The next trillion-dollar infrastructure revolution will not begin in Silicon Valley. Instead, it is expected to take place in Nairobi, Manila, or Medellín.
Developers focusing on emerging markets are building networks that power real-world connectivity, energy, and data access. The world is enthralled with AI, robotics, and crypto adoption, but more attention must be paid to the networks that will be used to deploy these technologies for practical purposes that improve the lives of real people.
As these decentralized networks expand, they also create the foundation that artificial intelligence and robotics will depend on to operate in the real world. Verified, distributed data from DePINs can guide autonomous systems in agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics, empowering robots and other smart devices to make informed decisions that directly improve everyday life in developing regions.
In 2026, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) are entering a new phase. In past years, the sector has generated record levels of activity. In the past three months alone, DePIN tokens made over 75% in monthly network fees, climbing from $1.3 million in July to $2.3 million in September.
This recent growth is a telling sign that people are not only trading tokens but also using them to gain access to services provided by DePINs. This combination of vigorous trade and active utility is the optimal economy for the DePIN model, and watching it come online for promising projects is satisfying for DePIN investors, developers, and enthusiasts.
The most meaningful growth is emerging in regions long underserved by traditional infrastructure. There, decentralized networks are solving tangible problems, from powering rural internet access to enabling unbanked citizens to earn income through data participation.
In 2026, DePIN is set to become a phenomenon.
Emerging Markets Are DePIN’s Natural Habitat
In the developed world, most critical infrastructure sectors are guarded by multibillion-dollar monopolistic giants.
According to a16z’s 2024 State of Crypto report, OpenAI and Anthropic hold 88% of the AI native company revenue share, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) hold 63% of the global cloud infrastructure market share, meanwhile, NVIDIA holds 94% of the data centre GPU market share. But what happens when one of these giants is compromised?
A clear example of just how fragile these centralized systems are came recently, when the AWS outage on October 20 disrupted over 6.5 million users and over 1,000 global companies, including Snapchat, Amazon, Coinbase, Robinhood, Reddit, and Fortnite. The same pattern repeats across sectors: when a single provider fails, whole economies stall.
Centralization breeds efficiency, but it also breeds vulnerability. The more power is consolidated, the more brittle systems become, and the harder it is for innovation to emerge. For smaller startups or decentralized networks, entering these saturated markets means competing with trillion-dollar incumbents that control not just infrastructure, but regulation, pricing, and access.
This is why emerging markets are becoming DePIN’s natural habitat. In regions like Nigeria, the Philippines, or Colombia, decentralized networks can grow without facing the same massive gatekeepers.
Across Africa, for example, over 350 million adults remain “unbanked” — lacking access to financial services from massive monopolistic banks. However, Sub-Saharan Africa emerged as the third-fastest growing crypto region in the world, having received over $205 billion in on-chain value last year, a 52% year-over-year increase. This highlights how this lack of access has driven people towards more decentralized and participatory-driven financial infrastructures.
Similar patterns are also unfolding elsewhere. In Latin America, community-powered wireless networks are providing affordable connectivity in areas where traditional telecom expansion remains economically unviable. Established tech companies are also taking notice of the value the DePIN sector offers.
In 2024, Samsung’s asset management, SamsungNext, invested in Roam, a DePIN building decentralized mobile networks. VC investment in DePIN is rapidly increasing, with over $744 million invested by mid-2025 across more than 165 startups.
We’ve seen this pattern repeat itself across every major investment cycle. A handful of people run into a real-world problem and decide to build something new to fix it. At the start, the goal isn’t profit, it’s practicality. The technology works for them first, and that’s what gives it real utility.
2026: The Year DePIN Goes Mainstream
Experts predict that by 2028, the DePIN space could reach $3.5 trillion, and the groundwork for that has quietly been laid out over the past year. Regulatory clarity, technological maturity, and rising participation are now converging, setting the stage for DePIN’s global re-emergence.
A turning point came when the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporate Finance issued a no-action letter on DoubleZero’s token distributions, effectively acknowledging that activity-based rewards in DePINs are distinct from securities. This is a signal that building and rewarding real-world participation is now a recognized, legitimate model. The decision cracked open the door for DePIN projects that have long operated in a gray area to scale openly.
Such clarity inspired movement far beyond U.S. borders. Abu Dhabi’s $500 million Digital energy Infrastructure Fund is backing blockchain-enabled DePIN projects that merge renewable power generation with distributed computing.
Meanwhile, new capital and new builders are entering the DePIN ecosystem. Venture funding that once chased DeFi protocols is now flowing toward DePIN startups focused on compute, storage, and wireless connectivity. Just recently, io.net announced that one of their customers raised $20 million in a Series A funding round, while Aethir launched a $100 million fund for AI and gaming projects.
Much of this new momentum is tied to the growing need for decentralized compute and data systems that support AI and robotics. By distributing these resources through DePINs, developers are creating smarter and safer networks that allow intelligent systems to learn and act on verified information. This shift is essential as intelligence continues to move from centralized data centers to the physical world.
It’s no secret that DePIN’s momentum is no longer confined to crypto circles. Instead, it’s gradually being woven into broader conversations around energy resilience, digital inclusion, and artificial intelligence. As these worlds intersect, DePIN is shedding its label as a niche experiment and emerging as a blueprint for the next phase of the digital economy.
In 2026, this transition will become impossible to ignore. As AI, robotics, and technology become part of everyday infrastructure in every corner of the world, DePIN will serve as the connective layer that gives these systems trusted data and the ability to interact with the physical world in meaningful ways.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cryptonews.com. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment or financial advice.
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