DePIN Allows Us to Be Stakeholders in the Machine Economy

Over the past few years, robots have been taking on more and more roles in the economy, estimated to wipe out up to 375 million jobs by 2030. The AI boom we see now will only accelerate this process, enabling smart machines to capture even more of the value creation chain. The process will take on many forms, from gargantuan end-to-end systems, like Xiaomi’s brand-new fully autonomous smartphone factory or Amazon’s smart warehouses, to smaller ones like delivery robots bringing you pizza.

This op-ed is part of CoinDesk’s new DePIN Vertical, covering the emerging industry of decentralized physical infrastructure.

At the receiving end of this are people — people who have been assembling those smartphones, sorting parcels, and, well, bringing pizzas. One could argue that robots are sparing them the stress and effort of menial jobs. One could also argue that robots pushed them out of jobs, period. Often enough, automation turns into a zero-sum game: As robots do more, there’s overall fewer jobs for people, so those replace have to compete for an ever-shrinking pie.

Sure, let’s not look over the nuance. Automation doesn’t just eliminate jobs, it also creates them. Fewer jobs, granted, and usually more demanding in terms of skills and education. A self-driving taxi service would create new jobs for engineers and AI specialists, but how many cabbies would be able to upskill into those roles?

No wonder taxi drivers are going up in arms against autonomous cars. No wonder humble delivery bots are facing attacks as well, and there’s even stories of tea picker robots drawing people’s ire after pushing thousands out of jobs. People see technology encroaching on their livelihood and their ability to put food on the table, and as they connect the dots, they don’t like the picture it all comes to: A world where the few profit from automation while millions are left without means to survive.

But, as it happens, Web3 can help.

People fear automation because it appears to render them helpless in the face of a bigger-than-life process changing the world at their detriment. The only cure to this is transforming the very foundation of this process by making everyone a stakeholder in it, not its victim, and that’s where Web3 comes into play.

Let’s start with an anecdote. People don’t tend to be too nice to car sharing and rental vehicles. However, after tokenizing a number of vehicles managed by a Viennese car-sharing operator, we noticed something completely different. People with a stake in the car’s revenues treated the Teslas like their own cars. Not a week went by without someone taking the car out for a wash, or cleaning its interior, or doing something equally helpful, even though they didn’t have to. There were no rewards for that, even though the provider did appreciate it a lot. Still, the tangible sense of stake was the game-changer which made people view these Teslas as assets, not threats.

Here’s where Web3 has a role to play, specifically the notion of real-world assets (RWAs). By tokenizing a machine — in other words, representing certain rights to it, such as a cut in its revenues — as on-chain tokens, you get the perfect instrument for making everyone a stakeholder in the automation, a trustless mechanism that will never depend on the goodwill of a centralized entity. Imagine that automated smartphone factory distributing a portion of its revenues between its token holders — Web3 can make that happen.

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Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) have the same potential to defuse the ticking socio-economic time bomb as they provide a framework for automated devices of any complexity to create value on behalf of their owners. From smartphones and drones to vehicles, DePINs enable people to do more with their everyday devices, earning tokens for providing real-world services. As our devices grow smarter, they will be able to do more, and by doing more, they will enable new DePIN use cases and more opportunities to earn rewards. And with that, once again, we will be stakeholders, not victims, as the world moves from centralized infrastructures to community-owned ones.

There is no stopping innovation, but we, as a society, must always be mindful of those who pay the toll for it. Automation promises companies billions in new revenues, but it threatens to leave millions of people unable to make ends meet. With a process as impactful, it’s crucial to make sure it doesn’t just benefit the few — and with machine RWAs and DePINs, we can secure a future where we all have a stake in the booming machine-powered economy.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.