Beyond the buzz, as DePINs continue to evolve, the overall DePin market size has already surged by over 400% year-on-year to $31.4 billion as of December 2024. With an incoming pro-crypto government in the U.S., multiple reports project this growth trend to persist.
According to Hong Kong-based University of Web3 (UWEB), the cumulative market size of DePINs is forecasted to hit $3.5 trillion by 2028. UWEB’s findings only affirm what Messari, a popular crypto market research and analytics firm, posted in their annual “State of DePIN” report published in 2023.
Messari analysts also predict DePINs to add $10 trillion to the global economy in the next 10 years.
DePin Resilience Indicates Investor Confidence
As the broader crypto market continues to grow – the latest bull run being triggered by the US election results – the growth of DePINs has been relatively consistent, indicating investor confidence in their long-term prospects.
Interestingly, Messari’s “State of DePIN” report, also notes that even during the extended bear period that lasted until Q3 2024, DePIN market size demonstrated a remarkable resilience.
“While the broader crypto market faced a steep 70-90% decline, DePIN revenues experienced a much milder drop of only 20-60% from their peak values,” it reads.
VC Dominance
The combined valuation of DePIN tokens as of December 2024 is in excess of $31 billion. Notably, the majority of the projects have seen an influx of funds from reputed venture capitals and institutional investors. A report published by Coindesk, earlier this year cited Crypto.com’s finding that DePin projects have already raised more than $1 billion in funding.
The increasing and dominant institutional investment leaves a lot of ground for retail investors. While the majority of retail investors are focussed on short-term gains from the increasing prices of top cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, DePINs are becoming increasingly popular amongst investors looking for more stable and long-term investment opportunities.
Why It Matters
DePINs focus on creating physical infrastructure—like telecom networks, IoT devices, or renewable energy grids—supported by decentralized crypto models. Unlike speculative crypto projects, DePINs offer tangible value by solving real-world problems, such as expanding internet access or enabling decentralized transportation systems.
As such, the increasing market size of DePINs is a strong indicator of blockchain technology finding real-world use cases. Moving forward, it is likely that we see DePINs leading the movement of mainstreaming blockchain.
