Exploring DePIN: Monetizing Hardware and the Future of Gaming at Consensus2024
It was an intensely interesting lunch that kicked off my week at Consensus2024 in Austin, TX. I was sharing Texas barbeque with a likely new partner team, meeting them for the first time. They, too, are in the DePIN space, but our conversation was much broader than just what we each are building and our reasons for being at the conference. Instead, we discussed the growth of AI, the future of income and revenue, where job losses are being affected by the AI technology boom, and where humanity could be heading.
It could have been a grim discussion, but instead, there was a great deal of optimism from my lunch guests. DePIN, the idea that decentralization of networks relies on hardware owned by individuals, includes the concept of generating revenue from home just by owning equipment. This expands to include less privileged communities where a phone is the most accessible device. DePIN means that phone owners can supplement their income by providing cycles from their mobile devices, decentralizing not just compute but also revenue.
YOM at the Consensus2024 Conference: Embracing DePIN Technology
The team I was meeting with, like YOM, had travelled to numerous conferences over the past few years. They pointed out, which I had to agree with, that the focus on DePIN has been growing exponentially. The Consensus2024 agenda for talks and events was nearly a third focused on DePIN projects and their various goals. YOM itself was presented as one of five projects at an event focused on investment in DePIN, both the technology and the projects. The conversation and optimism from the first day stuck with me at each event I attended over the four days and certainly made it into my presentation.
How DePIN is Revolutionizing Revenue Generation
DePIN, a decentralized physical infrastructure network, in the simplest terms, is technology that links together hardware, often underutilized hardware, to provide the market with cycles that are otherwise wasted. In most applications, the projects that build those networks and take advantage of those available cycles pay the providers, individual device owners, for the unused cycles that their devices supply. These devices range from mobile devices to home gaming systems.
In the YOM DePIN, we are targeting gaming computers worldwide to provide revenue to the system owners for the use of their cycles when they are offline. As their systems become a node on our network, enabling AAA games to be streamed to any device via a website, they are not only earning revenue but also expanding the success of their favorite games and supporting the communities where they have so much loyalty.
A well-established Web3 game that we spent time talking to at the conference, one we are actively building toward a partnership announcement with, was very enthusiastic about what we are offering. They had themselves started down the path to creating their own DePIN solely to support their project but abandoned the effort once they felt it was too distracting to the development of the game. But because they understood the DePIN concept and knew that pixel streaming would absolutely open up their funnel to more players, they were quick to suggest we exchange contact information and begin a dialogue between our two organizations.
Future Trends: DePIN and Its Impact on the Gaming Industry
The trend now is for DePIN to become a dominant narrative, with even more attention to come in this emerging bull market. DePIN is joining AI and IRL as themes heavily discussed in the space, online and at conferences. There are plenty of outlets, such as video channels, dedicated to the narrative where projects are discussed and analyzed. I would suggest Hotspotty on YouTube as a solid example.
As the technology becomes more available and the onboarding becomes more prevalent and frictionless, more of us in the blockchain world are going to take advantage of the revenue that DePIN generates.
However, mass adoption will likely continue to be stymied until the full-blown acceptance of blockchain as a massively helpful technology on par with the internet itself is achieved. While I certainly talked to a few conference attendees who have convinced their non-crypto friends to install DePIN apps on their mobile devices, overall adoption will continue to match the pace of blockchain adoption. Fortunately for YOM, being in the gaming space, we already have a tech-savvy and blockchain-aware base from which to grow. Partnering with large gaming projects to further spread DePIN will only add to our success.
Next for YOM
When I joined YOM and began this journey into the DePIN adventure, I was already heavily invested in the creative and gaming world. As a longtime gamer, artist, and storyteller, I keyed into the concept of bringing AAA quality Unreal projects to an even larger audience. Providing access via web browsers on modest machines means that more stories and experiences will be available to more people than ever before. This conference added something more.
The ability to affect the path of revenue generation and decentralization of income via DePIN is a noble endeavor. I don’t mean to just pat our own backs here at YOM but to also call attention to the many people in the blockchain world who are entering this space with the same goals. It is openly discussed how decentralization isn’t only about speculation and token prices and building exciting technology. Decentralization is about bringing autonomy and representation down to the individual level through advances in blockchain offerings. You can find many in this space who are optimistic about what the future holds. Some of them even enjoy sitting down over Texas barbeque to help map out that vision.
The CXO
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