Where DePIN Stands Today, and Why Netsujo Is Building YaseiGrid

Tomohiro Iida (CEO, Netsujo Inc.) · Published June 10, 2026

DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) uses blockchain and token incentives to build real-world infrastructure and data networks in a distributed way, with individuals and local operators contributing physical devices in exchange for rewards. Overseas, projects covering connectivity (Helium), storage (Filecoin), GPU compute (Render Network, Aethir), mapping (Bee Maps/Hivemapper), weather data (WeatherXM), and precision positioning (GEODNET) are already in commercial operation. In Japan, DePIN-adjacent activity is comparatively early-stage: DIMO Japan (vehicle data), Mawari (spatial computing infrastructure), Tadatit (a research project on co-created digital twins), and Dabba (a Japan-based entry point into an Indian distributed Wi-Fi network). Netsujo Inc., a Kyoto-based Web3 startup, is building its own DePIN-model project, YaseiGrid, which applies AI cameras, sensors, and blockchain-based recording to Japan's wildlife-risk and regional-safety problem. YaseiGrid is explicitly at the concept and PoC-preparation stage — it is not a deployed commercial network, and any token-based incentive for participants remains a future consideration rather than a built feature.

What DePIN is

DePIN stands for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks. Rather than a single large operator (a telecom, cloud provider, mapping company, utility, or local government) building and owning the infrastructure, DePIN networks let individuals and local operators contribute physical assets or devices — routers, GPUs, storage, dashcams, weather stations, GNSS base stations, AI cameras — and rewards them according to their contribution. Three elements define a DePIN project: (1) a real-world physical contribution (providing connectivity, collecting road footage, observing weather, detecting wildlife); (2) verifying and recording that contribution (installation location, uptime, data quality, detection results); and (3) supplying the resulting data or service to demand-side users (businesses, governments, researchers, developers, residents) and returning part of that value to participants.

Why DePIN is gaining attention

• Demand for real-world data in the AI era — generative AI, robotics, autonomous driving, and disaster response all need continuously updated real-world data (road conditions, weather, vehicle behavior, environmental change), which is costly for any single company to collect at scale; DePIN spreads that collection across participants.
• Rising cost of physical infrastructure — telecom, energy, sensor networks, and mapping all require heavy capital and maintenance spending; distributing that cost across network participants can make previously uneconomical regions or use cases viable, provided quality control, liability, and regulatory compliance are handled.
• Web3 use cases expanding beyond finance — DePIN uses blockchain for recording contributions, proving them, distributing rewards, and keeping participants informed transparently, which matters most in networks with multiple independent operators rather than a single controlling party.

DePIN maturity by area, at home and abroad

YaseiGrid: Netsujo's DePIN project

Japan faces recurring problems from wild-animal encounters — crop damage, risk to people, safety concerns at tourist sites and campgrounds, and the burden of patrolling mountainous areas, which is harder to sustain as rural populations shrink and age. YaseiGrid is Netsujo's proposed response: a network of AI cameras and sensors, contributed by residents, farmers, forestry operators, campgrounds, and local governments, that detects and shares wildlife-risk information as maps, notifications, logs, and reports. Blockchain-based recording is intended to support tamper-resistant logging, and a future stablecoin-based reward (for example using JPYC, a Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin) is under consideration as an incentive for device hosting and data contribution — this is explicitly a future design consideration, not a feature that exists today.

• Detection and notification — AI cameras/sensors alert residents, facility managers, and local-government staff when wildlife is detected, supplementing manual patrols.
• Risk mapping — detection location, time, species, and frequency are visualized to support patrol planning, farmland management, and facility operations, rather than relying on one-off sighting reports.
• Logging and data sharing — detection logs are recorded and can be shared with local governments, facilities, community groups, or researchers; blockchain and distributed storage are being considered to improve tamper resistance and history management.
• Community-participation device deployment — residents, farmers, foresters, campgrounds, lodging, and tourist facilities, not just local government, would be able to host devices and contribute data.
• Future incentive design — a stablecoin-based reward for installation, uptime, data contribution, and detection-accuracy improvement is under consideration, framed as an incentive to sustain the network rather than a speculative instrument.

What's next

Netsujo plans to roll out YaseiGrid in stages, starting with verifying the basic functions needed for real operation — detection accuracy, mapping, notification, and logging — before moving to pilots with local governments, facilities, agricultural operators, and community groups. Items still to be verified include detection accuracy, false-positive/false-negative rates, notification speed and usefulness, installation and running cost, appropriate data-sharing scope, decision-making value for users, whether the incentive design holds up, and compliance with regulation, privacy, and safety-management requirements. The intent is to validate usefulness at a small scale in each region before expanding, rather than aiming for a large network from the outset.

YaseiGrid project page（日本語）

Where the real value of Web3 and blockchain lies（日本語）