By: TechFlow

Translated by Carine.W

Introduction

As a media organization deeply rooted in Asia's Web3 market, we have witnessed the explosive growth of DePIN over the past year.

According to Messari's DePIN 2024 report, more than 13 million devices have been deployed as DePIN nodes globally last year.

This sector, which deeply integrates on-chain governance and incentives with real-world assets, not only brings global real-world applications to Web3 but also pioneers an entirely new model of asset collaboration.

Within the Solana ecosystem, DePIN projects have leveraged the low-fee, high-performance on-chain environment to catalyze a series of highly innovative implementations.

However, while deeply observing these projects, we discovered an intriguing phenomenon:

Although DePIN core protocols and projects are predominantly led by Western teams, their development has formed a deep interdependence with Asia. This interdependence is primarily manifested in two aspects: the production and supply of hardware devices, and the demand for large-scale node deployment.

Western protocols, perhaps, still rely on Eastern manufacturing.

Asia or the Asia-Pacific region actually plays a unique dual role in global DePIN development:

On the supply side, Asia possesses a complete DePIN hardware manufacturing supply chain, efficient production organizational capabilities, and significant cost advantages;

On the demand side, the massive population base, high-density urban distribution, combined with an openness to new technologies and acceptance of Web3 and the sharing economy, provide ideal application scenarios for DePIN projects.

TechFlow, through in-depth interviews and research with Asian DePIN projects, attempts to reveal the market landscape of Solana DePIN projects in Asia.

First, we delve into Asian hardware manufacturing clusters to analyze how they support the global DePIN hardware supply chain. Second, through analysis of user behavior in key markets such as Southeast Asia, we present a demand landscape with regional characteristics. Third, we interviewed several benchmark projects already established in Asia, summarizing their localization experiences and strategic adjustments, with special attention to Asian local investment institutions' strategic logic and investment landscape in the DePIN sector.

Through these first-hand materials and case analyses, we hope to provide practical market insights for industry participants.

Supply Side: Asian Manufacturing, Overseas Growth

Hardware, The Physical Foundation of the DePIN Ecosystem

The core of DePIN is binding on-chain governance with real-world assets, and hardware equipment serves as the essential physical infrastructure in this ecosystem.

For most DePIN projects, regardless of whether the project team is based in Europe, America, or Asia, or whether their business covers North America or Africa, hardware equipment must be physically deployed in target regions to activate the network.

Beyond the familiar computer equipment used for "mining," the broader hardware requirements in DePIN include but are not limited to:

• Mining equipment: Helium's LoRaWAN gateways, Starpower's wireless hotspot devices.

• Sensor equipment: Hivemapper's dashboard cameras, DIMO's vehicle data collectors.

• Edge computing equipment: React Network's distributed energy monitoring devices.

Have You Wondered Where the Hardware for These Projects Actually Comes From?

Asia, the globally recognized world factory, plays a crucial role as the key "manufacturer."

Asia: Global Manufacturing Hub for Smart Devices

As is widely known, with the evolution of economic globalization and the shifting landscape of global production division, the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, the Yangtze River Delta region in China, along with Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, etc.) have become the world's largest manufacturing bases for smart devices.

This manufacturing capability in these regions is attractive to DePIN projects worldwide that depend on hardware.

Complete Supply Chain:

• From electronic component production to device assembly, Asia has formed highly integrated industrial clusters.

• Supply chain efficiency: The rapid iteration capability in hardware manufacturing meets the needs of DePIN projects for equipment updates.

Production Capacity and Cost Advantages:

• Public data shows that Asia's production organizational capabilities and relatively inexpensive labor make hardware manufacturing and assembly costs 30%-50% lower than in Europe and America.

• Transportation and distribution capabilities: Asian hardware manufacturers can quickly ship devices globally, supporting DePIN projects in conducting international business.

Talent and Technical Accumulation:

• Decades of hardware manufacturing experience have provided Asia with abundant engineers, technical workers, and supply chain management talent.

Mining Hardware Manufacturing Experience:

• Not to mention, over a decade ago, China and surrounding regions were among the most prosperous areas for Bitcoin mining, with mining hardware manufacturing and node deployment leading the world.

• The technical accumulation and acceptance of these Bitcoin mining industrial chains (such as Bitmain, Canaan, etc.) extending to DePIN hardware naturally provides a smoother "inherited DNA."

DePIN's "front-of-house retail, back-of-house production": Western Protocols, Eastern Manufacturing

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes" --- Mark Twain.

In today's world where global DePIN projects benefit from Asia's manufacturing capabilities, this model has actually been popular since the last century.

