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The Grandma Test: When Your Mom Ca
The Grandma Test: When Your Mom Can Use DePIN, Mass Adoption Has Arrived
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The Grandma Test: When Your Mom Can Use DePIN, Mass Adoption Has Arrived
Mass adoption doesn't happen when crypto enthusiasts start using the technology: it happens when your grandma does it without even realizing it, argues Uplink co-founder Carlos Lei.
By Carlos Lei|Edited by Cheyenne Ligon
Dec 6, 2025, 3:00 p.m.
In a perfect world, the internet works like tap water: you turn it on, and it flows. Seamlessly. Nobody really wants to think about a ‘better connection spot,’ SIM cards, or the nearest cell towers. Users just want a fast, stable connection wherever they are. The good thing is they’re quietly getting it without even knowing it.
The internet we have is broken (and expensive)
Traditional telecom infrastructure is heavy and expensive. Every tower requires a site lease, permits, maintenance, and marketing. Every expansion takes months or years (of both construction and red tape) and can cost from $5 million to $100 million, which means installing even one small cell tower can drain a business’s finances by up to $300,000.
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In this system, we’re not really paying for the gigabytes we use — we're paying for the bureaucracy built around them.
This system doesn’t make economic sense anymore. Telecom companies can no longer afford to spend billions on connections that don’t improve and become harder and harder to maintain with more users all over the globe.
The good news is that a better alternative is already in people’s homes and devices, even though you don’t see it on billboards.
DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) is turning the Wi-Fi routers around you into a new kind of connectivity.
From towers to routers
According to crypto asset manager Grayscale, DePIN is already widely used in day-to-day life, and the company calls it a “significant” investment opportunity.
Why? DePIN takes a software-first approach, meaning it uses what already exists. A lightweight app or firmware update turns a regular Wi-Fi router into a small piece of a bigger network. When you’re nearby, your device automatically connects through that router.
With DePIN’s rising popularity, people and businesses are already implementing it: Nodle, a smartphone-based DePIN, turns smartphones into network nodes that relay IoT data over existing mobile infrastructure, while Helium Mobile relies on community-deployed hotspots and small cells to extend 5G coverage and offload traffic for partner carriers in US cities.
In dense city blocks, DePIN-style networks are being used to pitch coverage holes that traditional mobile infrastructure struggles to reach.
Another example outside Wi-Fi is DIMO, a DePIN network for connected cars that allows drivers to share vehicle data while keeping control over it and earning rewards. By 2025, its network counted around 425,000 connected vehicles, over 300 apps built on top of its data, and about $1.5 billion worth of cars streaming information into the protocol. That kind of scale shows DePIN is already reaching everyday drivers, not just crypto insiders.
DePIN startups have onboarded millions of people to their platforms and are adding tens of thousands of users daily. Last June alone, the industry’s market cap was estimated to be $25 billion and is projected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2028.
Behind the scenes, DePIN runs on a simple economic design with a network token that coordinates incentives and settlements between routers (“nodes”) and stable network credits that ensure predictable pricing for telecom and enterprise users.
For telecom companies, DePIN is a cost-efficiency engine. Offloading traffic to local Wi-Fi nodes reduces the cost per gigabyte, especially indoors and during peak hours.
Network offloading is nothing new. Data shows platforms that realized the advantages of offloading have been doing it for years, with experts describing the process as “crucial to alleviate the increasing demands on network infrastructure.”
But venture capital firm a16z crypto believes that DePIN exists beyond telecom. In a recent report, it outlined AI, healthcare, energy, transportation, and robotics as other sectors that DePIN can revolutionize.
Wi-Fi as a revenue stream
All over the world, people running co-working spaces or small offices are now using Wi-Fi as a way to produce more revenue streams for themselves. Because when the economics line up for everyone involved, technology doesn’t just spread, it sticks.
If your internet at the airport suddenly cuts out on the guest portal, your phone in a shopping mall automatically finds faster Wi-Fi, and the evening connection lag at home just disappears, chances are you’ve already used DePIN. You didn’t install a wallet or buy a token; the network simply chose the nearest node and routed your traffic the shorter, cheaper way.
Using Wi-Fi as a revenue stream benefits everyone involved. For users, it means fewer dead zones, smoother connections, and lower bills. For venue owners, Wi-Fi stops being a sunk cost and starts generating income. For operators, coverage becomes flexible, fast, and cost-efficient.
When adoption is really here
Technology reaches maturity when people stop talking about it. No one says, “I’m using TCP/IP” or “this app runs on the cloud.” They just use it.
Mass adoption doesn't happen when crypto enthusiasts start using it. It happens when your grandma does it without even realizing it. And she already does.
DePINDimoHelium
Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.
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