DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) are projects that leverage blockchain technology to roll-out decentralized networks for physical infrastructure such as telecommunications, energy, and storage systems.

Perhaps you have heard of Helium. It's a DePIN project that rewards WiFi hotspot operators for providing coverage to smartphone users. When the cellular network gets overloaded, traffic is offloaded from customer phones to these WiFi hotspots, and the owners earn $HNT tokens for providing bandwidth.

There are plenty of other DePIN projects being built on existing blockchains such as Solana, Polygon, and Base. Meanwhile, some are building on their own customized chains, saving them from having to compete for resources with other projects.

In this article, we are going to cover the recent developments of three rapidly growing Cosmos-based DePIN projects, all of which are building on their own custom blockchains.

Akash (AKT)

Akash is a decentralized cloud computing marketplace that allows users to rent out their underutilized computing resources for tasks like AI model training, web hosting, and video rendering.

By the end of January, Akash had surpassed 1,000 GPUs on-chain, with over 66% being high-density chips like H200s, H100s, and A100s. The utilization rate was reported at 62%, indicating strong demand and efficient scaling.

In early February, Akash reported 156,620 on-chain Monthly Active Users, the highest among Cosmos IBC networks, highlighting its dominance in the ecosystem.

Later in February, Akash crossed $2 million in total network spend, just 96 days after hitting $1 million on October 30, 2024, signalling a rapid increase of network usage.

Jackal (JKL)

Have you ever worried about the privacy of your data on Apple's iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox?

Jackal is a decentralized storage network, designed to provide secure and private data storage solutions. Storage providers earn $JKL tokens for lending their unused hard drive space to the network.

As of late February, the project boasts:

• Over 1000 users
• 516TB of available storage
• 321 active plans

If you want more up-to-date information, the latest numbers can be found on Jackal's new stats website.

Sentinel (DVPN)

Sentinel is a decentralized virtual private network (dVPN). It allows users to access the Internet privately and securely by routing their traffic through a network of decentralized nodes.

In early March, Sentinel reported its statistics for February:

• 55,684 total unique dVPN users
• 1.3 million encrypted sessions
• 234TB of encrypted data

With over 100,000 unique users in 2025 so far, adoption appears to be growing steady.

In late January, an X post highlighted Sentinel’s dominance in daily active users among Cosmos blockchains.

Until next time...

While some DePIN projects continue to work on established blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Base, others have decided to build on their own customized Cosmos-based blockchains.

Taking into account that these application-specific DePIN blockchains will not have to compete for resources with other projects, along with signs of rapid growth, they may be worth keeping an eye on as we progress into 2025.

If you learned something new from this article, be sure to check out my other posts on crypto and finance here on the Hive blockchain. You can also follow me on InLeo for more frequent updates.

Further Reading

- Why Jackal Vault Is More Confidential And Secure Than iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox
- DePIN On The Rise As Telecom Providers Start Offloading Data To The Helium Network
- Using the Keplr Wallet to Interact With The Cosmos Ecosystem