We commonly refer to it as 'front-of-house retail, back-of-house production' (a global business model where design/retail and manufacturing are geographically separated).

This concept originally described a business model developed during the early stages of China's reform and opening up, through cooperation between mainland China's Guangdong province and Hong Kong. It used Hong Kong as a transit point to sell goods produced in mainland China to regions such as Europe and America.

Interestingly, from traditional Web2 manufacturing to Web3, you can see a clear business evolution pattern that depends on fixed geographical locations:

• Late 20th century: Hong Kong (front shop) connected with international orders, while the Pearl River Delta (back factory) completed production. The "Four Asian Tigers" (Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) took on manufacturing transfers from the West.

• Early Bitcoin era: Before 2017, China was the world's largest region for Bitcoin mining hardware production and node deployment. Related mining equipment was sold globally with demand exceeding supply, often racing against Bitcoin's "network mining difficulty adjustment" timeline for delivery.

• Rise of DePIN: In recent years, Western/European and American DePIN protocols handle concept narratives, protocol design, marketing, and deployment implementation, while DePIN hardware devices manufactured in Asia are sold to European, American, and global markets through hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore.

As HashKey Group Chairman and CEO Xiao Feng said at last year's Hong Kong Web3 Carnival event:

"DePIN has natural advantages in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta region. This is the global manufacturing base for smart devices, because all Bitcoin mining machines were manufactured in the Greater Bay Area. The first generation of DePIN manufacturing and distribution was in China's Greater Bay Area, and it can be predicted that the future manufacturing and distribution of DePIN devices should also be in the Greater Bay Area."

Meanwhile, leading DePIN projects in the Solana ecosystem have significant dependence on Asian manufacturing for their hardware.

FutureMoney, a crypto asset investment and consulting group with an Asian background, revealed in public research:

"DePIN projects need substantial hardware production capacity to reduce network operating costs. One of the leading DePIN hardware device manufacturers we invested in has supply chains in both China and Vietnam, and supplies hardware to 7 DePIN projects, including DIMO, Hivemapper, and React. For these overseas-native Web3 projects, it is a highly dependent strategic partner."

Case Study: Jambo, Web3 Phones Manufactured in Shenzhen and Sold Globally

Jambo is one of the representative projects in the Solana ecosystem, focusing on hardware devices for the Web3 ecosystem.

Its core objective is to introduce more users to the world of DePIN through cost-effective smartphones.

Jambo's business scope encompasses the design, production, and sales of smartphones, while also providing a range of Web3 application support through its devices, including crypto wallets, decentralized identity (DID), and distributed storage.

Unlike traditional smartphone manufacturers, Jambo's hardware strategy is not profit-driven, but rather uses low-cost hardware devices as an entry point to achieve long-term value through user distribution and ecosystem growth.

The most discussed point is Jambo's $99 phone pricing.

After maintaining this low-price strategy with the first-generation product, the second-generation product kept its price at $99 despite several-fold performance improvements, continuing its "hardware as an entry point" strategy.

This pricing model inevitably depends on hardware cost control.

In a recent podcast by TechFlow, we also invited Jambo's founder James to explore the secret behind this pricing.

Podcast Link:

https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episodes/67c31eccb0167b8db9d306b6

Spotify Link：

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wRdDh1k2GcxHJnYPJq9gG?si=3WcJz90GRJq5LsP3AsJ07g

According to James, Jambo heavily relies on China's manufacturing capabilities in their supply chain, achieving efficient execution from design to mass production, and ensuring stability in hardware quality and component supply.

Clearly, behind their low-cost hardware strategy is a deep exploration and integration of Asian supply chain resources.

"Jambo's operational model differs from many DePIN projects. Many hardware-related DePIN projects typically require pre-sales periods of up to six months or even a year to raise funds, then find manufacturers, and finally complete shipping.

We, however, can directly achieve mass production of hundreds of thousands or even millions of phones because we fully leverage the advantages of our Chinese team.

We have already found three excellent supply chain partners in Shenzhen and Dongguan, ensuring efficient hardware production and stable component supply. For teams whose supply chains are not in China, I guess they need to solve supply chain issues through intermediaries or similar methods."

Beyond their own production experience, the advantages of Asian supply chains have also increasingly attracted other DePIN projects.

For example, Solana's Saga phone—the first generation was priced around $1,000, while the second generation, which shifted to Chinese supply chains, dropped to $500. This illustrates how many Western companies are gradually recognizing the importance of Asian supply chains in cost reduction through continuous iteration.

Ensuring hardware production and delivery capabilities for DePIN projects is what truly matters.

