Exclusive Interview with Jing, Co-Founder of IoTeX: Exploring the Philosophy and Practice of DePIN Behind the "Machine World"
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Exclusive Interview with Jing, Co-Founder of IoTeX: Exploring the Philosophy and Practice of DePIN Behind the "Machine World"
IoTeX's vision is not only to provide a decentralized trust network for devices, but also to build a "machine world" where all devices become part of a "machine society," enabling autonomous interactions and economic activities.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsCompilation: Tia, Techub News
In 2023, the DePIN concept rapidly rose to prominence, becoming a hot topic in the blockchain space. However, IoTeX had already identified this trend back in 2017, focusing on integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) with blockchain. IoTeX's vision goes beyond providing a decentralized trust network for devices—it aims to build a "machine world," where all devices become part of a "machine society" capable of autonomous interaction and economic activity.
The original IoTeX whitepaper released in 2017 positioned IoTeX as a Layer1 blockchain, but recent developments reveal a major strategic shift toward modularity. To understand the reasoning behind this transformation, Techub News sat down with Jing Sun, co-founder of IoTeX, during the TOKEN2049 event.
Techub News: The term DePIN only emerged in 2023 and has since gained momentum, yet IoTeX demonstrated remarkable foresight by launching in 2017, focusing on connecting IoT and blockchain. Could you share the motivation behind founding IoTeX, and what drew you personally to join the project?
Jing: I joined IoTeX in 2017. Prior to that, I spent about five to six years working as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. Around 2016, we began noticing projects gradually shifting toward distributed platforms, each serving different use cases.
For example, I previously invested in a 360-degree livestreaming project. They realized building their own network infrastructure was extremely costly due to high upfront investments. But once they allowed the community to contribute idle streaming capacity, the entire economic model became viable. Through early investments in distributed systems based on smart contracts, I became convinced this technology wasn't limited to one industry—it could support diverse scenarios and use cases across multiple domains, making it a highly promising area for long-term investment.
By 2016 and 2017, machine devices already represented a significant portion of digital infrastructure. With AI integration on the horizon, it was clear machines would dominate future ecosystems. Yet at the time, all devices, cloud services, and data systems were centralized. Connecting these machines also posed a challenge—machines essentially form an economy, much like human society. It’s impractical for just one or two centralized companies like Google or Microsoft to control the entire backend, as centralization prevents machines from autonomously exchanging value.
That’s when we started exploring blockchain technology, and we found its alignment with IoT to be seamless. We believed blockchain was inherently more suitable for machines, which require a decentralized system to operate independently.
Moreover, blockchain’s built-in economic mechanisms are perfectly suited for machines. Machines produce valuable outputs—so how should they serve other machines or humans after production? This requires an autonomous economic system. Relying on traditional financial frameworks wouldn’t work because machines need autonomy and a way to assess the value they generate.
So when we launched our Layer1 blockchain in 2017, we made it clear this public chain was specifically designed for machines and devices. At that time, DePIN didn’t exist as a concept, nor did any infrastructure, so we had to build everything from scratch. It took us roughly three years to establish the foundational infrastructure.
When crypto experienced the DeFi Summer boom in 2019, followed by the rise of GameFi, we began re-evaluating what mattered most in combining IoT and blockchain. Our conclusion: the financialization of machines. That led us to publish the MachineFi whitepaper—essentially the prototype of what is now known as DePIN.
Techub News: Can you explain in detail how blockchain decentralizes physical infrastructure? For instance, what’s the specific logic behind applications like IoT data being recorded on-chain or distributed energy systems?
Jing: DePIN leverages blockchain technology to connect real-world devices and data to the blockchain, enabling transparent data management and decentralized control.
Specifically, here’s how blockchain functions within IoT and distributed energy applications: First, IoT or distributed energy devices—such as solar panels or sensors—must have a unique digital identity, which we call “Sovereign Smart Devices.” These devices locally process collected data using encryption and perform preliminary validation off-chain to ensure authenticity and accuracy.
Once validated, the data is transmitted to the blockchain and stored in a decentralized ledger. This process typically uses an off-chain-to-on-chain protocol, such as IoTeX’s W3bStream. W3bStream validates device data according to predefined rules and only commits critical information to the blockchain when certain conditions are met, significantly reducing on-chain operational costs.
In distributed energy projects—like solar panel arrays and energy storage systems—blockchain enables direct energy production, distribution, and peer-to-peer trading. Each device has an on-chain identity recording its power generation and transaction history. Community members can automatically participate in energy trading via smart contracts without relying on traditional, centralized utility providers. This model improves energy efficiency and incentivizes broader participation in energy production and distribution.
