Ankr Expands Its DePIN Network for Web3 and AI Applications

Ankr has stepped up its decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) service to bolster support for Web3 and on-chain AI applications.

In an announcement Thursday, the Web3 infrastructure provider said it partnered with seven new Ultra Sound Infrastructure providers, including IoTex, Gateway, Storj, Clover, Tencent Cloud, Mind Heart Soul, and Ankr Labs, to expand the availability of high-performance decentralized nodes via the novel approach of DePIN. 

What is DePIN

DePIN is an emerging concept that bridges the gap between the physical world and Web3. Traditionally, the responsibility for building and maintaining physical infrastructure has always fallen on large centralized corporations. DePINs propose a significant shift towards a more collaborative and community-driven model. 

The model uses blockchain and crypto to incentivise individuals to contribute hardware and physical resources, providing a cost-effective solution for projects that would otherwise need to build and maintain their own physical infrastructure needs.

Ankr Sets Eyes on Onchain AI

Ankr already serves 760k unique geo locations monthly, with over 8 billion daily RPC requests through its DePIN of nodes. It said the partnership with the new providers would further bring about increased node availability, access to high-performance archive nodes, and extended geographic coverage to address gaps in node resources.

“As pioneers in the DePIN landscape, we’re excited to expand the availability of high-performance decentralized nodes through our Ultra Sound Infrastructure network. Looking ahead, we will continue to develop a cohesive DePIN experience for all network participants,” said Stanley Wu, Co-founder and CTO of Ankr.

With the move, Ankr not only broadens its support for Web3 projects but also on-chain AI applications, which are heavily dependent on data and computing resources. It said the expansion would enable high-performance computing, data availability and integrity while ensuring decentralisation and privacy for on-chain AI.

The State of DePIN Market 

DePIN is considered one of the next big narratives in the crypto market, considering its practical, real-world utility. In 2023, the ecosystem grew by an additional 650 projects, reaching a market cap of over $20 billion. The projects span different subsectors, including compute (250), AI (200), wireless (100), sensors (50), energy (50), and services (25).

So far, in 2024, the market cap of DePIN tokens sits around $43 billion, with over $2.6 billion in daily trading volume.