However, James also reminds us, Asian supply chains are not a simple "plug-and-play" model — working with suppliers isn't something that can be completed just by placing orders remotely over the phone.

Setting aside the internet jokes about "all innovative electronic products coming from Huaqiangbei," establishing real partnerships requires visiting factories in person and face-to-face communication with key supply chain managers.

Particularly, many Asian supply chain managers are not familiar with Web2 or Web3 concepts, and it could be said that their thinking follows very traditional manufacturing mindsets—perhaps more appropriately called "Web0."

Therefore, the communication and negotiation process requires investing significant time and energy.

Taking Jambo as an example, convincing three supply chain manufacturers to invest in Jambo during the initial phase, making reverse investments in them, and establishing solid partnerships was an extremely complex negotiation process. This is a model that needs to be built from scratch, not one that comes ready-made.

Overall, these cultural differences may be one reason why Western companies progress more slowly when utilizing Asian supply chains.

But without question, the advantages of Asian supply chains in terms of cost and efficiency are obvious.

Demand Side: Population Characteristics Create a Natural Testing Ground for DePIN

In the previous chapter, we discussed in detail Asia's advantageous position in DePIN hardware manufacturing.

However, Asia's contribution to the DePIN ecosystem extends far beyond this.

As one of the world's most densely populated regions with the most developed mobile payment systems and the most active sharing economy, the Asian market naturally possesses superior conditions to become a testing ground for DePIN applications.

User Behavior and Market Characteristics in the Asia-Pacific Region

1. High Acceptance Level of the Sharing Economy

The success of the sharing economy model in regions like Southeast Asia fully demonstrates the open attitude of Asia-Pacific users toward new economic models.

In countries like Thailand, sharing mobility platforms represented by Grab and Gojek have not only successfully captured the market but have also gradually expanded into multiple fields such as payments, logistics, and food delivery, forming diversified ecosystems.

Meanwhile in mainland China, the penetration level of the sharing economy is even higher.

Data shows that by 2022, China's bike-sharing market size had already exceeded 30 billion yuan and is expected to grow to 42.74 billion yuan by 2025 (Source: 2024 China Bike-Sharing Industry In-Depth Research Report). Similarly, in 2023, domestic shared power banks covered 4.04 million locations, with a penetration rate of 44.7% in first and second-tier cities (Source: 2024 China Shared Power Bank Industry Research Report).

We don't intend to discuss too many more details of the Web2 industry, but from the above data, it's clear that China and Southeast Asia regions have a significantly higher acceptance of sharing economy models, providing an ideal testing ground for DePIN projects.

If we delve into Web3 data, we can also see the natural extension of user behavior against this background.

According to data from depinscan, from a country distribution perspective, China and South Korea are leading in the DePIN adoption race, with 800K+ and 790K+ devices respectively.

Interestingly, emerging markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Nigeria are surpassing traditional tech hubs, highlighting the strong demand outside Western regions. 🤣

Some strategies within the DePIN sector are essentially sharing economy models at their core, allowing individuals or organizations to earn mining rewards or airdrop profits by providing their surplus resources. In Southeast Asia, where per capita income is generally not high, this type of model obviously has more potential to create a widespread trend.

2. Popularity of Idle Mining and Airdrop Hunting Economies

The unique user behavior characteristics of the Asian market provide possibilities for promoting DePIN projects.

Models such as idle mining and "airdrop hunting" economies (earning small profits through low-threshold participation) are particularly popular in Asian markets, especially in China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. These user characteristics can be directly combined with the incentive mechanisms of DePIN projects.

During the previous cycle when GameFi was popular, Play to Earn models represented by AXIE had their highest user participation in Southeast Asia, particularly in regions like the Philippines, which accounted for approximately 30% of the project's total player base. A similar pattern also occurred with StepN.

3. Mobile Internet Penetration: Smartphones as a Powerful Promotion Tool

Asia is one of the regions with the highest mobile internet penetration rates globally, and also the market with the largest number of smartphone users. According to GSMA's "Mobile Economy Report 2023," by 2025, the Asia-Pacific region will have 3.4 billion smartphone users, accounting for over 50% of the global total.

This data has significant implications for DePIN projects:

• The proliferation of smartphones enables users to easily access DePIN applications, such as managing decentralized storage and bandwidth sharing services through their phones.

• Jambo's success case demonstrates that low-cost smartphones can serve as an important entry point for DePIN projects. By providing hardware devices with pre-installed DePIN applications, project teams can directly reach users and reduce promotion costs.