In these use cases, blockchain’s decentralized nature ensures that physical devices and their generated data are no longer controlled by a single centralized authority. Instead, they interact within a transparent, open network. Any device’s actions and data become traceable and verifiable, enabling true decentralized control and trust.
Techub News: In the original 2017 IoTeX whitepaper, IoTeX was positioned as a Layer1 blockchain. However, your latest updates show a strategic pivot toward modularity—a significant shift. Can you walk us through the rationale behind this change?
Jing: As the industry evolved, so did our understanding. The needs of the projects we serve differ significantly from typical NFT or crypto-native projects, which often only need to launch a token on a Layer1 and complete a TGE. In contrast, DePIN projects involve massive amounts of off-chain machine data. Before bringing this data on-chain, the fundamental issue of data verifiability must be solved. This is crucial—many DePIN products are essentially data-driven. If data authenticity cannot be guaranteed, the entire product model collapses.
While some Layer1 blockchains like Solana host DePIN projects today, they lack native capabilities to verify off-chain data. Strategically, we aim to serve as a deeper foundational layer for the entire DePIN ecosystem, transcending competition at the Layer1 level. Hence, our new direction is modularity—we provide middleware and full-stack tooling tailored for DePIN projects, including technical solutions for verifying off-chain data.
Our 2017 whitepaper already outlined an architecture consisting of a root chain and sub-chains—similar in principle to Ethereum 2.0. We believe large-scale DePIN projects will eventually develop their own ecosystems, requiring dedicated chains to enable inter-project collaboration and interoperability. This is exactly what IoTeX delivers: a DePIN Layer enabling diverse DePIN projects to coexist and cooperate.
Additionally, IoTeX offers W3bStream, which helps projects perform off-chain computation and validation, allowing DePIN applications to handle off-chain data more efficiently and economically while unlocking its monetary value.
Techub News: How does W3bStream differ from traditional Rollup technologies? Could you elaborate?
Jing: Traditional Rollups primarily focus on asset verification, which demands high security—thus every transaction must be submitted and verified on the L1 chain. However, for DePIN projects, much of the data doesn’t directly impact asset security. Our goal is to validate data off-chain and only send essential information on-chain when economic incentives need to be distributed.
This approach drastically reduces on-chain costs while maintaining data credibility. W3bStream employs a decentralized validation mechanism capable of efficiently processing heterogeneous device data and transforming it into economic value.
Techub News: IoTeX places strong emphasis on device sovereignty, referring to hardware as Sovereign Smart Devices. Can you discuss the role of Sovereign Smart Devices within the IoTeX ecosystem?
Jing: In traditional models, device identities and data are controlled by centralized platforms. In IoTeX’s architecture, users create and manage their own device identities. Each device has a unique on-chain identifier, fully controlled by its owner without dependence on third parties.
Through sovereign identities, devices authenticate and interact on the blockchain, forming the foundation of a machine society. They can engage in economic activities like humans—providing services to communities or other devices and earning rewards. This paradigm integrates machines into the blockchain economy, realizing MachineFi—the financialization of machines.
Techub News: How does IoTeX attract developers and enterprises to join its ecosystem? What specific incentives do you offer?
Jing: First, IoTeX provides modular infrastructure that is rare in the industry. Take Network3, for example—an established Web2-to-Web3 transition project. They’ve sold over 3,000 edge computing devices and deployed more than 200,000 nodes. They’ve fully adopted IoTeX’s tech stack, including device identity (ioID), cross-chain bridges (Liquidity Hub), and more. Using our DePINScan.io platform, anyone can view detailed data such as node locations by country or region, and daily earnings per device. IoTeX brings unprecedented transparency to the ecosystem, enabling users to clearly calculate return on investment based on publicly available data.
Second, we actively support project incubation, offering business-oriented assistance such as fundraising guidance. We run a grant program and help connect teams with potential investors and partners.
Techub News: DePIN involves significant issues around data monetization and data sovereignty. How do you view these challenges, and what role does IoTeX play in addressing them?
Jing: The core of data monetization lies in ownership and usage rights. We believe data ownership belongs to its creator—whether an individual or a machine. Yet traditional data models often strip creators of their rights, preventing them from benefiting economically from their own data.
Within the IoTeX ecosystem, data creators gain fair compensation through sovereign device identities (Sovereign Smart Devices) and robust data verification systems. Data usage paths and value flows are fully transparent. This approach protects privacy while maximizing the economic value of data.
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