New Trends in the DePIN Track: Integration with AI

In recent years, the decentralized physical infrastructure network ( DePIN ) field has experienced rapid development, giving rise to several well-known projects. With the advancement of artificial intelligence technology, market attention has gradually shifted towards the AI field. However, DePIN has not stagnated; instead, it is actively seeking innovation, with one of the most notable trends being its integration with AI. We can understand the changes occurring in the DePIN sector by analyzing Roam, a representative project.

The Essence of DePIN

DePIN is a system that encourages users to share personal resources to build infrastructure networks through a token incentive mechanism. These resources include storage space, communication bandwidth, cloud computing, and energy, among others. The core of DePIN lies in the efficient integration of resources, directing them to the demand side.

It can be mainly divided into three categories:

1. Storage Type: Provides cloud storage services
2. Computing Power: Decentralized GPU Rendering Platform
3. Network category: Building a global WIFI network through token incentives.

DePIN is similar to Bitcoin, requiring an initial investment to purchase physical equipment and then continuous mining. Because it connects with the real world, it is not a closed system, bringing positive impacts to the entire industry.

Current Status of the DePIN Market

According to data from DepinScan, DePIN has approximately 4.56 million devices in nearly 200 countries and regions around the world, with a market value of 7.1 billion USD. Among them, Roam has the highest number of devices, reaching 1.18 million.

DePIN devices are mainly distributed in the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia, with a particularly high concentration in Southeast Asia, including India, Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan. South Korea has the highest participation, indicating a strong atmosphere for the cryptocurrency industry in the country.

Overall, DePIN is triggering a new round of wealth effects, and the Southeast Asian region is fully leveraging its manufacturing and human resource advantages to invest wholeheartedly in this field.

Introduction to the Roam Project

Roam is a representative of the network segment in DePIN and can be seen as a combination of Web3 and WIFI, representing a decentralized wireless network and telecommunications operator.

Roam offers a variety of products, including WIFI hardware and eSIM cards. Users can purchase dedicated hardware for mining or apply for an eSIM card to earn free data by completing tasks. The Roam APP allows users to connect to nearby WiFi networks for free and earn points or eSIM rewards by adding or checking in at WiFi.

In the technical architecture of Roam, the Roam telecom data layer is the core concept, which is realized through four main ecological modules.

1. Roam Network: Responsible for the construction of physical and digital infrastructure of the network.
2. Roam Growth: Promote user participation in network construction through incentive mechanisms.
3. Roam Discovery: Supporting and incubating new projects, driving innovation.
4. Roam Community: Focused on community building and governance.

The Integration of Roam and AI

Roam is actively integrating with AI technology, leveraging its advantages in communication data to provide high-quality data for AI projects. In the field of AI, data is one of the key elements, and communication data is often monopolized by traditional operators. Roam has addressed this challenge through innovative methods.

Users participating in the construction of OpenRoaming can receive free eSIM data rewards, while the data generated can serve as a data source for AI companies under the premise of protecting privacy. Roam adopts decentralized identity, verifiable credentials, and zero-knowledge proof technologies to ensure that user privacy is not compromised.

The Roam Discovery Program is expanding its service scope by collaborating with multiple DePIN ecosystem partners to build a rich ecosystem of AI training datasets. This collaborative model not only broadens data sources but also enhances data quality.

Roam's data services go far beyond providing basic communication data. By collaborating deeply with partners in various fields, Roam is able to integrate and provide multidimensional data resources, including real-time weather monitoring, globally distributed CDN services, renewable energy usage, decentralized identity verification, innovative payment and lending behavior data, and more.

In addition, Roam can also collect and process behavioral data generated by AI agents in social interactions and payment transactions, as well as operational status information from various intelligent systems, providing comprehensive support for AI model training and optimization.

How Regular Users Can Participate

The rapid development of Roam is mainly attributed to two strategies: free and airdrop.

As a decentralized telecom operator, Roam offers users free data, which can be obtained by completing tasks. This approach is highly attractive.

On the other hand, while purchasing dedicated hardware can accelerate mining, users can participate in the project without having to buy hardware. By simply sharing their WIFI, they can also earn points and have the opportunity to participate in future airdrops, significantly lowering the participation threshold.

This strategy that combines free services and airdrop opportunities is an effective way for Web3 projects to attract users, maximizing the subsidy strategies of the Web2 industry. It also provides ordinary users with opportunities to participate, allowing them to potentially earn rewards by sharing resources.