DePIN Unveiled: Transforming Gaming and Beyond with Blockchain Technology

7 min readJul 4, 2024

DePIN Hot Takes

Settle in for what is likely to be one of my longer articles from the CXO seat, and perhaps a bit more technical. I’ll work throughout to keep the relevance to you, the reader, on the front burner while getting into some weighty portions. This one is subtitled DePIN Hot Takes, but in reality, they are all pretty deeply thought out.

The DePIN narrative is gaining momentum, and I thought it would be worth my time to revisit documentation and research that I did six months ago (a lifetime in crypto) to reevaluate my own understanding and bullishness on this technology. One of the documents I relied on in the past was the Outlier Ventures DePIN Thesis that we posted last week, so I returned to that again with my updated understanding. And to that, I added the in-depth DePIN dive published by peaq, the layer-1 blockchain that was built for the DePIN vertical from ground up.

From these and other sources, I’ve only strengthened my optimistic outlook on the space, enough to be able to say this: Blockchain technology is revolutionizing the global value exchange landscape, and DePIN represents a prime example of how decentralization can transform value exchanges, making them more efficient, secure, and equitable.

What is DePIN?

Starting at the beginning, as I prefer to do, let’s agree to this definition. A DePIN, a decentralized physical infrastructure network, is a two-part business model consisting of a Platform, the infrastructure layer that coordinates value transfer between resources or ‘nodes’, and the Service, the thing of value that is delivered by coordinating the resources of a platform. Blockchain plays a crucial role in all of that, orchestrating the activities of the infrastructure layer and providing a backbone for the peer-to-peer marketplace where providers can sell and users can buy the service.

Like much of blockchain technology, this combination means a transparent and secure way to exchange value is available without intermediaries and oftentimes without limitations. When it becomes understood that nearly all interactions between people are exchanges of value, whether tomatoes for dollars or emotions for supportive hugs, you understand why adding a powerful model like DePINs to the ecosystem is revolutionary.

In the example of YOM, the platform that we provide is a network of gaming-enabled PCs and virtual machines which can host games and other interactive experiences, both client and server side. The Service that YOM provides is pixel streaming AAA games built in Unreal Engine 5 to web browsers, which enables these games to reach a massive pool of players. Our DePIN enables the exchange of GPU cycles for gaming hours, granting game developers an increased reach and providing node operators with a marketplace to sell their unused GPU cycles.

Insights from Outlier Ventures’ DePIN Thesis

Blockchain has been around for some time now, yet DePIN is only beginning to become a focus. The Outlier Ventures Thesis touches on some of these reasons, which I fully support, but I would add another reason that I feel is valuable to the discussion.

From OV’s point of view, there are several factors behind the timing for the larger market adoption. I’ll just highlight a few here.

First, the cost curves of compute and hardware have made the concept more viable. Small nodes are both more powerful and more affordable than ever before. Usability has been greatly improved, not the least bit made better by AI support for things like delegation and management of these networks. Privacy and security concerns have created a desire for alternative systems that will help address the growing risk of data thefts. Utility token technology and a greater understanding of tokenomics are now mature enough to support the value transfer.

To these, I would add another factor that, while still in its infancy, is sure to be a meaningful addition to the list. Societal acceptance of blockchain technology is ever-expanding, and while everyone in this space might still be considered an early adopter, that phase is rapidly coming to a close, and we are moving into the early majority phase for all of the blockchain. In some ways, DePIN and certainly gaming are positioned to be those technologies that harbinger this new sector of the technology adoption curve.

Why DePIN Correctly Uses Blockchain Technology

Decentralization of services and disintermediation of the value transfer are some of the hallmark goals of blockchain technology, which is why DePIN can be said to be one of the most ‘correct’ uses of the blockchain. With the YOM DePIN, as an example, we can eliminate the need for costly, inefficient central data storage centers, and decentralize the cloud for gaming purposes. And with smart contracts that are monitoring the traffic throughput of each node, we disintermediate the value transfer by paying $YOM directly to the wallet that owns the node without the interference of any other financial institution.

