay for the gigabytes we use, but for the bureaucracy built around it.
This system no longer makes economic sense. Telecom companies can no longer afford to spend billions on connections that do not improve and become increasingly difficult to maintain with more users around the world.
The good news is that a better alternative already exists in people’s homes and devices, even if you don’t see it on billboards.
DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) is turning the Wi-Fi routers around you into a new type of connectivity.
From towers to routers
According to crypto asset manager Grayscale, DePIN is already widely used in everyday life and the company considers it an “important” investment opportunity.
Because? DePIN takes a software-centric approach, meaning it uses what already exists. A lightweight app or firmware update turns a regular Wi-Fi router into a small part of a larger network. When you’re nearby, your device automatically connects through that router.
With the growing popularity of DePIN, people and businesses are already deploying it: Nodle, a smartphone-based DePIN, turns smartphones into network nodes that transmit IoT data over existing mobile infrastructure, while Helium Mobile relies on community hotspots and small cells to extend 5G coverage and offload traffic for partner carriers in US cities.
In densely populated urban blocks, DePIN-style networks are being used to plug coverage holes that traditional mobile infrastructure struggles to reach.
Another example outside of Wi-Fi is DIMO, a DePIN network for connected cars that allows drivers to share vehicle data while maintaining control over it and earning rewards. By 2025, its network had around 425,000 connected vehicles, more than 300 applications created from its data and around $1.5 billion worth of cars transmitting information to the protocol. That kind of scale shows that DePIN is already reaching everyday drivers, not just crypto experts.
DePIN startups have onboarded millions of people to their platforms and are adding tens of thousands of users daily. Last June alone, the industry’s market capitalization was estimated at $25 billion and is projected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2028.
Behind the scenes, DePIN works on a simple economic design with a network token that coordinates incentives and agreements between routers (“nodes”) and stable network credits that ensure predictable prices for enterprise and telecom users.
For telecom companies, DePIN is a driver of profitability. Offloading traffic to local Wi-Fi nodes reduces the cost per gigabyte, especially indoors and during peak hours.
Network downloading is nothing new. Data shows that platforms that have realized the benefits of offloading have been doing so for years, with experts describing the process as “crucial to alleviating increasing demands on network infrastructure.”
But venture capital firm a16z crypto believes DePIN exists beyond telecommunications. In a recent report, he outlined artificial intelligence, healthcare, energy, transportation and robotics as other sectors that DePIN can revolutionize.
Wi-Fi as a source of income
Around the world, people running coworking spaces or small offices are now using Wi-Fi as a way to generate more income streams for themselves. Because when the economy aligns for everyone involved, technology not only spreads, it endures.
If your Internet at the airport suddenly cuts out at the guest portal, your phone in a mall automatically finds a faster Wi-Fi connection, and the late night connection delay at home simply disappears, chances are you’ve already used DePIN. You didn’t install a wallet or purchase a token; the network simply chooses the closest node and routes its traffic in the shortest and most economical way.
Using Wi-Fi as a source of income benefits everyone involved. For users, it means fewer dead zones, smoother connections and lower bills. For business owners, Wi-Fi stops being a sunk cost and starts generating income. For operators, coverage becomes flexible, fast and profitable.
When adoption is really here
Technology reaches maturity when people stop talking about it. Nobody says, “I’m using TCP/IP” or “this application runs in the cloud.” They just use it.
Mass adoption doesn’t happen when cryptocurrency enthusiasts start using it. It happens when your grandmother does it without even realizing it. And she already does it.
