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Solana DePIN ecosystem fully rises, Helium and Render lead the industry rise
Solana Decentralization Physical Infrastructure Network ( DePIN ) Development Report
Decentralization Physical Infrastructure Network ( DePIN ) is rapidly rising, becoming a bridge for real-world assets to be on-chain. Whether it's shared GPUs, telecommunications networks, or street map collection, DePIN is reshaping the construction and operation of infrastructure through cryptographic incentive mechanisms. Solana is gradually becoming the core platform of this trend, with its high-performance network providing ideal fertile ground for DePIN projects.
This article conducts an in-depth analysis of the development status, market performance, and on-chain data of multiple core DePIN projects on Solana. The data is as of April 22, 2025, providing us with a clear picture of this emerging ecosystem and revealing the genuine and verifiable growth trajectory behind it.
The Concept of DePIN and the Advantages of Solana
What is DePIN?
Decentralization physical infrastructure network ( DePIN ) is an innovative model that utilizes cryptocurrency incentive mechanisms to initiate and operate real-world infrastructure. These projects typically target markets with strong demand but inefficient supply, activating idle resources ( such as unused GPUs, wireless bandwidth, etc. Unlike traditional infrastructure models dominated by large enterprises, DePIN allocates ownership to individuals, thereby improving efficiency, enhancing resilience, and expanding accessibility.
) Why choose Solana?
Solana, with its high throughput, low transaction fees, and composable infrastructure, has become the ideal platform for the transparent scaling of DePIN applications. Its thriving ecosystem and strong developer community are making it a hub in this emerging field.
![Solana DePIN Report: How Can Ordinary People Make Money Lying Down from "Mining" to "Maps"?]###https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-d74e1199ac96efe6b83bf7fa0ecab4bb.webp(
Overview of the DePIN Market
As of April 2025, the total market capitalization of global DePIN projects is ), excluding independent projects L1/chains (, which has reached 7.1 billion USD. Among them, the total market capitalization of DePIN projects on Solana is 3.25 billion USD, leading EVM) at 2.84 billion USD ( and Cosmos) at 1.6525 billion USD (, Cardano) at 1.1952 billion USD ( and Sora) at 1.1601 billion USD ( and other blockchain platforms.
Based on the average market capitalization of each project, Solana leads again with $191.3 million, followed by Cardano ) $197.6 million (, Cosmos ) $193.2 million (, Sora ) $180.1 million (, and EVM ) $406.0 million (.
![Solana DePIN Report: How Can Ordinary People Make Money Lying Down from "Mining" to "Mapping"?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-d70c1c0d2c3638897439a96e6a0e3f02.webp(
) Project Category Distribution
The DePIN project is mainly divided into five categories:
Computing and wireless categories account for 93.4% of the market share and also represent the highest average market capitalization. Computing networks like Render and io.net provide high market cap utility tokens for AI workloads, while wireless projects like Helium and ROAM represent the most mature and widely adopted infrastructure layers.
( Node Growth and Network Participation
As of April 22, 2025, the total number of registered on-chain nodes for DePIN projects on Solana has reached 238,165. DePIN nodes are units of physical or digital infrastructure, such as GPUs, IoT hotspots, or dashcams, that perform key network functions like computation, data collection, or wireless transmission. The growth in the number of nodes reflects the scale, degree of decentralization, and practicality of the network; more nodes typically mean stronger coverage, higher participation, and reliability.
In terms of node growth, the Solana DePIN project has shown significant changes. Hivemapper was initially in the lead, but Helium quickly surpassed it after launching Helium Mobile, now accounting for over 60% of the new node share. Although Render contributes fewer new nodes, it leads in revenue per node. Nosana gained traction in early 2025, while Uprock leveled off after rapid growth at the end of 2024.
![Solana DePIN Report: How Can Ordinary People Earn Money by "Mining" to "Mapping"?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-7382e2766520d0826769e3cbd76cb33f.webp###
( On-chain network income
As of April 22, 2025, the total on-chain revenue of DePIN projects on Solana reached $5.98 million.
