Key Takeaways:
Decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) protocols on Solana generated $2.8 million in revenue in April, as data offload activity across the ecosystem increased 17-fold from the prior year.
The growth highlights increasing consumer adoption of real-world services like wireless coverage and mapping on the blockchain, according to April data from the infrastructure company Syndica. Seven protocols, including Helium, Render, and Hivemapper, accounted for most of the activity.
April’s revenue figure follows $2.4 million in February, bringing the cumulative total for the sector to over $22 million since January 2025. By the end of 2025, some protocols were processing an average of 4.8 terabytes in monthly data offload. Helium Mobile has been the clear leader, generating over $14 million in revenue on its own and often surpassing $2 million in monthly revenue.
While the revenue is modest by traditional infrastructure standards, the 17x growth in data offload suggests a genuine product-market fit, particularly for services that offer economic incentives to users. For Solana, the success of DePIN applications validates its high-throughput, low-cost architecture for handling the high volume of microtransactions required by these real-world data networks.
The surge in activity has been primarily driven by Helium Mobile, which allows users to earn rewards for providing wireless network coverage. The protocol's success means it now accounts for roughly two-thirds of all tracked DePIN revenue on Solana, raising questions about the sector's diversification.
If Helium’s dominance continues while other protocols fail to gain similar traction, the "Solana DePIN" narrative could become a "Helium on Solana" story. This presents a different investment profile than a more diversified and distributed infrastructure ecosystem.
Other notable protocols contribute to the ecosystem's depth. Hivemapper uses dashcam contributions to build decentralized mapping data, while Render provides a market for decentralized GPU rendering power. These applications, alongside others like UpRock, NATIX, XNET, and GEODNET, demonstrate the breadth of real-world infrastructure being built on the chain.
The growth in DePIN comes as the price of Solana ($SOL) navigates a challenging market, currently trading about 70% below its all-time high. The token faces significant technical resistance near the $95-$100 level, a double-top formation that has rejected several price advances since late 2025.
Still, analysts point to the expanding DePIN ecosystem and enterprise adoption from firms like Visa and Meta as constructive on-chain fundamentals that provide a long-term valuation support layer, differentiating Solana from purely speculative Layer-1 blockchains.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
