The 5 Best DePIN Crypto Tokens in 2024

The emergence of blockchain technology has enabled the decentralization of key societal structures. Finance is by far the most prominent example of this, with the user-base of decentralized finance (DeFi) having increased by more than 14,000% since 2019.

The latest major application of this technology is physical infrastructure, otherwise known as Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN). In a nutshell, these networks use tokens to incentivize the building of major real world infrastructure such as telecommunications and electric vehicle charging.

Being a freshly-emerging development in blockchain technology, some projects in this area could be among the best crypto to buy in 2024. With this in mind, we have compiled and reviewed a list of the best DePIN tokens available today.

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Our picks of the best DePIN coins to buy in 2024

Here is a quick summary of our picks for the best DePIN projects to invest in.

eTukTuk (TUK): Revolutionizing transport infrastructure in developing nations with a fleet of all-electric Tuk-Tuks and an AI-integrated, blockchain-powered charging grid.
Filecoin (FIL): The biggest DePIN project by market cap, Filecoin is responsible for pioneering decentralized storage solutions. Users can earn the project’s native token, $FIL, by contributing disk space.
Helium Network (HNT): Helium is building the next-generation of wireless networks. It offers users a safer, cheaper alternative to standard internet services by providing user-owned decentralized wifi hotspots.
Render (RNDR): This project taps into the digital art space, leveraging the Solana network to connect artists with enhanced GPU capabilities. Users are encouraged to contribute GPU resources, and are rewarded in $RENDER.
HealthBlocks (HEALTH): HealthBlocks is bringing blockchain technology to the medical industry, with a view to encouraging healthy living on a wide scale. The project rewards users with tokens in exchange for contributing health data.

A Closer Look at the Best DePIN Tokens Available in 2024

With DePIN being a fresh and often complex area, we will now break down our picks in greater detail, analyzing the mechanics and attributes of each project.

1. eTukTuk (TUK) – AI-powered DePIN sustainable transportation improving real world infrastructure

With over 270 million Tuk-Tuks and other similar vehicles polluting the atmosphere, developing nations are responsible for 63% of the world’s carbon emissions.

eTukTuk is on a mission to tackle this, building a network of proprietary electric Tuk-Tuk’s and a dedicated charging infrastructure. The goal, it says, is to tackle financial exclusion in the renewable energy space, making sustainable transportation accessible to all.

Behind all of this is a combination of AI and Binance Smart Chain Technology, with everything being based around native crypto token $TUK. You can buy and stake tokens offering an estimated 85% in annual rewards while awaiting the token claim date. This project could be considered one of the best crypto active ICOs among the other DePin coins reviewed.

$TUK’s primary utility is to act as a payment and reward method for eTukTuk drivers. Using the project’s Crazy Taxi-style play-to-earn game, drivers can earn rewards for completing timely trips, and can spend them at eTukTuk charging stations.

New Bybit listings, Listings on Bybit | eTukTuk presale 24-08 — eTukTuk presale | Source

eTukTuk also offers lucrative staking incentives, with its Power Staking feature allowing users to earn a share of the charging network’s revenue. The project aims to utilize the full potential of blockchain technology to create a circular economic model that promotes eco-friendly transport.

Taking the unique ethos and attractive utility into account, eTukTuk is comfortably our number-one pick for the top DePIN coins in 2024.

Total Tokens	2 million
Market capitalization	$200 million
Blockchain	BNB Network
Token type	BEP-20

Pros

Contribute to reducing CO2 emissions
Project has an existing revenue and payment model
Targeting a viable industry which requires innovation

Cons

No timeline for EV production
Corruption in developing nations can hinder progress

Visit eTukTuk Presale

2. Filecoin (FIL) – Digital storage and retrieval solution built on blockchain technology

Filecoin is a DePIN crypto project designed to create a decentralized answer to traditional, centralized storage solutions such as Google Cloud, Dropbox or Amazon Web Services.

Built on the InterPlanetary File System Protocol (IPFS), Filecoin’s simple mission is to utilize unused storage to create an efficient and low-cost storage solution available worldwide.

To support this mission, the project has established an ecosystem in which individuals volunteer to contribute disk space, and are increasingly rewarded over time via the project’s proprietary currency, $FIL.

Similarly, users that wish to pay for storage must do so using $FIL. Thus, a robust marketplace surrounding $FIL is established.

Safety and security is the lynchpin of the Filecoin ethos. At the hands of the IPFS protocol, the need for a central server to track data is eliminated, meaning that users avoid having to allow large corporations to view their data in order to store it.

Best DePIN - FileCoin — Filecoin promo image

Moreover, all storage contributions are required to pass quality control tests. In theory, this means that Filecoin enables access to industry-standard storage solutions at a fraction of the price.