4. Crypto Community Foundation

Additionally, the Asia-Pacific region has become an important component of the global cryptocurrency market, especially users in Chinese-speaking regions and Southeast Asia. In Binance's user distribution, Asia-Pacific users account for up to 70%, including China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan regions, as well as Southeast Asian countries.

Many DePIN projects (such as Helium and Filecoin) have large community sizes in Chinese-speaking circles with high user activity.

This high level of participation and community engagement also provides important support for DePIN projects' ecosystem development. For example, some DePIN projects have attracted a large number of technical talents and users by hosting hackathons, developer conferences, and other events in the Asia-Pacific region.

For any project hoping to enter the DePIN sector, the Asian market is an important region that cannot be ignored. By deeply understanding the demand-side characteristics of this market, project teams can better design products and incentive mechanisms to achieve rapid growth and scalable expansion.

Case Study: CUDIS, When Smart Rings Spontaneously Become Popular in the Japanese Market

When discussing demand in the Asian market, CUDIS is a case worth noting.

As a smart ring product, CUDIS has shown unexpected popularity in the Asian market, especially in Japan. This not only provides insights into how DePIN projects can enter the Asian market but also reflects the consumption potential of Asian users in the health and fitness domains.

CUDIS's core product is a smart ring that combines health monitoring, reward mechanisms, and decentralized data storage functions.

By wearing the ring, users can track health data in real-time, such as heart rate and sleep quality, while also earning rewards by participating in specific activities (like daily step goals). This "stay healthy while earning benefits" model both satisfies users' focus on health and integrates Web3 incentive mechanisms into hardware products.

CUDIS founder Edison revealed in our podcast interview:

Currently, the project's main target markets include the United States, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Among these five countries, three are Asian countries.

Initially, Edison wasn't fully aware of the importance of the Asian market, as the common stereotype suggested that European and American users were more concerned about health and fitness.

However, looking at market performance and internal project data, Asian users' focus on health and fitness is equally high. In this regard, Edison believes this also benefited from projects like StepN, whose success in the Asian market educated a large number of users.

In further discussions, Edison mentioned an unexpected surprise to us — the Japanese market has shown extremely high enthusiasm for CUDIS products.

The Japanese market wasn't developed through CUDIS's active promotion and expansion, but naturally formed under the influence of several influential KOLs.

They noticed CUDIS's products and actively shared related tweets.

This also benefited from CUDIS's invitation mechanism, where users can invite others to purchase after buying a ring and receive rewards. This process attracted participation from some non-crypto users.

These users' understanding of the product is very simple: wear the ring after purchase, not only to earn certain benefits but also to help with health.

Edison stated:

"After our previous WebX event in Japan, we specifically organized a community event with over 100 local Japanese users participating. Since most users only spoke Japanese, we specially arranged for translators. This event gave us a profound sense of the high level of activity among Asian market users. Including the previous 'Social Challenge' activity we did on Twitter, we also saw the enthusiasm of Asian users."

At the same time, we also discovered a noteworthy user profile in our conversation: those CUDIS is facing are not all 'airdrop hunting' users.

"From a comprehensive perspective, Asian users can be divided into two categories. One category consists of low-frequency users who might engage in some 'yield farming' behaviors; the other category consists of users with stronger willingness and ability to pay.

As long as the product has practical significance for them, they are willing to pay for it. This is an important phenomenon we've observed in market promotion, and also a key direction for our future development in the Asian market."

Therefore, this has also led to changes in the "marketing language" when promoting DePIN projects in the Asian market.

That is, communication with these users focuses more on the practical uses of the product while reducing the Web3 aspects, such as how data is recorded, why this data belongs to the users themselves, and the potential value these data might bring to users in the future.

This may be a significant advantage of hardware products like DePIN, as the sense of immersion makes it easier for users to accept the product.

Compared to the high communication costs of explaining underlying technologies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana to users in the past, now with the support of physical products, the threshold for user understanding has been greatly reduced.

Asian Solana DePIN Projects Overview

After understanding the supply and demand sides of Asian DePIN, we have also compiled a list of DePIN projects with Asian backgrounds or products/businesses distributed in Asia. Among them, a batch with distinctive characteristics is as follows.

StarPower

As an energy DePIN project, Starpower aims to build a decentralized energy network with the core concept of a "virtual power plant": a virtual power plant doesn't produce electricity but functions as a dispatch system.

Renewable energy power supply has instability issues, and energy storage costs are expensive. Therefore, virtual power plants are needed to efficiently coordinate demand and supply, improving energy efficiency through "peak shaving and valley filling," saving electricity costs, and reducing carbon emissions. However, traditional virtual power plants cannot effectively connect to residential electricity because the value per household for ordinary residents is low while the access cost is high.