The revenue from the DePIN project on Solana has been steadily increasing, growing from about $4,000 per week in April 2023 to over $100,000 per week by early 2025, peaking at $130,000 in mid-April. Helium is the highest weekly earner, reaching $60,000 with a 60% share, while Render leads in total revenue with $2.65 million, compared to Helium's $2.3 million. Render also holds the record for a single-week revenue peak of $300,000 set at the end of 2024. These trends highlight the rising adoption rate, with each project gaining traction at different points in the DePIN growth cycle.
![Solana DePIN Report: How Can Ordinary People Earn Money While Lying Down from "Mining" to "Mapping"?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-1289f64ce610e6e96dc4fffc38f1cf80.webp###
Major Project Analysis
( 1. Helium: Leader in Decentralization Wireless Networks
Helium is a decentralized wireless network that enables individuals to deploy hotspots and provide low-cost, secure connectivity for IoT and mobile devices. Users earn HNT token rewards by expanding coverage and routing data.
Important Milestone:
Key Data:
![Solana DePIN Report: From "Mining" to "Mapping", How Can Ordinary People Earn Money While Lying Down?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-9e22942e850a24d489e96b022891af4f.webp(
The growth of Helium's subscription users has been influenced by clear product-driven inflection points. Within a week of the official release of Helium Mobile in January 2024, an additional 10,300 subscription users were added, leading to more hotspot deployments and network expansion. Subsequently, the launch of the Zero Plan), the first free 5G mobile plan in the United States( in February 2025 triggered a second wave of growth, quickly filling the waiting list. After the free plan was opened to everyone in April, the number of users peaked again at 10,000.
As of the reporting period, Helium's total number of subscribed users has reached 176,301, with a total of 69,449 nodes. The composition of nodes shows a constantly changing trend, particularly with a strong growth in the mobile data dedicated category. The report points out that two major events drove the peak in node deployment. First is the collaboration with Ameriband in October 2024, which added over 100,000 data-only hotspots at retail and commercial sites in the United States; second is the acceleration in user growth after the Zero Plan waiting list was removed in April 2025.
![Solana DePIN Report: How Can Ordinary People Earn Money Lying Down from "Mining" to "Mapping"?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-3ecc3b1d3482bfd02df0651e8b2fca7e.webp###
Helium generates on-chain revenue through its unique burn-mint model, allowing users to convert HNT into non-transferable data credits (DCs) for access to services on its IoT and mobile networks. Specifically, mobile data is charged at $0.50 per gigabyte (, or 50,000 DCs), while IoT usage is billed incrementally per 24-byte message. Company revenue has steadily grown, setting a record of $66,000 per week in December 2024, and reaching a sustained peak of $63,000 per week again in April 2025.
( 2. Hivemapper: Decentralization map network
Hivemapper is a decentralized, community-driven map network where users collect street-level images through dash cameras to earn HONEY tokens. By transforming everyday driving into a data source, Hivemapper provides fresher and more dynamic maps for sectors such as transportation, logistics, and autonomous driving.
Important Milestone:
Key data:
![Solana DePIN Report: From "Mining" to "Mapping", how can ordinary people earn money effortlessly?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-e72065f27b996b39c9d8bb0a3c86dcfa.webp(
As of April 2025, the network has 77,483 nodes, most of which are active in AI training and bounty activities. However, less than 10% of the nodes receive rewards due to map coverage. Despite the weekly rewards of Hivemapper declining from a peak of $1.4 million in December 2023, the network still distributes over $60,000 worth of HONEY tokens each week. It is worth noting that although less than 10% of the nodes actively contribute to map coverage, these nodes consistently receive about 80% of the total rewards.
![Solana DePIN Report: How Can Ordinary People Make Money Easily from "Mining" to "Mapping"?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-be6daa522ed8f7401aa0067bfc07c0e0.webp(
Hivemapper earns revenue by selling Map Credits ) each worth $0.005 ###, which are purchased by burning HONEY tokens for access to map data. Revenue trends show a peak of $30,000 per week by the end of 2023, exceeding $50,000 per week during April to May 2024.
( 3. Render: Decentralization GPU Rendering Network
Render Network is a high-performance distributed GPU rendering network that facilitates a computing marketplace between GPU providers and requesters using industry-leading software from OTOY Inc. GPU owners can monetize idle GPUs by providing compute power to creators seeking rendering resources. It offers scalable and cost-effective rendering services for 3D graphics, dynamic designs, and AI workloads.
Important milestone: