Whether a DePIN focuses on physical resources or digital resources or targets a specific vertical, it must interface with real-world smart devices that generate an incredible amount of data. The need for a modular, end-to-end tech stack that connects real-world data to the blockchain world is essential.
IoTeX Reference Architecture for DePINs
Blockchain, as an immutable ledger, is a perfect foundation to document facts about what happened in the physical world; however, before writing "proofs of physical work" from devices to the blockchain permanently, a series of steps must be completed to verify the real world activity that actually happened and if the data is trustworthy.
Devices must be registered on-chain, raw data must be collected, parsed, sequenced, and stored, and computations over data must be performed in a verifiable fashion before any "proof of real-world activity" can be settled to a blockchain. The reference architecture above shows nine essential layers for DePIN projects to consider.
{% hint style="success" %} IoTeX introduced the concept of "DePIN Infrastructure Modules (DIMs)" as the methodology enabling any infrastructure builder to provide their implementations for the different layers required to a DePIN project. This provides DePIN projects with a vast array of options for creating their custom tech stack. {% endhint %}