Heard About DePAI? Here’s Why This AI-Robot-Blockchain Mix Matters

Decentralized Physical AI (DePAI) could emerge as a big narrative in the crypto space for the current year. This concept represents the convergence of AI, robotics, and blockchain technology, with the goal of creating autonomous, decentralized systems that operate in the physical world.

What is Decentralized Physical AI (DePAI)?

The main idea is to enable robots and AI agents to function on their own, making decisions and executing tasks without centralized control, all the while being governed by blockchain protocols. The premise sounds very good on paper, but whether it will be enough to dominate 2025 is still unclear. The DePAI approach promises improved transparency, security, and efficiency in various applications, from manufacturing to logistics.

The concept gained traction after NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang, introduced ‘Physical AI’ at CES in January 2025.

Why is DePAI Gaining Traction Now?

Some, such as the crypto analyst Miles Deutscher, believe that DePAI will be one of the major crypto trends in the next year or two. He also shared an infographic, outlining DePAI’s layers which are data collection, machine coordination, AI agents, and robotics.

In recent times, investors and VCs seemed to be very interested in the concept and what it can bring. For instance, Multicoin Capital announced an $8 million liquid investment in GEODNET. Their reasoning is probably the confidence that the protocol can bring in revenue from areas like decentralized AI, in addition to offering location-fixing services for robots.

Then, a month earlier in February, Frodobots received $8 million to support the development of Bitrobot and Robots.fun. Coincidentally, Frodobots is the first robot network leveraging DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks), which is something DePAI also leverages, combined with blockchain technology.

What Challenges Does DePAI Face Before Mass Adoption?

The robotics industry in general has been getting quite a bit of spotlight all around, mainly due to big developments from companies akin to NVIDIA and Figure. On that account, it’s likely that there will be many new crypto projects focused on DePAI uses, similar to how many DeAI projects popped up in the last couple of years.

Still, DePAI is fairly new, and despite the breakthroughs, a lot of challenges remain. Primarily, to achieve mass adoption, a lot more data and computing power will be needed. It will also be important to see how well DePIN networks and blockchains interact with each other for any data sharing, transactions, and similar.