The peaqosystem: the rapidly growing ecosystem around peaq

With over 1.75m devices already connected to the network, peaq is quietly revolutionizing the Machine Economy, turning everyday infrastructure into a decentralized powerhouse of innovation and opportunity. Almost a year ago, we wrote about what peaq is, the technology behind it and its promise. This month we will provide an update on the ecosystem that is sprouting around peaq and explore how its innovative Layer 1 blockchain is cultivating a thriving network of DePINs.

By way of a quick refresher, peaq is a blockchain L1 that is designed for “Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks” (DePINs) and Machine Real-World Assets. It hosts applications in real world verticals like mobility, agriculture, connectivity and smart cities. Peaq currently handles around 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), with plans to scale beyond 100,000 TPS, and keeps costs low at about $0.00025 per transaction. Its EVM compatibility and interoperability with networks like Ethereum and Polkadot make it developer-friendly, supporting both Solidity and Rust smart contracts.

As mapped out in our earlier article on peaq, there five core components of the technology stack that make peaq perfectly tailored for the DePIN space.

While peaq’s mainnet is young, its ecosystem is scaling at an unprecedented pace. 2024 marked peaq’s official launch and the beginning of what the team calls “the Machine Economy era,”. The project has already gained some noteworthy traction:

• Record-breaking token launch: In May 2024, peaq conducted a public token sale on CoinList, raising USD20 million (with another USD16 million in oversubscription) from over 14,500 participants​. This was the largest CoinList token launch in over two years.
• Mainnet launch and user adoption: Peaq’s mainnet went live on November 12, 2024, and within just over one month more than 40,000 machines were brought on-chain as active participants in the network​. These “machines” include devices from various pilot projects (ranging from sensors to charging stations) that registered identities and started transacting on peaq.
• Developer onboarding: Even before mainnet launch, dozens of teams committed to build on peaq. By the end of 2024, 41 new DePIN projects had joined the “peaqosystem” (peaq’s ecosystem) – bringing the total to 54 projects building or gearing up to build on peaq​. Impressively, eight of these projects migrated from other layer-1 blockchains to peaq, indicating that peaq’s specialized features for real-world applications are drawing projects away from more general-purpose networks.

What makes peaq’s ecosystem compelling is the real-world applications being built and deployed. Unlike many blockchain projects that struggle to move beyond concepts, peaq has attracted teams that are launching networks affecting physical industries. Some key sectors and examples of applications on peaq include:

• Mobility & EV Charging:
  • Projects like PowerPod and charge.xyz are creating decentralized EV charging networks. They allow homeowners and businesses to rent out their electric vehicle chargers to the public, earning crypto rewards while expanding charging availability​. This addresses a major bottleneck in e-mobility – charger scarcity – by crowdsourcing infrastructure. An EV owner can use an app to find a nearby community-run charger and pay securely via peaq, with the transaction settled on-chain. Peaq’s blockchain provides the identity layer for chargers and vehicles (each charger gets a peaq ID and on-chain profile) and handles payment and reward distribution​.
  • Another mobility project is MapMetrics, a “drive-to-earn” navigation app where drivers earn tokens for anonymously contributing GPS and traffic data​. MapMetrics has spread to 167 countries with thousands of users, building a decentralized alternative to services like Google Maps while incentivizing users for data they normally give away for free​.
• Energy & Infrastructure:
  • In the energy sector, JuiceUP is deploying automated power-bank rental stations (imagine kiosks where you rent portable batteries on the go), and Kaisar Network is working on shared energy solutions – both leveraging peaq to handle device identity and payments​.
  • In the smart city arena, peaq hosts projects like Quakecore, which uses distributed sensors to detect earthquakes, and SkyX, which deploys devices to predict weather and environmental patterns, rewarding participants who host the hardware​. These networks illustrate peaq’s capacity to underpin critical infrastructure where trust, uptime, and data integrity are paramount.
• Telecom & Connectivity:
  • The Roam Network uses peaq to turn everyday smartphones into nodes that crowdsource mobile network performance data (like signal strength and coverage quality)​. Users who install the Roam app can earn by collecting data that helps telecom operators or even consumers identify coverage gaps. In 2024, Roam even inked its first commercial deal to monetize its crowdsourced data​ and is developing a blockchain-verified eSIM that would let users access mobile networks globally at optimized rates​.
  • Similarly in connectivity, Wayru is building community-owned internet hotspots, and dTelecom is focused on decentralized telecommunications – both choosing peaq for its IoT-friendly platform. By decentralizing connectivity, these projects open investment in physical network infrastructure to anyone (not just big telecom companies), creating new revenue streams for individuals and local businesses who participate.
• Agriculture & Supply Chain:
  • Peaq’s reach extends to agribusiness through projects like Farmsent, which connects farmers directly with buyers and brings transparency to food supply chains. In 2024 Farmsent launched a B2B marketplace for produce and introduced blockchain-based traceability (users can scan QR codes to track a product’s journey)​. Notably, Farmsent formed a partnership with China’s Belt and Road Initiative to improve agricultural supply chains and even onboarded one of Asia’s largest agarwood producers onto its platform​.
• Environment & Smart Cities:
  • Tackling environmental challenges, Silencio uses peaq to build a global map of noise pollution. Users with the Silencio app on their phones act as noise sensors, measuring sound levels in cities to identify noise hotspots. In 2024, Silencio grew its community to over 400,000 users and moved all its data on-chain via peaq​. By doing so, Silencio can reward users with its SLC tokens for contributing data, and cities or researchers can trust the integrity of the noise data.
  • Another startup, XMAQUINA, focuses on robotics – allowing people to earn from robots or AI services they host. XMAQUINA hosts a DAO that runs on peaq, allowing for on-chain decision-making for governacne and investment decisions.
• Cybersecurity & Compute:
  • In the cybersecurity realm, DATS (Decentralized Autonomous Cybersecurity) leverages peaq to crowdsource computational power for fighting cybercrime. Users can contribute idle computing resources (like spare CPU/GPU power) to simulate cyber-attacks or run security services, earning rewards in return​. By late 2024, DATS had over 30 enterprise clients and generated USD600k in revenue by offering services like DDoS testing via its decentralized network​.
  • Similarly, aZen Protocol uses peaq for a distributed computing platform where anyone can connect their smartphone to contribute computing tasks and earn; a decentralized cloud powered by everyday devices.

The breadth of applications making use of peaq, from cars to farms, showcases the platform’s versatility. For investors, this diversity highlights that the network is not reliant on a single use-case; it will capture value across many verticals. Each successful project brings its own revenue streams (fees, token usage, device sales) into the peaq economy, which can drive demand for the PEAQ token and strengthen the network effect of the Machine Economy.

At CMCC Global, we are incredibly excited by peaq’s growing ecosystem and see the project as being perfectly positioned at the intersection of Web3 and physical industries. It will tap into the enormous potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) and real-world assets, where analysts have projected that by 2030 IoT could unlock USD5.5 to USD12.6 trillion in economic value globally.​ In the coming year, we look forward to the rollout of peaq-powered services to mainstream users and new global enterprise deals. Peaq has the potential of becoming the backbone of an economy where machines work for us and for each other, generating value that flows back to the people who own and support them. Peaq represents an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a transformative trend and paradigm shift towards a decentralized, machine-driven economy.

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