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Solana DePIN Report: From "Mining" to "Map", How Can Ordinary People Make Money While Lying Down?
Original text: Dune, Slice Analytics
Compiled by: Yuliya, PANews
Among the many innovations in the blockchain industry, Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) are rapidly emerging as a bridge for bringing real-world assets on-chain. Whether it's shared GPUs, telecommunications networks, or street map collection, DePIN is reshaping the construction and operation of infrastructure through cryptographic incentive mechanisms. Solana is gradually becoming the central platform for this trend, with its high-performance network providing an ideal environment for DePIN projects.
This article is based on the latest research report jointly published by Dune and Slice Analytics, providing an in-depth analysis of the development status, market performance, and on-chain data of several core DePIN projects on Solana. The report data is as of April 22, 2025, offering us a clear picture of this emerging ecosystem and revealing its underlying verifiable growth trajectory.
The concept of DePIN and the advantages of Solana
What is DePIN?
Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) are an innovative model that utilizes cryptocurrency incentive mechanisms to initiate and operate real-world infrastructure. These projects typically target markets with strong demand but inefficient supply, activating idle resources (such as spare GPUs, wireless bandwidth, etc.). Unlike traditional infrastructure models dominated by large enterprises, DePIN distributes ownership to individuals, thereby increasing efficiency, enhancing resilience, and expanding accessibility.
Why choose Solana?
Solana, with its high throughput, low transaction fees, and composable infrastructure, has become the ideal platform for transparent scaling of DePIN applications. Its thriving ecosystem and strong developer community are making it the center of this emerging field. As Amira Valliani, head of DePIN at the Solana Foundation, said:
"DePIN is about to reach escape velocity. This innovative business model has proven its ability to scale physical infrastructure networks faster and cheaper in a community-driven way - and all of this is happening on Solana. The world's largest DePIN project chose to build on Solana because of its high performance and active capital markets, as well as its thriving community ecosystem."
DePIN Market Overview
As of April 2025, the total market capitalization of global DePIN projects (excluding independent projects L1/chains) has reached $7.1 billion, with DePIN projects on Solana having a total market capitalization of $3.25 billion, leading EVM ($2.84 billion) and other blockchain platforms such as Cosmos ($652.5 million), Cardano ($195.2 million), and Sora ($160.1 million).
Based on the average market capitalization of each project, Solana leads again with $191.3 million, followed by Cardano ($97.6 million), Cosmos ($93.2 million), Sora ($80.1 million), and EVM ($40.6 million).
Project Category Distribution
The DePIN project is mainly divided into five categories:
Compute: Holds a market share of 71.2%, providing decentralized processing power, GPU, and computing infrastructure, such as Render, io.net, Nosana, LooPIN Network, Hivello.
Wireless: Accounts for 22.2% market share, providing community-driven wireless and mobile access networks, such as Helium, ROAM Token, Helium Mobile.
Sensor: Collects real-world data through distributed sensing devices, such as Hivemapper, Geodnet, WeatherXM, NATIX Network.
Server: Provides distributed cloud and storage servers for hosting or accessing data, such as Shadow Token, ScPrime.
AI: A decentralized network supporting AI data generation, annotation, or robotics technology, such as UpRock and Homebrew Robotics Club.
The computing and wireless categories together account for 93.4% of the market share and also represent the highest average market value category. Computing networks such as Render and io.net provide high market value utility tokens for AI workloads, while wireless projects like Helium and ROAM represent the most mature and widely adopted infrastructure layer.
Node Growth and Network Participation
As of April 22, 2025, the total number of registered on-chain nodes for DePIN projects on Solana has reached 238,165. DePIN nodes are units of physical or digital infrastructure, such as GPUs, IoT hotspots, or dashcams, that perform key network functions such as computing, data collection, or wireless transmission. The growth in the number of nodes reflects the scale, degree of decentralization, and practicality of the network; more nodes typically mean stronger coverage, higher participation, and reliability.
In terms of node growth, the Solana DePIN project shows significant changes. Hivemapper initially led, but Helium quickly surpassed it after the launch of Helium Mobile and now occupies over 60% of the new node share. Although Render contributes fewer new nodes, it leads in revenue per node. Nosana gained traction in early 2025, while Uprock flattened out after rapid growth at the end of 2024.
On-chain network income
With the maturation of the cryptocurrency industry, on-chain revenue has become a key indicator for assessing the feasibility of projects, product-market fit, and sustainable business models. As of April 22, 2025, the total on-chain revenue of DePIN projects on Solana reached $5.98 million.