Starpower aims to fill this gap by combining physical devices, blockchain, IoT, and AI technologies: On one hand, it creates smart hardware for consumers and encourages widespread access through token incentives, aggregating small energy resources from homes and businesses to build a decentralized energy network. On the other hand, after obtaining user electricity data under privacy protection, it provides optimal power supply efficiency based on algorithms.

Starpower's planned hardware products include:

• Starplug: Smart socket, priced at $109, currently available for order through the official website.

• Starbattery: Smart battery, priced between $4,000 and $11,500, currently available for pre-order through the official website.

• Starcharger: Smart charger, coming soon.

In addition, Starpower's software products include the Starpower App, designed to integrate various energy devices and provide a unified control and management platform.

According to data from Starpower's official website: Starpower has over 4 million registered users across 781 cities worldwide, with more than 16,821 activated devices, over 80,000 App users, and daily active users exceeding 5,000+. According to the device distribution map on the official website: Europe, Asia, and North America are its main markets, and due to the relatively mature solar energy and peer-to-peer energy markets in Asia, Starpower shows dense distribution in South Korea, Japan, China, India, and various Southeast Asian countries.

In a recent interview, StarPower co-founder Laser revealed: Asian users account for approximately 33% of StarPower's total user base, with Korean users being particularly active, accounting for about 25% of Asian users.

Roam

Dedicated to building a decentralized WiFi roaming network globally, providing enterprise-level WiFi security services, and supporting seamless access to OpenRoaming™ worldwide and self-built WiFi nodes. Notably, Roam is the only Web3 IDP project among the 11 enterprise alliances in the WBA (Wireless Broadband Alliance) OpenRoaming program.

Roam's operating logic is very easy to understand: Users can join the Roam network by contributing their home WiFi. If other users connect to that WiFi, the contributor will receive corresponding credit rewards, which can be exchanged for ROAM tokens.

In addition, Roam has also launched official routers. According to the official website, this product is divided into two models:

• MAX30: priced at $199

• MAX60: priced at $499

By purchasing an official router to join the Roam network, users can obtain additional benefits, including NFTs representing more ecosystem rights and extra credit rewards.

According to official website data: Roam has over 2 million connected devices in more than 140 countries globally, with over 2.33 million downloads. Notably, DePIN Scan data shows a clear trend in Roam's device distribution: areas with more developed networks have higher device coverage, with particularly strong coverage in Asia.

The DePIN Scan device distribution map reveals that multiple Asian countries, including South Korea, China (including eastern China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong), Japan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and the Philippines have dense device concentrations, with South Korea showing especially high density. This demonstrates Roam's extensive penetration in the Asian market.

CUDIS

CUDIS is an AI-driven wearable DePIN product designed to return data ownership to users while enabling monetization of personal health data. It serves as a foundation for a decentralized health platform that allows developers to build healthcare services and conduct research. In the future, CUDIS aims to integrate AI Coach, social features, data rights confirmation, and DePIN into a comprehensive health solution for users.

CUDIS's hardware takes the form of a ring: priced at $349, it has now been updated to version 002. The software product is the CUDIS App, which features a ChatGPT-powered AI health coach that meets the personalized health needs of different users.

In terms of functionality, the battery lasts up to 10 days, and the App comprehensively tracks 9 key body metrics including heart rate, body temperature, and blood oxygen, while supporting 30+ exercise modes.

At the same time, CUDIS has designed a series of daily tasks where users can earn points as rewards for completing check-ins, with these points becoming tokens for exchanging ecosystem cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, the health data recorded by the CUDIS ring is stored on-chain with decentralized privacy protection, giving users control over their data. Once the CUDIS health data marketplace launches in the future, users can decide whether to commercialize their data, earning revenue from their data while promoting the development of the healthcare industry.

Although sales data for the CUDIS ring isn't available on social media channels, Messari's "State of DePIN 2024" report indicates that CUDIS has registered over 2 million heart rate measurements across its user base.

In a recent interview, CUDIS co-founder Edison noted: "Despite launching without any targeted marketing initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, we quickly witnessed significant adoption from users in Japan, Korea, and similar markets."

This regional adoption pattern is further validated by participation metrics from CUDIS's "30-Day Health Challenge" campaign, which showed predominant user engagement from the United States (USA), Korea (KR), and Japan (JP). These metrics clearly demonstrate CUDIS's successful market penetration across Asia, with particularly strong traction in East Asian markets.

