Juan Benet, inventor of IPFS and founder of Protocol Labs and Filecoin, joined Tom Trowbridge (Fluence) for a fireside chat at DePIN Day Bangkok. In this talk, Juan shared hard-earned lessons from building decentralized infrastructure before the term “DePIN” even existed. From token economics to peer-to-pool networks and product-market fit, this session is a masterclass in designing crypto-powered infrastructure for real-world utility.
The Origin of DePIN: IPFS and Filecoin Before the Buzzword
Years before the word “DePIN” was coined, Juan Benet was already building it. With IPFS and Filecoin, he introduced a radically decentralized model for storing and retrieving data — a foundational piece for today’s decentralized infrastructure. IPFS became the “HTTP of Web3,” enabling content-addressed data sharing. Filecoin added incentives and scale, functioning as a decentralized alternative to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud.
“We started this in 2013-2014. There was no language for this yet. But we knew we had to rethink the stack using crypto primitives”
The Deepin Stack: Problems Solved & Challenges Ahead
Juan outlined three foundational concepts critical to scaling DePIN:
- Block Rewards as Infrastructure Subsidies
- Block rewards are more than bootstrapping tools: they’re long-term incentives that can power entire economies.
- He calls for more sophisticated block reward design: tying rewards to KPIs, incentivizing not just supply, but also demand.
- Peer-to-Peer vs. Peer-to-Pool Networks
- Peer-to-peer models are limited by matching inefficiencies.
- Peer-to-pool systems, like Uniswap for physical infrastructure, allow clients and providers to interact with the network instead of each other.
- Relentless Focus on Product-Market Fit
- Infrastructure only matters if it solves real problems.
- Builders must anticipate needs of non-crypto users and build adapters to Web2 (UX, fiat payments, integrations)
Block Rewards for Real-World Impact
Juan emphasized the power of aligning incentives in DePIN systems. He spotlighted Glow, a DePIN project using block rewards to accelerate solar energy production.
“Crypto is a tool for global coordination. Let’s use it to solve climate change.”
Glow isn’t alone. WeatherXM, HiveMapper, and others are using DePIN models to plug into massive Web2 markets (weather data, maps, energy). The key: don’t make users care about the protocol, just deliver value.
Platform vs. Product: Serving Builders, Not Just End-Users
Benet drew a line between building a product and building a platform. Filecoin serves developers and other protocols, not just end users. But platforms must still offer tangible products—like content delivery or chain storage— to anchor adoption.
“A platform is a product. But it’s a product for developers.”
Just like Uber rides on HTTP, DePIN products can ride on Filecoin’s rails without users ever seeing the tech
The Network Is the Community
In Web3, the community isn’t an external audience—it’s the network itself. Juan emphasized designing networks with:
- Clear stakeholder mapping
- Positive-sum value flows
- Transparent metrics & dashboards
“You get what you measure. And most networks don’t measure nearly enough.”
Communities thrive when they’re instrumented, visible, and aligned through shared incentives. Filecoin’s economy, he says, was designed with five core stakeholders in mind: clients, providers, developers, token holders, and ecosystem partners.
The DePIN Demand Gap: Solving for Consumers & Enterprises
Web3-native users are important, but the real growth will come from traditional Web2 markets. DePIN projects must:
- Solve tangible problems (storage, bandwidth, compute, sensors, etc.)
- Integrate easily with enterprise buyers
- Obscure the Web3 complexity for users
Projects like Glow and WeatherXM show the way: serve existing markets, prove reliability, and scale with real demand
Coordinated Infrastructure is the Next Frontier
“We’re not chasing memes. We’re building trillion-dollar utilities.”
Juan Benet’s vision for DePIN is as ambitious as it is grounded. The tools are here: crypto, incentives, decentralized networks. What remains is execution: building infrastructure that is seamless, useful, and scalable for billions.
