The Integration of DePIN and AI: Opening a New Era of Smart Economy

On February 18, a cutting-edge forum focusing on the integration of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) and artificial intelligence (AI) was successfully held in Hong Kong. The event attracted more than 800 registrations, with over 250 industry leaders, technology developers, investors, and various individuals interested in emerging technology trends attending to discuss the immense potential and future opportunities brought about by the combination of DePIN and AI.

DePIN+AI: Landscape, Current Status and Paradigm Shift

At the beginning of the event, representatives of the organizers jointly delivered a keynote speech titled "DePIN+AI: Landscape, Current Status, and Paradigm Shift." In recent years, artificial intelligence technology has experienced explosive growth, attracting a large amount of venture capital. According to relevant analytical data, the investment in the AI sector has risen from $1 billion in 2010 to an estimated $78 billion by 2024. Data analysis shows that most investments are concentrated in Series A, indicating that capital prefers AI startups and is willing to obtain excess returns through long-term support. Meanwhile, the massive investments from tech giants have further fueled this trend.

The speech specifically mentioned that market.us predicts the market for agent-based artificial intelligence in the AI sector is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, increasing from $520 million in 2024 to $196.6 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of up to 43.8%. This assessment is based on the profound impact of AI on the labor market. As AI capabilities enhance, production costs are shifting from labor to software. As customer service demand increases compared to today, the cost per interaction will decrease, leading to greater cost savings.

In this transformation, AI has a huge demand for DePIN resources in four areas: computing power, bandwidth, energy, and data. From the situation of several companies, some clues can be found. In the computing power sector, a company's quarterly revenue has increased fivefold over the past three years. Similarly, the construction of data centers in North America in the bandwidth sector has also increased fivefold in the past three years; in the energy sector, only two companies require 16GW; in the data sector, large companies invest over $500 million annually to purchase wholesale data to train AI models.

The current status of the DePIN market shows that in the fields of wireless transmission, computing, energy, and identity verification, the market share of DePIN projects is still relatively small. Although the number of DePIN projects has increased from 100 in 2022 to 1,170 in 2024, the market capitalization has skyrocketed from $5 billion to $50 billion, and the active node rate has risen from 2% to over 50%, the overall share of DePIN accounts for only 0.1% of the trillion-dollar AI market, which has a growth potential of 100 to 1,000 times.

Highlights and Outlook

The event also detailed the DePIN+AI classic framework, Quicksilver. This is an open-source integration framework that combines large language models (LLMs) with DePIN, supporting the integration of different DePIN projects through adapters and plugins, and providing the necessary tools and interfaces for training AI Agents. Quicksilver offers modules such as authentication, blockchain wallets, and verifiable computing, allowing AI Agents to leverage the data and resources provided by Quicksilver to perform various tasks, such as data analysis, decision support, and automation.

"modeling"

The first Physical AI "Bino AI" under the Quicksilver framework has been developed. Bino AI integrates multiple DePIN networks, granting the AI Agent real-time perception and decision-making capabilities.

This event not only provided attendees with a platform to gain an in-depth understanding of the integration trends between DePIN and AI, but also showcased innovative applications and future development directions in this field through practical cases. Attendees reached a consensus on the key role of DePIN in a resource-intensive future driven by AI, and expressed high interest in the strong potential demonstrated by the Quicksilver framework. With continuous technological advancements and the gradual improvement of the policy environment, DePIN + AI is expected to become an important force in driving the development of the global intelligent economy.