Analyzing Puffpaw: $6M funding + Bear Chain expectations, is "Quit Smoking to Earn" combined with DePIN a good business?
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Analyzing Puffpaw: $6M funding + Bear Chain expectations, is "Quit Smoking to Earn" combined with DePIN a good business?
Vaping goes DePIN, smoking turns into a game.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: TechFlow
The market is dull—aside from rampant meme gambling, what new projects or narratives feel truly distinctive?
A slightly joking answer might be: for retail investors, quitting gambling may not be as urgent as quitting smoking.
For VCs, after exhausting infrastructure hype cycles, it's time to chase "quitting smoking" next.
Yesterday, Puffpaw, a “Quit Smoking to Earn” project built on Berachain, raised $6 million in seed funding led by Lemniscap, with participation from Volt Capital, Spartan, Folius Ventures, Karatage, Seed Club Ventures, Hypersphere, Panga Capital, EVG, Corner, Social Graph Venture, and Nonce Classic.
And frankly, our imagination around DePIN remains too limited.
"Quit smoking to earn" sounds comically absurd at first, but Puffpaw actually has its own DePIN hardware—by installing sensors and blockchain interfaces into smart vaping devices, it tracks users' smoking behavior for monitoring and incentivization purposes.
Switching to a different e-cigarette while casually earning tokens—this model appears to face less resistance and carries stronger public welfare appeal, making it seem more executable.
Vaping Goes DePIN, Smoking Becomes Gamified
Clearly, at its core, Puffpaw’s device is still an electronic cigarette.
However, data shows that from 2023 to 2030, the global e-cigarette market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.49%. The market size is projected to rise from $18.32 billion in 2022 to $46.98 billion by 2030.
This means Puffpaw is entering during the upward phase of the e-cigarette market. Smokers represent a far larger user base than gamers, tech enthusiasts, or fitness trackers (like StepN), and smoking habits are easier to maintain.
This is indeed a massive market. But you might ask: isn’t an e-cigarette still a form of smoking? Can this really help people quit?
Hold on—let’s take a closer look at Puffpaw’s own product. In English, the project describes it as a “Vape.”
“Vape” is short for “Vaporizer,” typically referring to e-cigarettes or Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). In simple terms, these are devices that heat liquid into vapor for inhalation.
Unlike traditional cigarettes, vapes do not burn tobacco and therefore produce no tar or many combustion-related harmful substances. Nicotine intake can be precisely controlled, producing vapor instead of smoke, with milder odor.
This gadget has one clear feature: device DePIN-ification and gamification of smoking.
Device DePIN-ification means it embeds sensors and blockchain interfaces capable of recording real-time user smoking data—frequency, duration, nicotine intake, etc.
Puffpaw’s official Twitter states that each vaping device acts as a node within the project’s network. Data is encrypted before being uploaded to the blockchain, ensuring privacy and security.
Meanwhile, anonymized health data can be provided to medical research institutions, insurers, and others, allowing users to earn additional rewards.
On the user side, Puffpaw uses gamification to encourage reducing nicotine content in e-liquids and earning more tokens—what they call “Vape to Earn.”
The core idea is transforming the process of quitting smoking into an engaging and rewarding experience.
First, users set goals—such as daily limits on puffs or gradual reduction targets. Then, achieving these goals or cutting down usage earns token rewards.
Beyond that, Puffpaw incorporates social elements. Devices equipped with embedded NFC chips can recognize each other. Users simply tap their vapes together to instantly connect—enabling support groups or helping find like-minded “smoking buddies” on the journey to quit.
According to Puffpaw’s public materials, the key to enabling actual smoking cessation lies in the following gamified strategies:
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Progressive Reduction: By precisely controlling nicotine dosage, users can gradually reduce dependence.
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Incentive Mechanism: Using low-nicotine or nicotine-free vape liquids yields higher token rewards, encouraging a smooth transition.
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Trade-off Balancing: With game mechanics and token rules in place, smokers must strategically balance multiple factors to maximize token earnings.
For example, if you choose high-nicotine e-liquid, the more you vape per day, the fewer tokens you’ll expect to receive. Conversely, using nicotine-free liquid under the same frequency results in more tokens.
The project also explores virtual NFT gameplay—different physical vape devices correspond to different NFT tiers. Under identical conditions, higher-tier NFTs generate more tokens.
Overall, this is a DePIN + GameFi hybrid model—one that finally gives StepN the tangible hardware it was missing.
Will It Work?
Considering China’s domestic context, Puffpaw is clearly targeting overseas markets. Local e-cigarette distributors in various countries could become potential partners.
Currently, Puffpaw has partnered with a South Korean e-liquid brand to develop nicotine-free formulations and co-launch related products.
Additionally, according to the project’s blog, it receives support from the Berachain Foundation. As the first DePIN project on Berachain, it benefits from the ecosystem’s infrastructure and community.
Given that Berachain’s ecosystem includes other DeFi and NFT projects, Puffpaw could easily collaborate—for instance, holding a specific NFT might grant access to vape device usage or accelerate “Quit Smoking to Earn” rewards.
Berachain stands out in both branding and mechanism design, and this anti-smoking project could easily become a compelling talking point.
Returning to the project itself, for existing smokers, the conversion cost is significantly lower compared to previous Web3 initiatives.
You might be too lazy to wear an NFT sneaker for running; your device might be too weak to run blockchain games; you might hesitate to scan your iris and upload identity data…
But switching to a different e-cigarette? That barrier feels much smaller.
Finally, smoking is harmful to health. Approaching new projects and models with a healthy mindset is the right way forward.
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