The DePIN project's revenue on Solana has grown steadily, from approximately $4,000 per week in April 2023 to over $100,000 per week in early 2025, peaking at $130,000 in mid-April. Helium was the top earner per week at $60,000 (60% share), while Render led the way in total revenue ($2.65 million vs. Helium's $2.3 million). Render also holds the record for a peak weekly revenue of $300,000 set at the end of 2024. These trends highlight the rising adoption rate, with each project gaining traction at different points in the DePIN growth cycle.
Main Project Analysis
Helium is a decentralized wireless network that enables individuals to deploy hotspots and provide low-cost, secure connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile devices. Users earn HNT token rewards by expanding coverage and routing data.
Important milestone:
2013: Helium was founded
2019: Helium hotspots launched, allowing users to earn HNT for coverage.
2023: Migration to Solana for enhanced scalability and speed
2024: Public launch of Helium Mobile, a decentralized 5G service
2025: Launch of Zero Plan, the first free 5G mobile plan in the United States.
2025: SEC dismisses the lawsuit against Nova Labs, confirming that Helium's token model does not violate securities laws.
2025: Helium partners with AT&T to provide nationwide Wi-Fi coverage
Key Data:
Total subscribed users: 176,301
Total nodes: 69,449
Total on-chain revenue: $2.29 million
The growth of Helium's subscription users has been significantly influenced by clear product-driven inflection points. Within a week of the official launch of Helium Mobile in January 2024, the number of new subscribers reached 10,300, facilitating more hotspot deployments and network expansion. Subsequently, the launch of the Zero Plan (the first free 5G mobile plan in the U.S.) in February 2025 triggered a second wave of growth, quickly filling the waiting list. After the free plan was opened to everyone in April, the number of users peaked again at 10,000.
As of the reporting period, Helium has reached a total of 176,301 subscribers and a total of 69,449 nodes. The composition of nodes shows a continuously changing trend, with particularly strong growth in the mobile data dedicated category. The report notes that two major events drove the peak in node deployment. The first was the collaboration with Ameriband in October 2024, which added over 100,000 data-only hotspots at retail and commercial sites in the United States; the second was the acceleration of user growth after the waiting list for the Zero Plan was lifted in April 2025.
Helium generates on-chain revenue through its unique burn-mint model, allowing users to convert HNT into non-transferable data credits (DCs) to access services on its IoT and mobile networks. Specifically, mobile data is charged at $0.50 per gigabyte (i.e., 50,000 DCs), while IoT usage is charged incrementally per 24-byte message. Company revenue has been steadily increasing, setting a record of $66,000 per week in December 2024 and reaching a sustained peak of $63,000 per week again in April 2025.
Hivemapper is a decentralized, community-driven map network where users collect street-level images using dash cams to earn HONEY token rewards. By turning everyday driving into a data source, Hivemapper provides fresher and more dynamic maps for sectors such as transportation, logistics, and autonomous driving.
Important Milestone:
2022: Launched the Hivemapper network and HONEY token
2023: The unique road mileage of network mapping exceeds 1 million.
2024: Launch of the Bee Dashcam for high-quality image capture
2024: Launch of Beekeeper, a fleet management tool with no SaaS lock-in.
2025: Bee Maps begins to provide services for major clients such as TomTom, Mapbox, and Trimble.
Key Data:
Total number of nodes: 77,483
Weekly rewards: over $60,000 HONEY
As of April 2025, the network has 77,483 nodes, most of which are active in AI training and bounty activities; however, less than 10% of the nodes are rewarded for map coverage. Despite Hivemapper's weekly rewards declining from a peak of $1.4 million in December 2023, the network still distributes over $60,000 in HONEY tokens every week. Notably, while less than 10% of nodes actively contribute to map coverage, these nodes consistently receive around 80% of the total rewards.
Hivemapper generates revenue by selling Map Credits (each worth $0.005), which are purchased through burning HONEY tokens to access map data. Revenue trends indicate a peak of $30,000 per week by the end of 2023, and it is expected to exceed $50,000 per week during April to May 2024.
Render Network is a high-performance distributed GPU rendering network that leverages industry-leading software from OTOY Inc. to facilitate a compute marketplace between GPU providers and requesters. GPU owners can monetize idle GPUs by providing computing power to creators seeking rendering resources. It offers scalable and cost-effective rendering services for 3D graphics, dynamic design, and AI workloads.
