DePINed podcast

In this episode of the DePINed Podcast, host Tom Trowbridge sits down with Harry Dewhirst, Founder & CEO of 375AI, to explore how edge AI is turning the physical world into actionable intelligence.375AI is building a real-world data intelligence network that captures activity across highways, intersections, and urban environments — converting massive volumes of raw video into lightweight, privacy-preserving metadata at the edge. With millions of vehicles tracked daily and deployments across major U.S. markets, the network is designed to deliver real-time insights for logistics, finance, autonomous systems, and beyond.In the conversation, Harry shares:- how 375AI compresses terabytes of unstructured video into usable data using edge AI- why controlled deployments and premium locations are critical for data quality and monetization- how the network is already generating commercial demand shortly after TGE- the role of buy & burn tokenomics in aligning real-world revenue with long-term network value- why offline commerce intelligence could become as important as online analytics🎧 Tune in to learn how real-world data, edge AI, and DePIN are converging to unlock a new layer of intelligence — and why the physical world may be the next major analytics frontier.

2025 became a year of product depth and infrastructure maturityOver the past twelve months, Fluence moved from a narrow compute narrative to a fully-fledged CloudStack — production-ready CPUs, virtual servers, a rebuilt provider stack and a platform designed to serve real workloads at scaleTo close the year, Fluence co-founders Tom Trowbridge and Evgeny Ponomarev sat down to reflect on what was built, why certain decisions mattered, and how those foundations set the stage for what comes next.A natural part of that evolution is GPUs and AI. In 2025, Fluence expanded beyond CPU compute into GPU containers, VMs, and bare metal — opening the door to AI workloads and a market that continues to reshape global infrastructure. This episode unpacks how Fluence approaches GPU economics, capacity, and scale — and why compute is becoming one of the most valuable commodities of the next decade.Beyond the product itself, the conversation also touches on ecosystem building. Through DePIN Day and the DePINed Podcast, Fluence continues to invest in the DePIN community — creating a shared space where founders, builders, and operators can connect, learn and grow together. That ecosystem work feeds directly back into stronger products, better alignment, and a healthier market overall.

Jason Brink, Co-founder and CEO of Datagram, shares insights on building decentralized infrastructure networks. He discusses why most DePIN projects fail and highlights Datagram's robust model that supports B2B services like voice and video. The conversation reveals how Datagram utilizes a buy-and-burn token model for sustainability and transparency. Jason also emphasizes the importance of genuine user engagement and outlines future plans for VPN and AI services. With over 400 B2B clients, Datagram is setting a new standard in decentralized connectivity.

Small, specialized AI models are catching up to and in many cases outperforming — frontier LLMs. Fortytwo is building a decentralized compute network where thousands of lightweight models collaborate, rank each other’s outputs, and produce reasoning-quality results that rival the biggest models in the world. This is swarm Inference powered by DePIN.In this episode, Tom Trowbridge (Co-Founder of Fluence) talks with Ivan Nikitin, Co-Founder of Fortytwo — a decentralized AI network that recently surpassed GPT-5–class models on coding, math and hard-science benchmarks.🚀 This episode breaks down why the era of mega-models is slowing, how swarm architectures overcome hallucinations, and why decentralized compute may be the future of AI infrastructure:- Why small specialized models now outperform frontier LLMs on domain tasks- How Fortytwo’s “swarm ranking” filters out hallucinations and boosts accuracy- The limitations of giant models: diminishing returns & rising compute costs- Decentralized compute: consumer hardware as a global AI network- The Fortytwo reward system: reputation, incentives & proof-of-InferenceIf you want to understand why decentralized compute is challenging the frontier-model paradigm — and how swarm Inference could redefine the future of AI — listen now! 🎧

Explore how decentralized energy is transforming the power grid — rooftop solar, home batteries, virtual power plants, and on-chain financing. This is the new DePIN-powered energy economy.In this episode, Tom Trowbridge (co-founder of Fluence) talks with Jason Badeaux, co-founder of Daylight Energy — one of the fastest-growing decentralized energy networks in the world.Daylight recently announced a $75M funding round, combining venture capital with project finance to deploy thousands of solar-plus-storage systems across the U.S. This episode breaks down why electricity demand is exploding, how decentralized energy solves the bottleneck, and why the future grid will be built at the edge — home by home, community by community.What we cover in this episode:- Solar + battery systems becoming the new distributed power plants- The energy crunch: AI, EVs, industry and the surge in electricity demand- Virtual Power Plants as a scalable alternative to traditional utilities- Energy subscriptions: zero-upfront solar & storage for homeowners- DePIN incentives creating community-driven grid expansion- On-chain financing and real-world yields through Daylight’s GRID token- The roadmap to 1M decentralized energy homes and gigawatt-scale impactIf you want to understand how DePIN intersects with energy, why virtual power plants are the future, and how decentralized finance will fund the next wave of power infrastructure — listen now! 🎧