Gradient network

Gradient Network is an open edge computing layer built on Solana, designed to connect globally distributed idle computing resources, thereby enhancing interoperability between blockchain networks and making computing inclusive, accessible, and affordable for everyone. In September 2024, the project secured investment from institutions including Pantera Capital, Multicoin Capital, and Sequoia Capital.

Gradient and DAWN both belong to the IP mining project category. Users can earn rewards by joining Gradient's computing network and downloading its mining extension to support AI and Web3 applications.

Previously, Gradient Network launched a lightweight browser extension product called Sentry Nodes, with its core functionality being Taps—short-lived P2P connections used to confirm Sentry Nodes' activity and measure latency. Personal computing devices can easily install Sentry Nodes to become part of a permissionless, globally distributed P2P connection infrastructure and earn rewards.

According to official website data: 1.34 million Sentry Nodes from 193 regions globally have joined the community, establishing over 700 million Taps. Examining the Sentry Nodes distribution map on the official website, we can observe:

Due to current lack of support for mainland China IPs, the mainland China region appears blank. However, outside mainland China, Sentry Nodes are densely distributed across Asian regions including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Beyond Asia, Sentry Nodes also have extensive distribution throughout Europe, North America, and South America.

Jambo

Jambo is an on-chain mobile network project centered around its flagship product, JamboPhone, designed to revolutionize how people engage with the cryptocurrency industry. It prioritizes scalability, security, and user accessibility, simplifying access to digital financial tools while fostering creativity and community.

As a crypto-native smartphone, JamboPhone gained significant attention in the DePIN community in 2024 for its impressive achievements: a $99 price point, 860,000 units shipped, and connections to 9.85 million wallet users. In terms of functionality, JamboPhone features a built-in multi-chain wallet that supports asset storage and management across various mainstream blockchains, helping users easily control their digital assets. Additionally, the phone comes equipped with a DApp store that aggregates high-quality decentralized applications spanning gaming, finance, social networking, and other domains to meet users' diverse needs.

In January 2025, Jambo officially launched its token $J on Solana and listed on Bitget LaunchX, aiming to advance its satellite deployment initiative to connect the global JamboPhone network and expand the coverage of decentralized services.

Many people's first impression of Jambo is that it's an African project, but Jambo maintains inseparable ties with the Chinese market: Jambo co-founder and CEO James grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo but is ethnically Chinese with ancestral roots in Zhejiang province.

Furthermore, JamboPhone's ability to achieve million-unit scale production in such a short time is inextricably linked to powerful Chinese manufacturing capabilities: reportedly, Jambo has established partnerships with three exceptional supply chain partners in Shenzhen and Dongguan to ensure efficient hardware production and stable component supply.

Interestingly, while JamboPhone envisions "enabling millions of people in emerging markets like Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa to access Web3 technology," the $99 Chinese-manufactured device still maintains a strong Chinese-speaking user base.

According to Dune analytics data: in the regional distribution of JamboPhone sales, the Asian market accounts for over 35%, with the Chinese market representing 12% of the Asian market share.

Decharge

DeCharge is dedicated to building a community-driven decentralized electric vehicle charging infrastructure, a strategic positioning that naturally creates close connections with both the Chinese and broader Asian markets.

According to data from British consulting firm RhoMotion, global electric vehicle sales (excluding hybrids) reached approximately 17.1 million units in 2024, representing a 25% year-over-year increase. The Chinese market dominated with 11 million units sold, accounting for 64% of the global share and demonstrating strong market leadership.

Simultaneously, electric vehicle markets in Asian countries such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia are showing rapid growth trends. Independent analytics firm Canalys predicts that by 2025, India's electric vehicle sales will exceed 300,000 units, with new vehicle penetration rates rising to 6% and a compound annual growth rate of 59%.

The flourishing development of electric vehicles across Asia has generated robust demand for charging infrastructure. Against this backdrop, DeCharge, with its decentralized model and community-driven advantages, is poised to achieve rapid expansion in the Asian market, becoming a significant force driving industry transformation.

By the end of 2024, DeCharge had launched a 7-kilowatt charger product called "The Beast," which utilizes DePHY technology and is priced at $1,299. When others use this charging equipment, its purchaser will earn revenue, transforming traditional charging infrastructure into an asset that generates passive income.

Currently, The Beast has been deployed in multiple countries across Asia, the United States, and Europe, demonstrating its potential for global market expansion. According to the official 2024 second-half market report: DeCharge has deployed 282 electric vehicle chargers; total charging time has exceeded 1.1 million minutes; and total charging sessions have surpassed 41,300. Additionally, according to officially disclosed information, the team is actively implementing promotional strategies in India (DeCharge company headquarters), Southeast Asia, and Dubai.

