The Future of DePIN 2024: A Paradigm of Decentralized Applications

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a significant rebound today, following last week's historic crash triggered by President Trump's unexpected 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, which led to nearly $19 billion in liquidations. Bitcoin is leading the recovery, climbing over 3% to approach $115,000, while other major tokens like Ethereum are seeing gains between 10% to 20%. This positive shift comes as traders begin to buy the dip, indicating a belief that the worst of the trade war tensions may be behind us. A key factor behind today's surge is President Trump's calming message, where he reassured investors with a post stating, "Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!" This softer tone toward China has eased global fears and reignited optimism among investors. Additionally, institutional demand is playing a crucial role in the market's recovery. Grayscale's recent filing to launch a Bittensor (TAO) Trust aims to attract large investors into AI-linked crypto assets, while Morgan Stanley's expansion of Bitcoin access for its wealth clients marks a significant step towards mainstream adoption. Moreover, Bitcoin ETFs continue to be a bullish force in the market. BlackRock's IBIT ETF has now surpassed the $90 billion mark in assets under management, reflecting strong institutional inflows despite recent volatility. Altcoins are also bouncing back, with Ethereum trading above $4,130 and other cryptocurrencies like XRP, Solana, BNB, and Dogecoin seeing gains between 10% and 20%. Traders are optimistic as technical indicators suggest a market reversal, supported by on-chain data showing increased whale accumulation and a reduction in negative funding rates, indicating potential for further upside in the coming days.

The cryptocurrency market has recently experienced a significant recovery, bouncing back from a sharp decline that wiped out approximately $900 billion in value. This downturn was triggered by President Trump's threat of imposing 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, which led to Bitcoin plummeting to near $100,000 and resulted in around $7 billion in liquidations within just an hour. However, macro investor Raoul Pal described this event as a typical "flash crash," which often clears excess leverage from the market and sets the stage for a subsequent rally. As of now, Bitcoin has rebounded to over $115,000, while Ethereum has also regained its position above $4,100. Among the cryptocurrencies benefiting from this recovery are Mantle (MNT) and Bittensor (TAO). Mantle has surged by 31% in the past day, reaching $2.20, with trading volumes increasing by 117% to over $1.1 billion. The project has seen a significant rise in on-chain activity, with active addresses doubling last week, driven by demand for staking and bridge inflows. Meanwhile, Bittensor has climbed 33% to around $420, bolstered by Grayscale's filing for a Bittensor Trust and a $10 million investment from DCG. Both projects are at the forefront of the decentralized AI narrative, attracting renewed investor interest. As the market shifts towards altcoin rotation, several projects are emerging as potential beneficiaries of the ongoing bullish conditions. Bitcoin Hyper (HYPER) aims to address Bitcoin's scalability issues with a Layer-2 network utilizing zk-rollups, while Synthetix (SNX) is making a comeback with its Perps V3 launch, allowing users to trade synthetic assets. Additionally, Best Wallet Token (BEST) is gaining traction with its non-custodial wallet that supports over 60 blockchains, offering unique features like no seed phrases and high staking yields. These projects are worth watching as they align with the current trends in the crypto market.

Akash, a decentralized compute project founded by Greg Osuri, has announced plans to deprecate its current Cosmos SDK-based chain and migrate to a new network that can better secure its operations. This decision marks the beginning of a public evaluation process for potential candidates both within and outside the Cosmos ecosystem. While the specific destination chain has not yet been disclosed, Osuri emphasized the importance of strong security, a vibrant community, deep liquidity, and growth potential in selecting the new home for Akash, which will maintain IBC compatibility. Originally launched as a Cosmos appchain, Akash operates a decentralized marketplace that connects AI and cloud buyers with independent providers of GPU and compute capacity. The recent Mainnet 6 upgrade introduced Nvidia GPUs, allowing users to benefit from lower costs compared to traditional centralized cloud services. Osuri also reassured users regarding staking concerns, indicating that while staking may appear to be disappearing, it is actually evolving into a more advanced model. He mentioned that Solana is a strong contender for Akash's new network, but the team will be cautious in making their final decision. This shift to a new base-layer represents a significant architectural change for a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN). Osuri's criteria for the migration reflect a broader search for scalable solutions as demand for AI compute rises. The Block's data indicates that DePIN is becoming a multi-billion-dollar asset class, with web3 cloud and AI compute identified as leading segments. However, challenges such as hardware access, network scalability, and regulatory uncertainties remain. The Akash team has not set a timeline for the migration, but they plan to engage the community in an open discussion about the trade-offs involved in the decision-making process.