This unique utility and widespread appeal has clearly gone a long way. Filecoin is currently one of the most valuable DePIN coins available with a market capitalization of $4.1bn ($1.3bn greater than its closest competitor), with a 24-hour trade volume of $371,000.

Total Tokens	1.9 Billion
Market capitalization	$4 billion
Blockchain	BNB Network
Token type	BEP-20

Pros

Existing product that is eatablished
Project has a viable use case
Follows current popular DePIN narrative

Cons

New competitors could be better
No guarantee that it will be the primary solution

3. Helium Network (HNT) – Decentralized physical infrastructure networks for the wireless economy

Helium Network is a DePIN crypto project aiming to disrupt the wireless connectivity space, offering users a more secure and cost-effective alternative to standard internet services by creating user-owned hotspots.

Much like the Filecoin ecosystem, users are invited to contribute to Helium’s real world infrastructure of wireless networks. By running decentralized wifi hotspots, network participants are rewarded with the project’s native currency, $HNT. In turn, customers can pay to access the Helium Network by paying with $HNT, creating a trustless and circular economic model.

The Helium Network has grown exponentially using this model. It now boasts over 88,000 hotspots in 8,000 cities across the globe, and is also expanding into 5G.

Best DePIN - Helium — Helium Network token features | Source

The project also unveiled a major development in December 2023 as it announced a $20 per month mobile phone tariff, using Helium’s network of 5G hotspots to offer unlimited talk, text and data. With this, Helium Network is aiming to directly challenge centralized telecom operators by offering a community-owned, cost-effective alternative.

Much like with the project’s other services, users who contribute their hotspot nodes are rewarded with tokens that can be redeemed against the $20 monthly fee.

It is clear that this project has the potential for exceptionally broad appeal, and this reflects in its value having soared more than 250% in the 12 months to February 2024. With this in mind, it comfortably makes our list of the top DePIN crypto projects available today.

Total Tokens	160 million
Market capitalization	$1.4 billion
Blockchain	Solana
Token type	SOL

Pros

Earn for simply running a wifi hotspot
Pay for internet in $HNT
Existing decentralized physical infrastructure networks

Cons

$HNT network rewards can vary
Rewards depend on if you are connected to a good hotspot map hexagon

4. Render (RNDR) – Democratized, globally-accessible GPU rendering

Render is aiming to utilize blockchain technology to disrupt the digital art space, branding itself as the first decentralized GPU rendering platform.

From a utility perspective, it allows digital artists to use GPU nodes across the world to make real-time, next-generation rendering widely and affordably available.

This is made possible due to Render’s mission to “democratize” GPU cloud rendering. In effect, Render creates decentralized physical infrastucture networks that anyone with access to a GPU can sign up to. Node operators can offer their GPU processing power to creators and visual designers who require computing resources. In return, contributors receive $RNDR, the project’s native token.

This system not only makes rendering cheaper, but much faster too, with the project enabling work to be completed by multiple computers simultaneously.

Given the size of the global digital art community, it is no surprise that $RNDR occupies a comfortable 2nd place in the list of DePIN coins by market cap, boasting a total value of more than $2.8bn.

This DePIN coin has also seen an exceptionally strong start to 2024, hitting the $7 mark for the first time since November 2021.

Total Tokens	531 million
Market capitalization	$2.7 billion
Blockchain	Ethereum
Token type	ERC-20

Pros

Make use of idle GPUs
Creators can use rendering power as and when needed
Artists have no need to purchase their own expensive hardware

Cons

Running GPU node may require high amounts of electric
Computation power may not be enough on small node operators

5. HealthBlocks (HEALTH) – Bringing decentralization to health data with native XRC-20 token

HealthBlocks is bringing the DePIN revolution to the medical and healthcare industry, with a view to encouraging healthy living on a wide scale.

The core aim of the web3 health app is to encourage users to lead a healthy lifestyle, and reward them accordingly.

Users simply participate by connecting their smartphone (or fitness device such as smartwatch or smart scale), logging health data such as heart rate, sleep data, workout reports and calorie consumption, and submitting it to the platform.

This data is then assessed based on the quantity and quality of the data, and users are rewarded with $HEALTH, the project’s native XRC-20 token.

There are also a number of additional challenges that users can work towards, such as a particular number of steps or calorie intake. Incentives will be distributed accordingly upon completion of these challenges.

Much like other DePIN crypto projects, the creators of HealthBlocks state that the primary aim is decentralization, going against the grain of the wider healthcare industry by allowing users to “take back control of their health and data”.

With widely-applicable utility, and with the project still in beta phase, HealthBlocks is one of the top DePIN crypto coins arguably bears considerable potential.