This value transfer also leverages important aspects of blockchain technology, such as security, transparency, and efficiency. Each transaction is recorded securely on the ledger, and all transactions are transparently available to those who care to monitor. And with the smart contracts controlling the transactions, they are handled efficiently, not requiring intervention with each transaction.

This is the same for most DePINs that we’ve encountered, and as such, we are seeing more and more adoption of the technology in many sectors. We are seeing this in data collection and storage, sensor data acquisition, and general compute for things like AI. For some projects, the DePIN only requires the installation of software; for others, there is dedicated hardware. Regardless, because of the security, efficiency, and transparency benefits of DePINs, the adoption to more sectors is inevitable as blockchain technology becomes more understood.

Introducing the DePIN-focused peaq Network

With all of this promise, I was not surprised when we discovered peaq, which is collaborating with Outlier Ventures in the DePIN Base Camp program that we at YOM are participating in. peaq is a Layer-1 blockchain specifically designed for DePIN projects and Real World Assets, with pre-built Modular DePIN Functions and advantages that are native to their chain. Their rapid growth in the space points again to the blossoming of the vertical in the blockchain industry.

For a deeper dive into the technicals of the blockchain, I’ll point the reader to the peaq documentation. As a summary, peaq leverages parallelized block production instead of serialized, does asynchronous backing, and has agile core time. This all allows for 10,000 transactions per second, and the network could scale up to 100,000 TPS after upgrading. The chain offers both EVM (Solidarity) and WASM (Rust) smart contracts, which gives projects more flexibility. And perhaps most importantly, they offer an array of ready-to-use Modular DePIN Functions like data verification, self-sovereign machine ID assignments, data indexing, and role-based access control. All of these are valuable for most all DePINs and add out-of-the-box functions that save developer time and effort.

While their feature list is robust and the advantages are considerable, I was impressed with the peaq team’s commitment to similar fundamental beliefs that we hold at YOM. First, we agreed over Texas BBQ at Consensus 2024 that blockchain technology and DePIN structures are only beginning to reach their full potential. Second, we both believe strongly in the concept that decentralizing revenue streams, paying individual contributors directly for their contributions, is more efficient, empowering, and just. Lastly, we agreed that there’s no such thing as too many barbeque ribs in one sitting.

YOM, Outlier Ventures, and peaq: Like-minded Thinkers

Not surprisingly, even a Hot Take on DePIN will require more than the normal space that these essays generally demand. My intention for this publication was to brush across some of the most important aspects of where the vertical is heading and why YOM is so excited to be a part of the ecosystem. As we take the journey together with our community, we are happy to discover other like-minded thinkers in the space to share the adventure with. Both Outlier Ventures and peaq have been two of the parties we enjoy discussing the future with, and with proper planning, we are likely to be working with much more in the future.

For those who have made it this far in the paper, I congratulate you on your curiosity to continue learning. I encourage you to dive into both the Outlier Ventures DePIN Thesis and the peaq Documentation, as well as our plans at YOM to fully understand what this technology is offering. While we are most excited about bringing AAA quality games to a much broader audience than ever before possible, we are equally excited about all that decentralized networks will offer the world in this new form of value transfer.

The CXO

About YOM:

YOM is the 1st cloud gaming DePIN powering white label metaverses, immersive experiences, and games at near-zero prices and at global low-latency coverage to any device and channel. YOM is providing studios with the tools, grants and an accelerator program they need to easily craft and deploy their own Unreal Engine 5 experiences built for their brand, clients, product, or interest. YOM’s pixel-streaming infrastructure is optimised for quality, performance, and flexibility. The project is backed by a network of top-tier advisors that will be revealed over the coming weeks.

Connect with YOM:

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Connect with peaq:

Website | X-(Twitter) | Telegram Group | Discord | Youtube