DePIN+AI is driving the new era of DePIN Bots development

Abstract

Three new projects were added to the focus assets of Grayscale's second quarter, two of which are related to DePIN. Messari data shows that the market value of the DePIN sector has reached $50 billion, the financing scale in the first quarter has slightly increased compared to last year, but the number of projects has significantly decreased, indicating that DePIN is maturing.

Messari and FrodoBot Lab discussed the revolution of the AI paradigm of robots built with DePIN+AI. The main point suggests that the development of embodied intelligent AI relies not only on algorithms but also involves hardware upgrades, data accumulation, funding support, and human participation. In the past, the development of the robotics industry was limited by high costs and dominated by large enterprises, hindering the pace of innovation. The establishment of the DePIN robot network means that with the power of decentralized networks, global collaboration can be achieved in robot data collection, computing resources, and capital investment, accelerating AI training and hardware optimization, lowering development barriers, and allowing more researchers, entrepreneurs, and individual users to participate. It is hoped that the robotics industry will no longer rely on a few tech giants but will instead be driven by a global community, moving towards a truly open and sustainable technological ecosystem.

1. DePIN+AI Building the Bots Paradigm in the AI Era

On February 27, Messari held a podcast on "Building Decentralized Physical Artificial Intelligence," inviting Michael Cho, co-founder of FrodoBot Lab. Michael Cho focused on the opportunities and challenges of DePIN+AI in the field of Bots technology.

Soon, the concept of DePIN Bots has sparked widespread attention and discussion.

Before we start the discussion, let's take a look at the development of the artificial intelligence sector itself:

• In the computing power sector, Nvidia's quarterly revenue has increased fivefold in the past three years.
• In the bandwidth sector, North American data centers have grown five times in construction over the past three years.
• In the energy sector, OKLO requires 12.0GW, and TerraPower requires 4.0GW.
• In the data field, large companies invest over $500 million each year to purchase wholesale data for training AI models.

In the context of a global economic downturn, AI, as the main technological revolution of the next ten to twenty years, is leading all players in the field to accelerate development at a pace several times faster each year.

However, the rapid development of AI has also raised concerns. The reason is that if AI computing power, large models, energy, and data are controlled by a few centralized large companies, the future technological era may be monopolized, leading to absolute centralization and authoritarianism, opening Pandora's box.

It is precisely the concern over this centralized situation that a new track and direction is gaining attention, namely DePIN+AI. We define it as DePAI, that is DePAI=DePIN+AI.

How does DePAI help AI achieve better decentralization?

Currently, AI has many pain points. Although it has diverse functions, it mainly processes surface information such as text. This information lacks warmth and deep-level perception and understanding.

The DePIN network can become the "five senses" and "limbs" of AI.

"Five Senses" helps AI perceive the real world comprehensively. Some developers are already using ioID and W3bstream to connect real-world devices to the blockchain and verify their actual activities with zero-knowledge proofs.

"modeling"

1. DePIN makes AI data more real and diverse

Unlike the "online" AI large models that rely on massive internet data for training, DePIN devices can help AI interact with the real world and obtain more authentic real-time data. Only through AI+Bots and other devices trained with this data can we develop true embodied intelligence.

DePIN is in its early stages of development, and currently, there is no large-scale infrastructure in the world, nor is there a consensus on how to collect this data.

The data collected by DePIN+AI in the future may be categorized into three types:

• Human Operated Data: High-quality data generated by human manual control of Bots, capable of capturing video streams and action labels. It is the most effective way to train AI to mimic human behavior, but it is costly and labor-intensive.

• Synthetic data ( simulates data ): useful for training Bots to move in complex terrains, such as training Bots to walk on rugged surfaces, applicable in certain specialized fields. However, it performs poorly in dynamic tasks ( like cooking ), making it difficult to cover all scenarios.

• Video Learning: Allow AI models to learn by observing real-world videos. Although it has potential, it lacks the true physical direct interactive feedback required for intelligence.

With the support of these data collection efforts, the embodied intelligent service capabilities of AI will surely be greatly enhanced.

2. DePIN improves AI capital efficiency and is beneficial for decentralization from the source.

Unlike traditional AI models that rely solely on computational power, the implementation of intelligent robot technology requires the deployment of physical devices in the real world, presenting significant capital challenges.

Building Bots is expensive, and only the wealthiest companies can afford large-scale experiments. Even the most efficient humanoid Bots currently cost tens of thousands of dollars, making widespread adoption difficult.

Considering the hardware, data, and evaluation challenges, general-purpose robot AI is still a long way from widespread adoption.

But the introduction of DePIN technology gives people hope.

The scale and coordination capabilities of decentralized networks effectively distribute the capital burden, helping small entrepreneurial teams to develop this technology. To improve the efficiency of general-purpose robots and bring them closer to human capabilities, robot technology development should be decentralized rather than controlled by a few large companies. It is better to include individuals who can contribute in a shared network, rather than relying on a large company to fund the production of thousands of robots.

In addition, DePIN has accelerated data collection and assessment.

There is no need to wait for a single company to deploy limited Bots to collect data; a decentralized network can operate on a larger scale in parallel and collect data.

