Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Asher (@Asher_0210)
The current cryptocurrency market is sluggish, giving a sense of entering a "bear market". The pace of "coin trading" has slowed down, and in addition to the daily interaction with "top-tier" projects, it is worth participating in these few zero-cost, community-discussed DePin projects. These projects only require simple registration and basic configuration, and then can be "hung" to run in the background, with minimal effort, and may bring unexpected surprises when there are future token airdrops.
Grass
Project Introduction
Grass is the first project on Solana that combines AI, Depin, and Solana technology, positioned as the data layer for AI. As a decentralized network, Grass aims to provide the data required for AI model training by accessing public networks. This makes Grass an important part of the AI data layer as it expands to clean and prepare structured data sets, laying the foundation for its position in the AI field.
According to ROOTDATA data, Grass has completed three rounds of financing:
In July 2023, Grass announced the completion of a $1 million Pre-Seed round financing, with investment from No Limit Holdings, Big Brain Holdings, Builder Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Kyle Samani, Neel Somani, and Rahim Noorani;
In December 2023, Grass announced the completion of a $3.5 million seed round financing, led by Polychain Capital and Tribe Capital, with participation from Bitscale, Big Brain, Advisors Anonymous, Typhon V, and Mozaik.
In September 2024, Grass announced the completion of a Series A round financing, led by Hack VC, with participation from Polychain Capital, Delphi Digital, Lattice, and Brevan Howard Digital. The specific financing amount has not been disclosed yet.
Currently, the second season is underway, and users can still earn points by "hanging" and mining.
Interaction Tutorial
Users who have participated in the first season can directly continue to "hang and mine grass", while new users who are participating for the first time can perform a simple configuration to start "mining grass".
STEP 1. Enter the official website (link: https://app.getgrass.io/register/) and register an account through a Google email, and install the extension as prompted.
STEP 2. Turn off the VPN to mine points.
DAWN
Project Introduction
DAWN is a decentralized autonomous wireless network in the physical resource network. DAWN utilizes the latest point-to-multipoint (PtMP) wireless technology, allowing nodes to efficiently communicate directly with multiple nodes. This allows for high-density bandwidth distribution among the many users in the network, turning each node into a micro-ISP. Through protocols and hardware, users can buy and sell internet capacity in their surrounding areas, operate as internet service providers, and earn income through DAWN nodes.Currently, DAWN has raised $33 million in two rounds of financing, with Dragonfly as the lead investor in both rounds. In addition, the Solana Official Twitter has mentioned this project multiple times.
Interaction Tutorial
STEP 1. Install the Google extension (link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dawn-validator-chrome-ext/fpdkjdnhkakefebpekbdhillbhonfjjp?hl=zh-CN&utm_source=ext_sidebar), click "Continue" after installation, and on the login page, click the registration button "Register" in the bottom right corner. The invitation code can be written as avxu1nxt, and after successful registration, you need to go to the Google email you filled in for verification.
STEP 2. Go back to the Google extension, log in to your account, and it will show "Connected". Additionally, click "Boost rewards" to bind your social media accounts and earn points.
Gradient
Project Introduction
Gradient is an edge computing open layer network protocol on Solana. It has received investments from institutions such as Multicoin, Pantera, and Sequoia Capital, but the specific financing amount has not been disclosed.
Interaction Tutorial
STEP 1. Enter the official website (link: https://app.gradient.network/signup) and register an account through a Google email, fill in the invitation code: LCR7EU to get a bonus.
STEP 2. Connect your X account.
STEP 3. Download the Google extension.
STEP 4. Check the node running status (if marked as "unsupported", try switching IP networks)
NodeGo
Project Introduction
NodeGo is a node-driven decentralized network. In February 2025, NodeGo announced the completion of an $8 million financing round, led by Hash Capital. The new funding is intended to be used for building the network, allowing users and businesses to contribute to AI tasks through completing spatial computing and other computations, while also allowing participants to earn rewards.
Interaction Tutorial
STEP 1. Enter the official website (link: https://app.nodego.ai/register) and register an account through a Google email.
STEP 2. Download the Google extension (link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/nodegoai-depin-connect/jbmdcnidiaknboflpljihfnbonjgegah).
STEP 3. Click the button in the extension and it will turn green, indicating a successful connection.
