Supporting subject

Networks and DePIN

Decentralized physical infrastructure means many people deploy hardware, software checks that the hardware did a useful job, and payment follows that job. Wireless coverage, positioning, sensing, storage and compute are the usual services. A token with no machine is not part of this section.

Services, with examples

Examples name the kind of network, not a recommendation. Projects shut down, rename and change what they sell. Inclusion is not an endorsement.

• Position

  Make outdoor location sharp enough for machines, not just for turn-by-turn maps.

  GEODNET is the clearest public example of a decentralized GNSS correction network.

• Identity and settlement

  Give a machine a durable ID, a record, and a way to pay or be paid across parties who do not share a login.

  peaq is the project this desk follows most closely for machine IDs and the machine-economy stack.

• Shared space

  A map of rooms, venues and streets that many robots can use, instead of one private point cloud.

  Auki is an example of machine perception treated as a network.

• Nearby compute

  Inference and other jobs when the robot’s own computer is too small or the link to a hyperscaler is the wrong shape.

  Acurast (phones as processors) and broader GPU networks sit in this aisle.

• Wireless

  Coverage in places a single carrier buildout does not prioritize.

  Helium is the familiar pattern: hotspots as the infrastructure.

• Mapping and sensing

  Street-level imagery, audio, weather and other samples a model cannot invent from text.

  NATIX-style drive-and-map networks, and audio or environment networks in the same family.

• Device coordination

  Connecting machines and proving device activity as a base layer, not as an app feature.

  IoTeX is often discussed in this device-and-DePIN lane.

• Collective machines

  Groups pooling capital around robots, with the hard part being whether revenue follows the machine.

  XMAQUINA is an example of a robotics-focused collective. Read the audit trail, not the adjective.

Five checks

Use these before a hardware network earns a closer look. They will not tell you what to buy. They will tell you whether a machine is actually in the story.

1. 01What physical job is being done, in one sentence a technician would recognize?
2. 02Who can check that the job happened, and which parts can be faked from a laptop?
3. 03Who pays, and for which unit — not for “supporting the network”?
4. 04What still works the week the reward price is boring and the power bill is not?
5. 05Would a robot or an AI system buy it, or only another token holder?