For example, in the recent AI and Human Robot Competition held in Abu Dhabi, researchers from institutions like DeepMind and UT Austin tested their AI models against human players. Although humans still have the upper hand, the researchers are excited about the unique dataset collected from real-world robot interactions. This indirectly demonstrates the demand for connecting the subnetworks of various components of robotic technology. Even though full autonomy remains a long-term goal, DePIN technology has already shown tangible value in data collection, training, real-world deployment, and validation.

The DePIN network is helping AI Bots land with greater efficiency and lower costs.

A specific example is the collaboration between FrodoBot Lab and the DePIN project, which acquired two boxes of NVIDIA H100 GPUs, each containing eight H100 chips, to supply computational power necessary for researchers to process and optimize AI models based on real-world data collected from robot deployments. Without such computing resources, even the most valuable datasets cannot be fully utilized. Through the DePIN decentralized computing infrastructure, the robotics network enables global researchers to train and evaluate models without the constraints of capital-intensive GPU ownership. If DePIN can successfully crowdsource data and hardware advancements, the future of robotics may arrive sooner than expected.

(# 3. DePIN assists AI and AI embodied intelligence in achieving higher business efficiency

The AI agent similar to Sam, ), along with meme coin travel KOL Bots, ###, showcases a new profit model of decentralized bot technology networks.

Sam operates autonomously, live streaming 24/7 in multiple cities, while its meme coin appreciates in value.

This model demonstrates how DePIN-driven intelligent Bots maintain their finances through decentralized ownership and token incentives. In the future, these AI agents could even use tokens to pay human operators for assistance, rent additional Bot assets, or bid on real-world tasks, creating an economic cycle beneficial for AI development and DePIN participants.

( Outlook

The development of embodied intelligent AI depends not only on algorithms but also on hardware upgrades, data accumulation, funding support, and human involvement.

In the past, the development of the Bots industry was limited by high costs and dominated by large enterprises, which hindered the speed of innovation. The establishment of the DePIN Bots network means that, with the power of a decentralized network, data collection, computing resources, and capital investment for Bots can be coordinated on a global scale, not only accelerating AI training and hardware optimization but also lowering the development threshold, allowing more researchers, entrepreneurs, and individual users to participate.

We look forward to the robotics industry no longer relying on a few tech giants, but instead being driven by a global community towards a truly open and sustainable technological ecosystem.

![Industry Observation｜DePIN+AI is writing a new era for DePIN Bots Preface])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-c1051975eed21050eef80f5d3cd0a97f.webp###

2. DePIN Track Data and Observations

( 1. DePIN's overall share accounts for 0.1% of the AI market.

The number of DePIN projects increased from 100 in 2022 to 1,170 in 2024, with the market value rising from $5 billion to $50 billion and the active node rate increasing from 2% to over 50%. However, the overall share of DePIN accounts for only 0.1% of the trillion-dollar AI market, indicating that this sector has a growth potential of 100 to 1,000 times.

![Industry Observation｜DePIN+AI is writing a new era for DePIN Bots Preface])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-3093e50a023a53a36db993876edefbf1.webp###

( 2. DePIN financing amount increases, number of financings decreases

Messari data shows that DePIN financing growth is flat year-on-year, with a larger amount of financing in the first quarter of 2025, but fewer transactions.

Q1 2024: 62 rounds of financing totaling 156 million USD. Q1 2025: 36 rounds of financing totaling $159 million.

Data shows: there are fewer emerging early-stage entrepreneurial projects, but mature DePIN projects are scaling up.

Currently, leading projects in various DePIN fields still hold a very small market share globally, representing an absolutely early opportunity.

Market share in the wireless transmission field 0.002%) leading project Helium###, market share in the computing field 0.03%( leading project Filecoin), market share in the energy field 0.001%( leading project Daylight), market share in the identity authentication field 0.2%( leading projects Worldcoin and Anymal).

The market for agent-based artificial intelligence in the AI sector is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, from 520 million USD in 2024 to 196.6 billion USD in 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of 43.8%.

( 3. The Grayscale Q2 Quarterly Report focuses on RWA, DePIN, and IP tokenization.

Grayscale published the Q2 2025 report, focusing on RWA, DePIN, and IP tokenization, with three new tokens IP, SYRUP, and GEOD added to the Top 20, while Akash Network, Arweave, and Jupiter were removed.

The report indicates that this quarter, Grayscale will focus on tokens that reflect the non-speculative applications of blockchain technology in the real world, divided into three categories: RWA) Real World Assets###, DePIN( Decentralized Physical Infrastructure), and IP( Intellectual Property Tokenization).

Among the newly added Top 20 assets, Maple (SYRUP), Geodnet (GEOD), and Story(IP) have two DePIN projects.

• Geodnet (GEOD): DePIN project, collects real-time positioning data. The world's largest real-time dynamic positioning (RTK) provider, offering geospatial data with an accuracy of 1 centimeter, providing cost-effective solutions for users such as farmers. It may provide value for autonomous vehicles and Bots in the future. The network has expanded to 130 countries/regions with more than 14,000 devices, and the annualized network revenue has increased to over 3 million USD in the last 30 days, with a year-on-year growth of about 500%(. Note that GEOD has a low market capitalization and is listed on fewer exchanges, which presents higher risks.

• Story Protocol: Focused on intellectual property management on the blockchain, more as decentralized applications rather than physical infrastructure, potentially marginalized in the DePIN category. Story Protocol aims to tokenize the $70 trillion intellectual property ) IP ( market.