DAWN, a decentralized protocol designed to offer a multi-gigabit broadband service owned and operated by users, said it raised $13 million in a Series B funding round led by Polychain Capital.
The money will be used to expand the Solana-based protocol’s network coverage in the US and roll out international deployments, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Thursday.
The New York-based project allows individuals and organizations to act as network hosts, deploying wireless nodes that provide Internet access. Hosts earn rewards based on the quality and demand of coverage. The model aims to bypass the centralized ownership structures that dominate traditional broadband and instead distribute ownership of the infrastructure to the edge of the network.
The funding highlights investor interest in introducing decentralization to real-world services, an approach known as decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN).
DAWN is not the only one that identifies the communication as a DePIN application. Another notable project, Helium, allows users to act as small mobile sites by installing hotspots. The platform, also built on Solana, expanded to the Brazilian market this month in partnership with local WiFi provider Mambo.
DAWN reaches more than 4 million U.S. homes, while an initial international rollout in Accra, Ghana, targets underserved districts where fiber has proven slow and expensive to deploy.
The project also introduced consumer hardware, including its Black Box device, which also functions as a router and decentralized infrastructure node. The device supports multiple blockchain ecosystems and allows households to directly participate in broadband delivery while earning rewards.