Important Milestone:
2021: Render decentralized rendering network launched
2023: Migration to Solana and upgrade of the token to RENDER
2024: Integrating OctaneRender for Blender via RNP-017
Key Data:
Active on-chain nodes: 3,784
Burned RENDER tokens: over 121 million
Tokens distributed to node operators: over 2.4 million
The Render network allows anyone with idle GPU capacity to become a node operator, contributing computing power for decentralized rendering and AI infrastructure. Node operators rent their GPU capacity to artists, studios, and AI developers who need scalable, on-demand computing, and in return, they receive RENDER tokens.
As of April 2025, Render Network has 3,784 active on-chain nodes, providing decentralized computing power for the growing ecosystem of creative and AI applications. To date, users have burned over 121 million RENDER tokens to access GPU capabilities, while more than 2.4 million tokens have been minted as rewards for node operators, indicating healthy demand and active participation in the ecosystem. Previous reports showed that revenue peaked at nearly $300,000 per week from November to December 2024, thanks to key upgrades (RNP-016 to 018), expanded artist incentives, and the Advent Calendar event featuring free GPU credits and prizes. Another significant peak occurred in mid-April 2025, with weekly revenue reaching $70,000, indicating a resurgence in creator demand and network adoption.
Nosana is a decentralized computing network where users can run AI inference tasks through a global network of GPU hosts. Participants register their idle GPUs as nodes and earn $NOS tokens by completing tasks in the network's specific job market. Nosana's solution provides a scalable, censorship-resistant alternative that leverages underutilized global GPU resources to offer a more cost-effective option for AI computing.
Important Milestone:
2024: Launch of the Global Test Grid
2024: Release Node V2, significantly improve performance
2025: GPU Market Mainnet Launch
Key Data:
Global node count: over 4,200
Daily active nodes: increased from an average of 300 in 2024 to over 600 in 2025.
In January 2025, Nosana officially launched its decentralized GPU marketplace to the public. This release, after a year of closed testing, sparked a significant increase in node activity: daily active nodes rose from an average of 300 in 2024 to over 600, peaking at over 800 in March 2025. This growth indicates a continually increasing adoption rate among GPU hosts and AI developers.
Over 4,200 nodes have joined globally, and Nosana has demonstrated scalable performance and ongoing activity, becoming a strong decentralized alternative to traditional computing providers. Its on-chain activities are driven by the interaction between node operators and the labor market, reflecting the actual usage of its decentralized GPU network. The network reached a historic peak of over 200,000 operations per week in May 2024 and stabilized at around 80,000 operations, showing a healthy and sustained demand for computing tasks.
Most activities come from three key instruction types: creating new job positions, queuing nodes to execute tasks, and completing tasks and paying rewards. These three instructions represent the core work lifecycle on the network and maintain a relatively stable usage pattern. Less frequently occurring instructions such as stop, exit, and clean up appear about 1,000 times a week, showing a lower early task termination or cleanup rate, which further indicates good alignment of system stability and incentive mechanisms.
UpRock is a decentralized data intelligence network driven by a mobile-first DePIN model. Users can share unused internet bandwidth and computing power through the UpRock app, transforming everyday devices into passive data contributors, thus earning $UPT tokens. These resources provide real-time, geographically diverse, and censorship-resistant data support for AI models.
UpRock monetizes through SaaS subscriptions and pay-per-use APIs, with a portion of the revenue used for on-chain $UPT token buybacks, funding rewards for contributors and strengthening the ecosystem. After reaching a peak of over $3,000 in weekly on-chain network revenue in February 2025, the revenue has remained stable at $1,500 per week.
Conclusion and Key Insights
Solana's Leadership in the DePIN Field: If the protocol chooses not to launch its own independent L1/blockchain, Solana has become the leading chain in DePIN, with a total market value of DePIN projects reaching $3.25 billion, and an average market value of $191.3 million per project.
On-chain activity proves the actual value of DePIN: DePIN is not just a narrative. Projects like Helium, Render, and Hivemapper have collectively generated nearly $6 million in on-chain network revenue, which is a strong signal of real product-market fit.
Computing and wireless categories dominate the market: computing ( 71.2% ) and wireless ( 22.2% ) categories lead the market share in the Solana DePIN field with a total of 93.4% (.
Node growth and service adoption accelerate: Helium surpasses 176,000 mobile users and 69,000 nodes, while Hivemapper and Render continue to expand their contributor base. Nosana's active node count doubled after the mainnet launch.
The transparency challenge persists: Despite having practical applications, DePIN remains one of the most difficult areas of crypto to track on-chain activities, as it relies on off-chain hardware and third-party integrations. Although progress has been made, fully transparent and consistent on-chain measurements are still a work in progress.