Opinion by: Yanal M. Hammouda, head of expanding the Market in Wingbit
The decentralized sector of physical infrastructure (DEPIN) saw $ 150 million of capital flow during Q1 2025, with a expected market size of $ 3.5 trillion in 2028. However the most important development did not raise capital but where these networks operated.
Emerging markets such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America – instead of the Silicon Valley – are driving in the future of the Definition.
Depin and blockchain market dynamics favors regions with infrastructure gaps and progressive web3 regulations. Depin clusters have evolved where traditional infrastructure fails, when populations are forced to find community -driven solutions. Investors and builders to DEPIN should look for these conditions in the market outside the US.
DEPIN SANDBOXES
The historic success of the Silicon Valley on the Web2 was killed by landmark regulations such as Section 230 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In the web3, however, the US was only this year introduced to the Genius Act, and the July Digital Assets of the White House was the first federal recognition of the value generated from the Definition. While the US is just beginning to travel its depin, web3 ecosystems elsewhere show their success hinge in the clarity of regulation.
Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA)Established in 2022, created specific sandboxes for web3 infrastructure projects. Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) is actively supporting tokenizing real-world assets through initiatives such as Project Guardian and the Singapore Blockchain Innovation Program.
At the same time, the country’s Fintech Regulatory Sandbox clearly defined the parameters for the blockchain experiment.
In South Korea, giant telecommunication LG U+ has been Testing a Blockchain -based payment system based on Blockchain Since 2018, a rollout will face approval processes under the rules of the US Federal Communications Commission. The country saw a 15% year-to-year growth in the number of blockchain service providers in 2023.
Related: Southeast Asia to encourage the growth of the depin
Vietnam’s Approach to national blockchain. The government is currently writing the NDachain platform, a national blockchain aimed at boosting the e-government and digital economy with decentralized people’s identity.
Deeper pockets for depin projects
While the Bay Area still captured 24% of $ 368 billion in the global funding of venture capital in 2024, the real capital for the blockchain flows elsewhere.
The UAE ranked third (the US is fourth) in the Henley Crypto Adoption Index, which assesses the integration of cryptocurrency and blockchain in countries. With up to 7,100 new millionaires expected to be locked in Dubai in 2025, the Gulf’s expat community – with high -incomes that can be used and revolts on emerging technologies such as depin – continues to grow.
Abu Dhabi’s $ 500-million Digital energy infrastructure fund Particularly targets are “Blockchain, Depin, AI, Clouds, and other compute cluster applications” in its investment thesis. The UAE is emerging as the leader in the web3 space by placing a firepower behind the depin applications in the sectors where traditional infrastructure has failed to keep up with the demand.
Singapore State Funds, The TeMasek and the Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) government, have changed their focus on blockchain infrastructure outside of traditional tech hubs. In recent years, GIC has invested $ 70 million in Hong Kong based in BC Group, parenting Crypto Exchange OSL company.
In comparison, Temasek led a $ 110-million funding in Hong Kong-based funding Animoca brandsThe most popular investment company in Asian blockchain. The funds of the sovereignty wealth are a strategy for a future developed in digital infrastructure.
The needs of construction on luxury
New York and Silicon Valley are once celebrated as the only places to mean a web3 product. No more.
Although most 380,000 decentralized wireless hotspots still exist within the US, new deployment rapidly expands the scope of users in Southeast Asia and South America.
During the Mexican Helium pilots, Language Language in the Telecommunication company Movistar has averaged 390 megabytes, or seven hours of browsing the web, sun -day data on the Helium network, showing how DEPIN can solve real connectivity challenges.
The message for depin and entrepreneurs is clear: design for users who need your infrastructure, not those who can find interesting in a mast alto coffee store. For investors, the opportunity lies in recognizing projects that solve real problems in markets with regulatory clarity and growing adoption. Policy manufacturers can facilitate this with frameworks that receive new blockchain -based projects instead of trying to force them into existing, strict categories.
Asian companies led the Mobile Revolution of 2010 in response to the loss of their desktop lead, creating giants such as WeChat, Gojeck and Kakao, which now makes these markets impossible for Silicon Valley to penetrate. Countries like UAE, Vietnam and Singapore are now establishing a similar lead in this perennial market, and web3 companies should pay attention to what it means in five to 10 years.
Opinion by: Yanal M. Hammouda, head of expanding the Wingbit market.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be done as legal or investment advice. The views, attitudes, and opinions expressed here are unique and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of the cointelegraph.
