DePIN Will Grow to $3.5 Trillion by 2028: World Economic Forum

Decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) are set to grow from a $30 billion to $50 billion range sector today to $3.5 trillion by 2028, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

That astounding number is a testament to the growing importance of DePIN in the broader technology landscape, the WEF said in its June 2025 Technology Convergence Report.

“These networks use blockchain technology to coordinate activities between distributed participants who contribute resources (computing power, storage, bandwidth or sensor data) in exchange for token incentives,” the report explained, adding: “DePIN today encompasses digital infrastructure such as wireless networks, computing resources, sensor networks, energy systems and transport platforms.”

As DePIN matures, the WEF said, it could reshape the future of computing, and specifically omni computing, “by creating a more distributed computational fabric,” it said.

AI Leads the Way

Nothing will have more of an impact on DePIN than the emerging field of decentralized physical artificial intelligence, or DePAI, the report said.

DePAI “marks a fundamental shift in how AI systems interact with physical infrastructure and real-world data,” according to the WEF. Currently, AI systems reference data that’s stored and siloed in a centralized manner. The report explains how DePAI systems differ:

This democratization of AI training helps models remain diverse and contextually relevant by compensating users via tokenized incentives, the WEF said.

The three highest revenue-generating DePIN projects, Aethir, Virtuals Protocol and IONET, are “all focused on providing decentralized computing resources for AI applications,” the report said.

Meanwhile the wireless connectivity sector’s growth is promising, it said, with leading DePIN wireless provider Helium Mobile surpassing 130,000 users and growing fast.

As The Defiant reported in April, Helium announced a partnership with AT&T Wireless that gives AT&T’s millions of users access to Helium’s decentralized WiFi hotspots.