Explore how Carrier One is redefining global connectivity through DePIN and bringing telecom into Web3.In this episode, Tom Trowbridge interviews Samer Bishay (CEO & co-founder of Karrier One) — a decentralized telecom network enabling global roaming, local coverage, and Web3-native identity for millions of mobile users.Carrier One merges 25+ years of telco expertise with DePIN economics to solve one of the world’s biggest challenges:💡 1/3 of humanity still has no reliable internet access, and over 2 billion people remain unbankedThis conversation dives deep into: - Why telecom is one of the most powerful real-world use cases for DePIN- The difference between Web3-first and Telco-first DePIN projects- How Carrier One enables global roaming using local hardware (WiFi, CBRS, macro nodes)- The economics behind a B2B DePIN model (AT&T partnership, real revenue)- Trustless settlement: why blockchain solves telecom’s biggest pain point- Tokenized connectivity: consumption, burn mechanics, incentives- Hardware deployment: how communities can earn from coverage- The long-term mission: connect the unconnected + bank the unbanked- What makes adoption so hard — and how Carrier Number solves onboarding- The 1M → 10M Web3-enabled phone vision- Global expansion beyond North America🎙️ If you want to understand the future of decentralized telecom, roaming without borders, and why DePIN is the biggest opportunity Telco has seen in decades — this episode is essential.

Explore how Grass became one of the most important data engines powering today’s AI models!In this episode, Tom Trowbridge (co-founder & CEO of Fluence) interviews Andrej Radonjic, Founder & CEO of Winged Labs — the team behind the Grass Network, a DePIN system with 8M+ residential devices contributing bandwidth and enabling petabytes of real-world web data for the world’s leading AI labs.This conversation dives deep into:- How Grass built the largest AI-focused DePIN network in the world- Why AI companies need massive, multimodal datasets (especially video)- How Grass handles hundreds of petabytes of data and pushes 4 PB/day at peak- The hidden world of residential proxy networks — and why Grass chose the ethical path- Why blockchain and tokenized network ownership are essential for scaling- Forced verticalization: building their own storage, servers, GPUs, and infra- The future of AI: Live Context Retrieval and real-time access to the entire public web- Token holders, incentives, and the economics behind a global data network🎙️ Grass is enabling AI models to see the real world in real time. If you want to understand the data layer behind the next generation of AI, this episode is essential.

In this episode of the DePINed Podcast, Tom Trowbridge sits down with Luis Oscar Ramirez, Founder of Mawari, the Immersive Compute Network powering the future of XR and AI.Mawari started as a Web2 company trying to solve the hard problem of streaming 3D content for AR/VR — and found DePIN as the only viable way to scale.Today, they’re running over 5,000 GPUs across APAC, powering real-time edge rendering, AI inference, and even virtual YouTubers — with a modular 4-node architecture and a mission to make immersive content truly global.Topics covered:– Why AR/VR needs real-time compute at the edge– How Mawari evolved from XR studio to DePIN infra– The use case explosion: from AI agents to K-pop avatars– DePIN in Asia: Japan, Korea, and the coming wave– Their upcoming Guardian Node launch & token modelA rare inside look at an Asia-first DePIN project solving real infrastructure challenges today.🎙️ Don’t miss this deep dive into one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the DePIN ecosystem

Mike Zajko, co-founder of Lattice Capital and a former CoinList operator, shares insights from his extensive experience in early-stage crypto and DePIN investments. He discusses the evolution of DePIN, emphasizing the need for real-world traction and revenue. Mike outlines key investment criteria like market size and expert teams, while reflecting on common founder missteps. The conversation touches on tokenomics, the impact of AI on market opportunities, and the importance of long-term alignment between token holders and project success.

Mateusz Poreda, co-founder of Rumi, discusses transforming passive TV into interactive experiences. He explains how decentralized nodes enable real-time content indexing and contextual ads. The conversation explores the potential of AI remotes for personalized media engagement and the future of contextual advertising. Mateusz also highlights the significance of incentives and token airdrops for user participation and Rumi's vision to create a gamified viewing experience, engaging audiences in ways never seen before.