DePIN Is Just Getting Started: World Mobile’s Micky Watkins on the Destiny of Decentralized Infra

In an industry where narratives shift like quicksand, it can be hard keeping tabs on what’s hot, what’s not, and where smart money is headed next. Take DePIN, for example, one of last year’s darlings: in early 2025 decentralized physical infrastructure networks were seemingly everywhere. One year on, is DePIN still in or has the public moved on to the next meta?

One man who knows is Micky Watkins. As Founder and CEO of World Mobile Group, he certainly has a dog in this fight – but he’s also got the data to support his assertions that DePIN is not only still in, but its best years lie ahead. In a wide-ranging interview, Micky explained to CryptoDaily why decentralized networks are proving more resilient than centralized alternatives and how they’re generating meaningful income for thousands of infra operators.

1. Let’s start at the top. In 2026, how’s DePIN doing?

If 2025 was the year of the pilot then 2026 is the year of scale now that the hype has abated and those who’ve stuck around are here for the tech rather than the tokens. People are now aware that DePIN isn’t just a sub-sector of crypto, but a better way to build the physical world.

That shift is now visible in the data across the sector. Independent research this year showed that DePIN revenues held up far better than DeFi or L1s through the last market cycle, with wireless networks in particular demonstrating real demand and repeat usage

While my focus is solely on World Mobile, I’ll defend the DePIN model to the hilt – and there’s ample evidence to back my assertion that it’s just getting started. For example, all of the core metrics we track for World Mobile, from wallets to AirNodes, reveal a resilient network that’s actually being used for the purpose for which it was designed.

People aren’t using World Mobile because they heard that DePIN’s the next big thing. They’re using it because Big Wireless has failed them or because they’re attracted by the ability to earn while providing a useful service for their neighbors. In the U.S. alone, around 7% of the country is still unconnected, while in emerging markets that number is multiples higher. That’s a massive connectivity gap and a huge addressable market for DePIN to fill.

2. Nevertheless, would it be fair to say that some of the projects that sailed under the DePIN flag are now lagging when it comes to KPIs such as TVL or market cap? Why is this?

Reports of DePIN’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. What is dead, however, is the era of DePIN projects that only exist in a whitepaper or as a speculative token. One of the clearest lessons from the past year is that infrastructure networks cannot be evaluated using purely financial abstractions. The projects that are pulling ahead are the ones generating repeat usage and operational revenue, not those optimizing for emissions or short-term liquidity metrics. If your project relies on high token emissions or gimmicky hardware to keep people interested, you aren’t in the infrastructure game – you’re in the speculation game, and crypto already has enough of that.

As for KPIs such as market cap, a farmer in a wireless blackspot or a small business owner in a city don’t check CoinGecko to see if their internet works. They care about uptime and service continuity. Unfortunately, the crypto industry tends to focus on metrics such as TVL, market cap, and token velocity at the exclusion of all else.

I get it: these are crude metrics, but they’re a starting point for gauging the fortunes of any DeFi project. But you can’t build a cell tower with TVL. We measure success by Daily Active Users – which are at almost 3 million now – Data Consumption (we’re seeing over 2.27M Petabytes of data moving across the network per day), and Uptime. Here, for example, user-operated AirNodes are proving more resilient than centralized solutions because if one node goes down, the mesh adapts.

3. You recently launched the World Mobile Network Builder to “decentralize the spirit of entrepreneurship” and enable anyone to deliver last-mile data connectivity. What’s the TL;DR on it and who benefits from this model?

In short, we’re turning network deployment into a permissionless entrepreneurial activity. Instead of waiting for a centralized operator to decide where to build, individuals and communities can claim a territory and deploy infrastructure, allowing them to earn directly from the traffic they serve. What’s important to stress is that Network Builder is not a financial abstraction. It is an operating model where rewards are only generated when real connectivity is deployed, maintained, and used.

For decades, the telecom industry was a closed shop that only the major players could enter. Network Builder effectively breaks that monopoly. The primary beneficiaries of this are local operators and underserved communities, but the ultimate winners are end users who get to enjoy cheaper and more reliable connectivity.

4. Can you explain what “Hexes” have to do with all this, and how Hex operators are rewarded for verified activity rather than passive ownership? Why is this distinction crucial for sustainable DePIN economics?