IoTeX has recently announced a token buyback program and new liquidity partnerships in response to a market maker incident that temporarily disrupted trading and caused its price to plummet to near-zero on Binance. In a post on October 13, IoTeX clarified that the 'zero price' event, which occurred on October 10-11, 2025, was due to a malfunction of a third-party market maker and not a protocol exploit. Importantly, the network's core services, including the ioPay wallet, ioTube bridge, and DePINscan, remained fully operational, ensuring that no user funds were affected during the incident. The team explained that the issue was a user interface display problem rather than an actual market crash. Binance confirmed that the displayed '0.0000' IOTX price was a result of reduced decimal precision on certain trading pairs combined with extreme volatility that triggered long-standing limit orders. Throughout the market-wide sell-off, Binance's spot and futures engines operated normally, and the exchange compensated users affected by de-pegging or delayed redemptions within 24 hours, amounting to approximately $283 million across various assets. In light of the situation, IoTeX is collaborating with centralized exchanges and market-making partners to enhance liquidity and prevent future disruptions. To restore confidence among long-term holders, the foundation has initiated token buybacks and community reward programs. Following the incident, IOTX experienced a decline of about 15-20%, dropping from $0.015 to $0.0125, amidst a broader market downturn. However, trading volume surged past $24 million within 24 hours, and the token stabilized around $0.013 by October 13. The community's initial caution was alleviated by IoTeX's transparency and prompt communication, which helped restore trust among users as they praised the team's swift actions.

In the third quarter of 2024, IoTeX has made significant strides in the DePIN sector, reinforcing its leadership position within the ecosystem. The highlight of this quarter was the launch of IoTeX 2.0, which features a modular infrastructure designed to support verifiable DePIN data. This upgrade aims to facilitate the development of DePIN projects by lowering barriers and accelerating growth. Additionally, IoTeX has formed strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as OKX, Solana, and Polygon, further enhancing its visibility and influence in the blockchain space. The network has also seen a surge in activity, with over 218 projects built on IoTeX, including 51 dedicated to DePIN, and a substantial increase in on-chain transactions and staking activities. The IoTeX ecosystem has experienced remarkable growth, with daily on-chain transactions rising to 26,100—a 107% increase from the previous quarter. This growth is complemented by the successful completion of funding rounds by various projects within the ecosystem, such as Network3 and Nubila. The diversity of projects, ranging from AI-driven initiatives to weather oracles, showcases the vibrant potential of the IoTeX platform. Furthermore, IoTeX's DePIN Surf Accelerator program has launched its second phase, selecting nine innovative projects that are set to make a significant impact in the DePIN landscape. Looking ahead, IoTeX is poised for an exciting final quarter of 2024, with plans for the launch of core products like ioID and W3bstream, which will enhance the verification and interaction capabilities of DePIN devices. The upcoming Get GOATed Season 2 event aims to attract new community members and projects, offering substantial rewards to participants. As IoTeX continues to expand its ecosystem and partnerships, it remains committed to driving the adoption of DePIN technology, paving the way for a decentralized future where smart devices and real-world data seamlessly integrate with blockchain solutions.

The Grass Foundation is an innovative project that operates as a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) on the Solana blockchain. It enables users to earn passive income by sharing their extra bandwidth, which is utilized for the development of artificial intelligence tools. With over 2 million active users, the platform has garnered attention, but it has also faced skepticism due to various scams impersonating the project. This article aims to clarify the legitimacy of the Grass airdrop and provide a comprehensive guide for interested participants. The Grass airdrop functions similarly to other DePIN projects, rewarding users for their contributions of bandwidth. Participants can earn Grass Points by installing the Grass App or a web extension, which can later be converted into GRASS tokens. To be eligible for the airdrop, users must have a compatible device and a legitimate wallet address. However, the system is vigilant against fraudulent activities, and any detected misconduct may result in penalties, including the withholding of tokens. Despite the project's rapid growth and backing from reputable investment firms, users are advised to ensure they are accessing the official Grass website to avoid scams. The Grass Foundation has successfully conducted multiple airdrop campaigns, distributing a total of 100 million GRASS tokens to eligible participants. With the recent launch of its mainnet, the airdrop remains active, and the process for claiming Grass Points has been simplified. Users can easily withdraw their earnings by directing the system to transfer GRASS tokens to their wallets. While the Grass Foundation appears to be a legitimate project, potential participants should conduct their own research to verify its authenticity and understand the risks involved in the airdrop process.