Solana-Based DePIN Projects Hit Best Monthly Revenue of 2025, Up 33% Year-over-Year
The crypto market has been on fire lately. Bitcoin is up — 8.52% in the past 7 days. Ethereum is up — surging 39.62% in the same period. Dogecoin? Also up — gaining 39% in just one week. And of course, Solana is rallying too, with a 7-day increase of 21%.
In our previous article, we analyzed Ethereum’s recent price action. If you’re interested, check it out: “Ethereum Surges 40% in Three Days, Market Cap Breaks $300 Billion, Surpasses Coca-Cola.” In this piece, we turn our attention to the DePIN sector within the Solana ecosystem.
Solana’s DePIN ecosystem just posted its best revenue performance of 2025, with monthly income hitting $458,000 in April, marking a 33% year-over-year increase.
What Is DePIN, and How Does It Make Money?
DePIN stands for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network. Sounds fancy, but at its core, it means this: real-world hardware devices get “on-chained,” and users are incentivized via crypto mechanisms to share, maintain, and use them.
Here are a few typical DePIN use cases:
Decentralized wireless networks (e.g., Helium): Users deploy wireless nodes at home to provide LoRa or 5G coverage. Others use your network — you earn tokens.
Decentralized data storage (e.g., Arweave): Use your spare hard drive space to store others’ data in exchange for token rewards.
Decentralized compute power networks (e.g., Render, Akash): Rent out your home GPU or CPU to users needing AI training or compute tasks, earn based on performance.
Physical location verification networks (e.g., Hivemapper): Drive around with a camera, record street-level views, upload them, and earn tokens — think of it as a Web3 version of Google Maps.
The core logic is simple: let everyone contribute to building the network and share the profits, instead of handing it all to Amazon, Google, or Tesla.
These projects typically operate on token incentive models — deploy a device, contribute resources, and earn rewards. On the other end, users consuming those resources pay usage fees. Revenue comes from a combination of real-world user payments and protocol reward pools.
Why Is Solana Becoming the Go-To Chain for DePIN?
It’s a question many people have — after all, weren’t these types of projects originally deployed on Ethereum? So why is Solana taking the lead now?
Two key reasons: performance and ecosystem network effects.
- Superior performance: low cost, high throughput
DePIN projects are inherently high-frequency and data-intensive. Unlike DeFi, where you might only make a dozen transactions a day, DePIN apps behave more like Web2 apps — which demands:
Thousands of transactions per second (TPS)
Ultra-low network fees
High stability and low development complexity
Ethereum mainnet still suffers from high gas fees. Polygon is cheaper, but scalability is limited. Solana’s state compression tech and local fee market perfectly match DePIN’s model of “many small interactions.”
- Project clustering: an ecosystem flywheel
DePIN flagship projects on Solana are forming a critical mass. The current leaders each dominate a specific vertical:
Helium Mobile (telecom network)
Hivemapper (street-level mapping)
Render (decentralized GPU compute)
Nosana (AI compute scheduling)
DRPC (RPC relay network)
These projects aren’t just growing individually — they’re becoming interoperable. For example:
Helium’s network can serve as the transmission layer for Hivemapper’s data uploads;
DRPC provides backend services for multiple Solana apps.
This isn’t just a loose cluster of apps anymore — it’s evolving into a Web3 Internet of Devices on-chain.
This kind of intra-ecosystem synergy builds network effects for Solana and attracts even more developers and hardware providers to participate.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: DePIN Is Proving Its Real Business Model
According to The Block and Messari, DePIN projects on Solana generated $458,000 in total revenue in April. The top three contributors:
Render Network: Income from GPU rentals surged with ongoing demand for AI computing.
Helium Mobile: Monthly active users surpassed 350,000 and commercial partnerships (e.g., with T-Mobile) are driving B2B revenue.
Hivemapper: Over 11 million new street image tiles were added this month, with contributor activity up 42% YoY.
What do these numbers tell us? DePIN is no longer just a “pretty story.” It’s starting to shift from a purely token incentive model to a real revenue model.
We all know that many Web3 projects have traditionally relied solely on trading fees and token speculation. But DePIN is bringing back the business logic of “sell products, offer services.” People are now paying for bandwidth, compute, maps, and storage — while the projects share token rewards with the users who supply the infrastructure.
Once a revenue model is proven, it’s easier to attract institutions. And indeed, Multicoin, a16z, Jump, and other major firms have already bet big on Solana’s DePIN ecosystem. Several DePIN teams are now securing funding from traditional hard-tech VCs — for example, Render recently raised tens of millions of dollars in fresh capital.
Standout Projects in April
Helium Mobile: The decentralized 5G leader
Helium Mobile, the telecom service of Helium Network, migrated to Solana and launched a $20/month unlimited 5G plan, quickly attracting nearly 90,000 users. The service operates via distributed nodes — users enjoy cheap mobile data and get rewarded with MOBILE tokens for helping expand network coverage and collect usage data. Since December 2023, Mobile Discovery rewards have increased significantly, and user participation continues to rise.
Dabba Network: India’s low-cost broadband answer
Dabba aims to deliver affordable high-speed internet in India through micro-ISPs and blockchain-based payment systems. It deploys mini base stations and leverages community participation to build decentralized infrastructure — targeting areas underserved by traditional ISPs. Although concrete April 2025 data is limited, Dabba’s activity within Solana’s DePIN space is worth keeping a close eye on.
XNET: A rising star in decentralized wireless
XNET is a new DePIN project focused on community-powered wireless networks, aiming to deliver broader coverage and lower access costs. Users are encouraged to deploy nodes and maintain the network to earn tokens. While detailed April 2025 stats are not yet available, XNET’s potential in the DePIN sector is significant.
ShdwDrive: Solana’s decentralized storage solution
ShdwDrive offers scalable object storage tailored for Web3 developers. Though still in testnet, it has shown the capacity to handle up to 38,000 transactions per second. As of March 2024, there were 67,000 SHDW token holders, reflecting strong community engagement and growing recognition.
Note: The above four projects are a curated snapshot of active DePIN players on Solana during April. They are listed in no particular order and do not constitute any form of investment advice.
Final Thoughts
Solana’s DePIN sector has moved from concept to product, from incentive to revenue, from isolated projects to a thriving, interconnected ecosystem.
As this trend continues, we have every reason to believe: DePIN could emerge as one of the most commercially viable sectors in the next crypto bull cycle.
