DePIN Coins Heating Up: 12 Projects That Could Reshape Blockchain Infrastructure in 2025

The decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) sector is no longer a niche corner of crypto—it’s becoming the next frontier for serious investors. As of late 2024, DePIN coins command a combined market capitalization exceeding $32 billion with daily trading volumes around $3 billion, and major players like VanEck and Borderless Capital are betting big on this space. But what makes DePIN coins so compelling right now?

Why DePIN Coins Are Capturing Attention

DePIN projects bridge blockchain’s digital ecosystem with real-world physical networks—think energy grids, wireless systems, data storage, and computing power. Instead of relying on centralized operators, these networks tokenize participation, rewarding contributors for powering infrastructure with their own resources. It’s a fundamentally different model from traditional tech, and it’s starting to show real traction across industries.

The sector has momentum: Borderless Capital just launched a $100 million DePIN Fund III, and the projected market could hit $3.5 trillion by 2028. That’s the kind of growth trajectory that gets traders and institutions paying attention.

Computing & Intelligence: The AI-Powered DePIN Shift

Internet Computer (ICP) sits at $3.21 per token (down 73.86% over the year) with a $1.75B market cap, but don’t let the pullback fool you. This DFINITY Foundation project continues building out its “world computer” concept—hosting web apps and services directly on blockchain rather than cloud servers. Throughout 2024, ICP shipped the Tokamak, Beryllium, and Stellarator upgrades to boost scalability. Looking at 2025, the roadmap includes AI integrations and potential Solana interoperability, positioning ICP as infrastructure for the broader Web3 economy.

Bittensor (TAO) takes a different angle, merging blockchain with machine learning. Currently trading at $262.90 (down 52.92% year-over-year) with a $2.52B market cap, TAO rewards participants who contribute machine learning models to a collaborative network. The 2024 rollout of Proof of Intelligence and a Decentralized Mixture of Experts framework signals the project is serious about becoming the backbone for distributed AI services. Expect 2025 to bring ecosystem expansion and new cross-industry applications.

Storage & Data: Where DePIN Gets Practical

Filecoin (FIL) launched its Virtual Machine in 2024, opening new use cases beyond pure storage—think on-chain payments and collateral access. FIL currently sits at $1.48 (with a $1.08B market cap), trading well below its 2024 peaks. The TVL breached $200M, showing genuine developer interest. Coming years will likely see enhanced smart contract capabilities that attract more builders.

Arweave (AR) focuses on permanent data storage through its unique blockweave architecture. At $3.90 per token with a $255.40M market cap (down 79.94% year-to-date), AR deployed its 2.8 protocol upgrade to boost efficiency and lower mining costs. The project’s long-term positioning as a “hard drive for humanity” makes sense in a world drowning in data, and 2025 should bring more dApp integrations.

The Graph (GRT) handles blockchain data indexing—less glamorous than AI or storage, but absolutely critical infrastructure. GRT trades at $0.04 with a $428.22M market cap (down 83.28% annually), yet the protocol continues expanding across Ethereum, NEAR, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, and other chains. The 2025 roadmap promises enhanced data services beyond subgraphs, better developer tooling, and improved indexer performance—foundational stuff that makes the broader dApp ecosystem work.

Content Delivery & Bandwidth: Monetizing Idle Resources

Render Network (RENDER) moved from Ethereum to Solana in 2024, bringing faster transactions and cheaper execution. The rebranding from RNDR to RENDER attracted exchange support, and the platform continues expanding its GPU-powered rendering services for creators. The focus on 3D graphics, animation, and VR content positions it well as the creator economy scales up on-chain.

Theta Network (THETA), trading at an undisclosed current price but historically around $1.50+ with a market cap near $1.5B, took a leap forward with EdgeCloud—a next-generation platform combining cloud and edge computing for video, media, and AI workloads. The dual-token model (THETA for governance, TFUEL for transactions) incentivizes node operators to contribute bandwidth and computing power.

Helium (HNT) operates at $1.58 with a $294.39M market cap (down 76.52% annually). Now running on Solana, Helium provides decentralized wireless coverage for IoT devices. Over 335,000 Helium Mobile subscribers showcase real-world adoption, and the subnetwork token structure (IOT, MOBILE) diversifies the ecosystem. 2025 roadmap includes enhanced Proof-of-Coverage and expanded 5G integration.

Grass Network (GRASS) is the newcomer, launching its token in October 2024 after two million users joined its beta. Currently at $0.33 (down 89.39% from peaks), GRASS lets users monetize unused internet bandwidth by contributing to AI training datasets. The massive airdrop (100M tokens to 1.5M wallets) democratized access, and staking mechanisms coming in 2025 could unlock new engagement models.

IoT & Data Sovereignty: The Connected Device Layer

IoTeX (IOTX) rolled out IoTeX 2.0 in 2024, introducing modular DePIN infrastructure with DIMs and a unified security layer. Currently trading around $0.01 with a $75.14M market cap (down 80.97% year-over-year), the ecosystem already supports 230+ dApps with 50+ DePIN projects building on top. The ambitious 2025 goal: onboard 100 million IoT devices and unlock trillions in real-world value on-chain.

JasmyCoin (JASMY) takes data sovereignty seriously. At $0.01 with a $339.88M market cap (down 82.72% annually), Jasmy—founded by ex-Sony executives in 2016—creates a decentralized marketplace for IoT data. Strategic partnerships (rumored with NVIDIA and Ripple) add credibility. The 2025 focus shifts to tangible IoT use cases and new device company partnerships, proving DePIN isn’t just theory.

Security-First DePIN: A Different Approach

Shieldeum (SDM) stands apart by combining DePIN with Web3 cybersecurity. The platform uses professional data center servers for hosting, encryption, threat detection, and computing. Shieldeum crossed $2M in USDT for node testing in 2024 and plans a custom BNB Layer-2 blockchain in 2025, targeting enterprises scared of security risks in decentralized systems.

What’s Really Happening in the DePIN Coins Market

The pattern is clear: DePIN coins are pulling back hard from 2024 peaks, with most projects down 50-90% annually. That’s not a sign of failure—it’s a market reset. What matters is actual adoption: Helium’s 335K mobile subscribers, IoTeX’s 230+ dApps, Filecoin’s $200M TVL, and Grass Network’s 2M users prove these networks solve real problems.

The risk? Regulatory hurdles, technical complexity in merging physical and digital infrastructure, and the challenge of outcompeting established centralized players on cost and reliability. But the opportunity is proportionally massive—a $3.5 trillion sector by 2028 would represent a 100x return from today’s market cap.

The Bottom Line on DePIN Coins

If you’re building or investing in crypto for the long term, understanding DePIN coins isn’t optional anymore. These projects tackle genuine infrastructure gaps—storage, computing, wireless, data management—by distributing the work (and rewards) across networks of individual contributors. Whether it’s AI collaboration on Bittensor, permanent storage on Arweave, rendering on Render Network, or IoT data on IoTeX, each project carves out its niche.

The 2025-2028 period will determine which DePIN coins become essential infrastructure and which fade. The ones with real users, growing ecosystems, and clear paths to profitability will likely survive the downturn. For traders and investors, that means doing the work to separate signal from noise—but the potential payoff makes it worth the effort.

The DePIN sector isn’t just another crypto trend. It’s a foundational shift in how we think about infrastructure, incentives, and decentralization. Watch this space.