Rona

RONA is a high-performance Web3 gaming ecosystem dedicated to combining advanced hardware with blockchain technology to provide players with immersive gaming experiences and opportunities to earn income through gameplay. By integrating engaging gameplay mechanics, token incentives, and shared AI computational power, RONA aims to create a novel ecosystem where players can both enjoy gaming and achieve economic value.

RONA's core products include hardware gaming devices RONA NEXUS and RONA SYNC, as well as the gaming operating system RONA OS:

Currently, the RONA gaming hardware device is in the pre-sale phase. By integrating advanced game controllers, powerful CPU and GPU components, and a high-resolution LCD screen, the RONA hardware gaming device will provide players with an immersive gaming control experience and vibrant visual effects.

At the same time, Rona also offers earning potential: on one hand, players can earn rewards through Play-to-Earn (P2E); on the other hand, players can receive additional income either by utilizing the device's idle computing power for mining tasks or by sharing GPU resources with the Rona platform to power AI game model development. Furthermore, as more gaming projects join the Rona platform, players will receive airdrops from third-party games.

It's worth noting that although the official website and social media haven't yet disclosed extensive user-level data, Rona is based in Japan, a market with deep foundations in the gaming industry, including a massive player base, rich IP resources, and globally leading gaming hardware companies (such as Sony, Nintendo, etc.).

Additionally, Rona has secured support from several top Japanese traditional and crypto institutions, including Sony, NTT docomo, SBI, ACG, and Jasmy. This strong institutional backing will provide powerful support for the project in game development, hardware innovation, and animation and gaming IP resource integration, further strengthening its competitive advantage in the industry.

WiFi Dabba

Many people view Dabba as the Indian version of Helium. Both are popular Web3 DePIN projects, but Dabba focuses more on consumer WiFi.

Specifically, Dabba has introduced an innovative "managed deployment" model that integrates and authorizes over 100,000 cable operators to deploy your hotspots to the locations across India where they're most needed.

At the same time, for every 1GB of data consumed, local DBT tokens equivalent to the price paid by consumers for that data are burned. These local DBT tokens are only distributed to hotspot owners, who are the people purchasing the actual hardware to provide internet connectivity to users, while local cable operator companies install these devices throughout India.

This approach not only simplifies the hotspot deployment and maintenance process but also enables hundreds of millions of users in India who are eager for WiFi service to access appropriately priced products.

Currently, Dabba has already launched its hardware product, WiFi Dabba Lite, priced at $199. Previously, Dabba planned to roll out 100,000 Dabba Lite devices in India to provide internet services to unconnected Indian users. According to data from explorer.dabba, Dabba has already deployed over 4,000 hotspots across India, connecting more than 72,000 devices.

For a long time, India has faced significant deficiencies in network infrastructure coverage and efficiency. According to data from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India's overall internet penetration rate is only 35%, dropping as low as 20% in rural areas, leaving a large population urgently in need of low-cost internet access solutions.

On the other hand, India's vast territory and complex terrain make the construction and maintenance of traditional network infrastructure prohibitively expensive, resulting in significant disparities in network coverage between urban and rural areas. Centralized networks are prone to congestion during peak hours, further affecting user experience.

Based on these challenges, Dabba's decentralized WiFi solution can utilize resources more efficiently, not only improving network stability and speed but also significantly reducing operational costs. At the same time, the rapid proliferation of smartphones in India and the government's strong push for digital transformation provide Dabba with powerful growth momentum, highlighting its development potential in the Indian market.

Asian VCs Investing in DePIN: An Overview

During the previous cycle, DePIN participation was primarily dominated by European and American institutions. In the current DePIN cycle, more Asian institutions are continuously emerging, indicating the region's growing interest in DePIN.

We have also compiled an overview of Asian investment institutions' positioning in the DePIN sector.

Yzi Labs

Location: Singapore, UAE

Number of investments: 5

Project distribution:

• NYM: Building the next generation privacy infrastructure

• Ankr: Web3 infrastructure providing node-as-a-service

• Privasea: Decentralized privacy computing infrastructure

• Swan Chain: Decentralized AI infrastructure

• CoralApp: Web3 fitness application

Animoca Brands

Location: Hong Kong, China

Number of investments: 7

Project distribution:

• io.net: Decentralized computing network

• GEODNET: Decentralized network for Earth observation

• peaq: Web3 network supporting Internet of Things

• Aethir: Decentralized real-time rendering network

• Hivello: Utilizes idle computer resources to support various DePIN protocols

• Domin Network: Business-oriented DePIN Rollup

• Nodepay: Decentralized bandwidth infrastructure

Waterdrip Capital

Location: China

Number of investments: 15

Project distribution:

