DePIN revenue reality: Helium's $18M, Aethir's $166M ARR, and why most projects fail to generate sustainable fees.
Aria Chen
Lead Quantitative Analyst
The Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) sector grew from $5.2 billion to $19.2 billion in market cap during 2025. Yet most investors cannot distinguish between projects generating real revenue and those surviving purely on token inflation.
This distinction matters. Projects with sustainable revenue models survive bear markets. Those relying on emissions collapse when sentiment shifts.
Let us examine which DePIN projects actually make money.
Most DePIN projects operate a simple model: issue tokens as rewards to infrastructure providers, hope usage catches up before emissions overwhelm demand.
This creates a fundamental problem. Token emissions represent costs, not revenue. When a project pays node operators in newly minted tokens, those tokens eventually need buyers. Without real usage generating fees, the math becomes unsustainable.
The 2025 DePIN rally masked this issue. Capital flows into the sector allowed projects to maintain token prices despite minimal revenue. The question now is which projects built genuine businesses during the bull market.
Helium (HNT) demonstrates what DePIN revenue can look like. The network generates $1.5 million monthly from mobile subscriptions, with 577,000 active subscribers as of late 2025.
More significantly, Helium burns 100% of subscription revenue into HNT tokens. This creates a deflationary mechanism tied directly to usage, not speculation.
The August 2025 halving reduced annual emissions from 15 million to 7.5 million HNT. Combined with revenue burns, Helium achieved its first deflationary month in October 2025, when token burns exceeded new emissions.
Helium's STRICT Score of 67 reflects this progress, with particularly strong Community (75) and Tokenomics (70) ratings. The network maintains 115,750 mobile hotspots serving real users paying real money for wireless service.
Helium's model proves DePIN can generate sustainable revenue. The question is whether other projects can replicate this approach.
However, questions remain about profitability. The $1.5 million monthly revenue may not cover operational costs including T-Mobile partnership fees, infrastructure, and customer acquisition. Helium has not disclosed a clear path to protocol-level profitability.
Render Network (RENDER) represents a different revenue model, collecting fees from users who need GPU compute power and distributing payments to node operators.
The network processed 1.49 million frames in July 2025, burning 207,900 USDC in the process. While smaller than Helium's revenue, this demonstrates genuine commercial activity.
Render's US-based GPU trial achieved 80% utilization, suggesting strong demand for decentralized compute alternatives. The network has expanded beyond 3D rendering into AI inferencing through its RNP-019 general compute subnet.
With a STRICT Score of 73, Render earns higher marks than Helium, particularly for Innovation (75) and Tokenomics (80). The Solana migration improved transaction efficiency while partnerships with Stability AI validate commercial viability.
The challenge is competition. AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure offer enterprise-grade infrastructure with established relationships and service level agreements. Render must prove cost advantages at enterprise scale to capture meaningful market share.
Filecoin (FIL) presents a cautionary example. The network maintains 3.0 exbibytes of storage capacity, making it the largest decentralized storage network. Yet utilization sits at just 36%.
The November 2025 Onchain Cloud launch aimed to transform Filecoin from archival storage to programmable cloud infrastructure. Over 100 development teams began building applications. Mainnet launches in Q1 2026.
Despite the scale, Filecoin's STRICT Score of 60 reflects challenges. Revenue scores particularly low (48) given the gap between capacity and commercial usage. The token trades 99.4% below its all-time high.
Large networks do not automatically generate revenue. Filecoin's 3.0 EiB capacity means nothing if customers do not pay for storage.
Filecoin's situation illustrates a common DePIN trap: building infrastructure before demand materializes. The network has capacity but lacks the commercial traction to generate sustainable fees.
Aethir achieved the sector's most impressive revenue growth, reaching $166 million annualized recurring revenue in Q3 2025, up 13x year-over-year from $12 million.
The project delivered 1.4 billion compute hours to enterprise clients, maintaining 70% lower costs than AWS. This positions Aethir as the leading enterprise DePIN compute platform.
Unlike projects relying on retail users, Aethir targeted enterprise customers from the start. This strategy produces larger contracts, more predictable revenue, and stronger customer retention.
The trade-off is centralization risk. Enterprise focus means fewer but larger customers. Losing major clients could significantly impact revenue.
The data reveals three distinct approaches to DePIN revenue:
| Project | Revenue Model | Annual Revenue | Revenue per Token |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aethir | Enterprise compute | $166M | High |
| Helium | Consumer subscriptions | $18M | Medium |
| Render | Creator compute fees | ~$2.5M | Low |
| Filecoin | Storage fees | Minimal | Very low |
Aethir's enterprise model generates the most revenue but requires significant business development capabilities. Helium's consumer model scales more organically but faces competition from traditional MVNOs. Render sits between, serving professional creators with specialized needs.
Filecoin demonstrates that network scale does not guarantee revenue. Without commercial adoption, even the largest decentralized network generates minimal fees.
Revenue generation is only half the equation. What happens to that revenue determines whether token holders benefit.
Helium burns 100% of subscription revenue, creating direct deflationary pressure proportional to usage. This aligns token holder incentives with network growth.
Akash Network takes a similar approach through its BME model, burning $0.85 per dollar spent on compute. Initial projections suggest 2.1 million AKT monthly burns with $3.36 million compute volume.
Render burns a smaller portion of fees, focusing more on node operator payments. This supports supply-side growth but provides less direct benefit to token holders.
Projects without clear burn mechanisms face ongoing dilution. Even with revenue growth, new emissions can outpace fee generation, resulting in net inflation despite commercial success.
For investors evaluating DePIN projects, revenue metrics matter more than network statistics:
Strong signals:
Warning signs:
The DePIN sector contains genuinely innovative projects building real infrastructure. But innovation alone does not create investment value. Revenue generation and sustainable tokenomics separate winners from losers.
Several catalysts could shift the DePIN revenue landscape in 2026:
Helium's Brazil expansion targeting 100 million users through the Mambo WiFi partnership could significantly increase subscriber revenue. Success would validate the consumer subscription model at scale.
Render's Compute Subnet (RNP-019) expansion into enterprise AI workloads positions the network for higher-margin customers. NVIDIA RTX 5090 node onboarding could improve utilization further.
Filecoin's Onchain Cloud mainnet in Q1 2026 represents a make-or-break moment. Either the programmable infrastructure vision attracts commercial adoption, or the gap between capacity and usage becomes permanent.
For more on how AI agents are driving infrastructure demand, or how Solana's ecosystem supports DePIN projects, see our related coverage.
DePIN revenue reality is stark. A handful of projects generate meaningful commercial revenue. Helium leads with $18 million annualized from actual subscribers. Aethir dominates enterprise compute with $166 million ARR. Render demonstrates niche commercial viability.
Most DePIN projects have not achieved sustainable revenue. Network statistics like capacity, nodes, and transactions mean little without commercial adoption generating fees.
Investors should demand clear revenue metrics before allocating capital to DePIN tokens. The sector's promise of decentralized infrastructure is real. But promises do not generate returns. Revenue does.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
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