We’ve divided the real world into Hexes – geospatial units of about 252 square kilometers. When you obtain a Hex NFT in an auction, you’re securing an operating permit for that specific territory.

But what’s crucial here is that ownership alone pays zero. That design choice is intentional. Many infrastructure networks fail because they reward capital allocation rather than contribution, which leads to dormant assets and stalled growth. To earn rewards, a Hex Operator has to perform verified work. That means hitting subscriber milestones and coordinating AirNode deployments – all while maintaining network uptime.

This distinction is crucial because it ensures the network actually grows. Passive ownership leads to stagnation, whereas verified activity leads to viable infrastructure. Rewarding work rather than just rewarding speculators for holding an asset aligns the incentives of the operator with the needs of the user. It’s “Proof of Contribution” in the most literal sense.

Local communities or solo entrepreneurs that become Hex Operators are free to identify where coverage is needed, deploy the hardware, and grow their subscriber base. The community gets better data service and the network becomes more resilient because it’s owned by the people who use it.

5. What about AirNodes, which are described as the backbone of World Mobile’s decentralized network. How do they differ functionally and economically from traditional telco towers, and what benefits do they bring to operators and end users?

Traditional towers are massive both in terms of size and deployment cost. They’re also central points of failure, since if one goes down, a whole zip code goes dark.

AirNodes are small and cost a fraction of a traditional tower. A single AirNode on its own can’t do a whole lot, but chain them together and you get a mesh that can provide national and even international coverage. And because they’re decentralized, if one node has an issue, the rest of the network picks up the slack. As the network densifies, this architecture becomes more defensible over time. Each additional AirNode increases redundancy, lowers marginal delivery costs, and strengthens the overall network rather than introducing new points of fragility.

But it’s not just the architecture of AirNodes that’s radically different to telco towers – so’s the economic model underpinning them. Instead of a single carrier owning all the infrastructure, thousands of operators own and operate pieces of the network. For operators, that means lower capex and direct revenue participation, while for users, it means denser coverage and 5G speeds at a price that actually reflects the cost of data.

6. We mentioned at the outset that we’d discuss data points concerning the World Mobile ecosystem, and whether these suggest that its network – and DePIN at large – still have room to grow. Can you touch upon some of these, specifically concerning metrics such as active users, uptime, and AirNodes?

The data is the ultimate proof that DePIN is actually delivering at scale. What matters most is not any single headline figure, but the consistency of usage across users, regions, and time. We’ve now crossed 100,000 AirNodes installed globally – in fact I believe we’re approaching 110K now. That’s a massive milestone, but the most important number I would argue is three million Daily Active Users.

To put that in perspective, the entire DePIN sector was estimated to have around 13 million active devices at the start of last year. World Mobile is now driving a huge chunk of real-world participation. We’re seeing over 2.25 petabytes of data consumption every 24 hours. Just as significantly is the fact that our uptime metrics are rivaling – and in some rural areas, beating – the centralized giants.

When you put it all together, it’s clear that World Mobile isn’t just delivering the “decentralized” part of DePIN, but also the “physical infrastructure” part. This is infra that anyone can use – as millions are.

7. In the long term, how do you see decentralized telecom ecosystems coexisting or competing with traditional carriers?

To be honest, I see a hybrid future for the foreseeable. The reality is that traditional carriers aren’t about to be displaced anytime soon – their legacy footprint is too large and too deeply embedded for that to happen. But at the same time, they lack the economic incentives to reach the remaining data blackspots, which is where DePIN steps in. We are also seeing growing interest in decentralized networks as a complementary layer, particularly for traffic offload and targeted coverage where traditional buildouts are slow or economically unattractive.

World Mobile effectively acts as the sharing economy layer for telecom. We can go where they won’t and deploy in hours where they take years. I suspect we’ll see more carriers offloading traffic to DePIN networks because it’s cheaper for them than building a new tower. While there’s a lot I dislike about Big Wireless, I’m not on a mission to administer the killshot that would finish them off for good. I’m more interested in replacing their failing parts with something that actually works – for everyone, all of the time, regardless of where they live.

The emergence of the internet and the digital economy it’s spawned has meant that birthplace is no longer a lottery; you can succeed regardless of where you live in the world. Connectivity is one of the few remaining barriers preventing all global citizens from competing on a level playing field and that’s where DePINs such as World Mobile have a vital role to play.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.