• IoTeX: DePIN modular infrastructure platform

• peaq: Web3 network supporting Internet of Things on Polkadot

• Jambo: On-chain mobile network

• Oort: Web3 data infrastructure

• Phala Network: Off-chain computing infrastructure

• Network3: AI training Layer2 network

• Swan Chain: Decentralized AI infrastructure

• SkyX: Decentralized weather network

• AiGO Network: DePIN data network

• ATT: Digital advertising ecosystem

• Nubila Network: Data oracle

• DePHY: All-in-one DePIN framework

• PowerPod: Shared electric vehicle charging network

• Ordz Games: Retro arcade games

• Parasail: Re-staking protocol for staked DePIN assets

IOSG Ventures

Location: Hong Kong, China/ New York

Number of investments: 6

Project distribution:

• IoTeX: DePIN modular infrastructure platform

• Phala Network: Off-chain computing infrastructure

• Theta Network: Media and entertainment-focused blockchain

• Filecoin: Decentralized storage network

• OpenLayer: Modular real data layer

• MXC: Smart city IoT network

FutureMoney

Location: China

Number of Investments: 8

Project Distribution:

• IoTeX: DePIN modular infrastructure platform

• Natix Network: Decentralized camera network

• Pocket Network: Blockchain data ecosystem for Web3 applications

• Nubila Network: Data oracle

• DePHY: All-in-one DePIN framework

• PowerPod: Shared electric vehicle charging network

• JDI Global: Web3 hardware manufacturer

• Hotspotty: All-in-one tools for building and scaling DePIN networks

Foresight Ventures

Location: Hong Kong, China & Singapore

Number of Investments: 7

Project Distribution:

• IoTeX: DePIN modular infrastructure platform

• io.net: Decentralized computing network

• Ola: Bitcoin ecosystem yield-enhancement network

• CUDIS: AI-powered wearable DePIN products

• Glacier Network: Data infrastructure accelerating AI and DePIN

• DePHY: All-in-one DePIN framework

• Parasail: Restaking protocol for staked DePIN assets

Hashed

Location: South Korea

Number of Investments: 2

Project Distribution:

• IoTeX: DePIN modular infrastructure platform

• Jambo: DePIN mobile phone

JDI Global

Location: China (JDI is a hardware manufacturing company)

Number of Investments: 9

Project Distribution:

• Roam: Decentralized global WiFi network

• GEODNET: Decentralized network for Earth observation

• U2U Network: DAG-based blockchain network compatible with EVM

• UXUY: One-stop decentralized exchange

• MXC: Smart city IoT network

• PumpX: Decentralized anonymous communication protocol

• MetaPhone: TON-based smartphone

• DeMR: Decentralized private video streaming infrastructure

• PowerPod: Shared electric vehicle charging network

Conclusion: Asia, the Invisible Pillar of Solana DePIN

Through our observation and research of Solana DePIN projects in the Asian market, we can clearly see that Asia is not only the core region for global hardware manufacturing but also a natural testing ground for DePIN project demand.

From supply chains to user behavior, from hardware manufacturing to market penetration, Asia's role in the DePIN ecosystem is irreplaceable.

On the supply side, Asia, with its complete manufacturing industrial chain and significant cost advantages, provides hardware support for global DePIN projects. The manufacturing capabilities of the Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Delta, and Southeast Asia make hardware production efficient and affordable, becoming the main supply source for global DePIN hardware. This advantage is not limited to hardware manufacturing alone but is further reflected in the deep integration of supply chain efficiency and technical accumulation.

On the demand side, the characteristics of Asian market users naturally align with DePIN's incentive mechanisms. High-density population distribution, acceptance of shared economy models, and the penetration rate of mobile internet make Asia the best testing ground for DePIN application scenarios.

From Jambo's smartphones to CUDIS's smart rings, to the localization strategies of multiple benchmark projects, the enthusiasm and participation demonstrated by Asian users provide DePIN projects with possibilities for rapid expansion.

Furthermore, Asian local investment institutions have begun to emerge in the DePIN sector. Unlike the European and American-dominated landscape of the previous cycle, in this cycle, Asian capital is actively deploying into DePIN projects, showing strong regional influence. This not only provides more financial support for DePIN projects but also promotes their further implementation in the Asian market.

For any project hoping to secure a place in the DePIN sector, deeply understanding the uniqueness of the Asian market and actively integrating into this ecosystem will be key to success.

Regardless of bull or bear markets in crypto, the DePIN story continues.

And Asia will always remain an indispensable part of this story.