Pros

Innovating in a viable industry sector
Decentralized and trustless data storage
No central authority selling your private data

Cons

May take a while to get global organisations to use it
Still in beta phase

Best DePIN coins comparison table

Cryptocurrency	Ticker	Launched in	Blockchain
eTukTuk	TUK	2024	BNB Chain
Filecoin	FIL	2017	BNB Chain
Helium Network	HNT	2019	Solana
Render	RNDR	2017	Ethereum, Solana, Polygon
Health Blocks	HEALTH	2019	Ethereum

What is DePIN?

Being a new and fast-emerging trend in the blockchain space, investors may be less familiar with DePIN coins than other areas of cryptocurrency and web3. With that in mind, here is a quick summary of DePIN.

How does DePIN work?

From DeFi coins to NFTs, the general concept of decentralization has been thrust further into the mainstream in recent years. In a nutshell, this describes the collective ownership of an ecosystem, rather than it being owned by some kind of official authority.

Crucially, this model is now expanding beyond the digital world and being applied to physical real world infrastructure projects. A few prominent examples include eTukTuk’s fleet of electric vehicles, or Helium’s 80,000-strong WiFi hotspot network.

Whether the application be a decentralized energy grid or cloud storage, DePINs work in effectively the same way as any cryptocurrency project. In a nutshell, every transaction is documented on a blockchain (digital ledger).

The other key component of these transactions are Smart Contracts, which are contracts that are stored on the blockchain. Their purpose is to automate purchase agreements between two parties, making them secure and irreversible.

Applications of DePIN

As is the case with all aspects of blockchain technology, the scope for application in the world of DePIN is virtually limitless. Here are some of the stand-out examples in the DePIN space today:

Cloud storage: This is probably the most prominent area in which decentralized wireless networks are being leveraged. The majority of DePIN crypto projects in this area take a similar approach; namely, they incentivize users to contribute their unused disk space in return for tokens. Key players include Filecoin, Arweave and Storj.
Telecommunications: Cost of maintenance and infrastructure is causing pressures in the telecom sector. This, combined with the ever-increasing demand for data and connectivity, has opened the door to DePIN. Much like with decentralized cloud storage, DePIN in telecoms relies on community contributions, with individuals ‘donating’ hotspot nodes in return for token rewards. Key players include Helium, NATIX and Chirp.
Media streaming: Streaming’s cultural relevance in the wider world reflects its growing prominence in the DePIN space. In an attempt to wrestle control of the industry away from 3rd party corporations, projects like Theta are allowing users to contribute spare bandwidth for video streaming in return for token rewards. Key players include Theta and LBRY.

Advantages of DePIN

With the proven ability to impact virtually any major industry, it is clear that the rise of DePIN is a significant development in the modern world. Here are a few of the standout advantages it could offer:

Robustness: The use of a network of substitutable nodes means there is no centralized point of failure.
Affordability: The pooling of resources across a broad community versus a monopolistic entity means that fairness is prioritized.
Democracy: The community-owned model means that there is equal opportunity for all to both consume and contribute to the product.
Innovation: Open frameworks encourage the development of new applications.
Sustainability: Communities are kept engaged through reward systems, incentivizing them to continue contributing and innovating, thus improving quality and utility for all.

Our verdict on the top DePIN coins to invest in 2024

It is clear, then, that DePIN has the potential to go beyond finance and impact multiple key industries, touching the lives of countless people. Standout examples of this are cloud storage, digital art, media streaming and healthcare.

More specifically, eTukTuk stands out to us as a particularly exciting and innovative DePIN crypto project. A textbook example of the power of decentralization, its mission is to reduce carbon emissions in the developing world by revolutionizing the transportation system with electric Tuk-Tuks and proprietary charging infrastructure.

Moreover, the project has raised close to $1.5 in just a few months of presale, with tokens still available at less than $0.03. This combination of value and utility makes it an easy pick for our best DePIN project available in 2024.

Methodology

Our research process includes consultation with several in-house cryptocurrency and investment experts with more than a decade of combined experience. Our team created a shortlist, and we then analyzed each project, its online sentiment, and the details about its presale and roadmap objective. This ensures multiple aspects of a project are scrutinized when determining whether it can be considered one of the top DePIN coins in 2024.

FAQs

What is the Best DePIN Coin to Buy?

Simply due to its combination of unique utility, growing popularity and upside potential, our expert panel unanimously selected eTukTuk as the best DePIN crypto project to invest in today.

Are DePIN Coins Legit?

Caution is always critical with any investment, whether it is based on blockchain technology or not. That being said, there are countless DePIN projects that boast high levels of safety and utility. Investors must simply conduct research into each project, and weight up the potential challenges and limitations of the token before investing.

What Role do DePIN Tokens Play?

DePIN coins, with their ability to cross over with almost any industry, have exceptionally wide application. In general, the ability to establish decentralized networks within certain sectors could be critical in terms of quality, cost-effectiveness and sustainability.