A behind-the-scenes battle has been raging in technology over the past few years. For power. As in electricity.

The energy demand of technology giants has skyrocketed due to the AI ​​arms race, to the extent that companies are as well It is said Experiencing long waits to access local networks.

With the biggest players poised to continue their grip on the market, energy is now fertile ground for disruption – perhaps even via DePIN.

That's what Framework Ventures is betting on. Co-founder Michael Anderson recently told Empire's Catherine Ross that energy has been a big focus for the company over the past six months.

Anderson believes that most of the major narratives surrounding cryptocurrencies at the moment are in line with the general consensus – the most obvious being memcoins and ETFs.

Energy, on the other hand, is somewhat less unanimous, and should ideally be paired with DePIN – which has now proven it can work, according to Anderson.

“But where it hasn't lived up to expectations is on the demand side. You know, (DePIN) basically builds a supply and demand network, where you get the supply source and then there's demand for whatever resource the network provides. And historically, the supply side seems to have been “It was accomplished, but the demand side was lacking.”

Peer-to-peer energy startups have already experienced boom and bust cycles in the cryptocurrency space. Although they are not generally placed under the DePIN umbrella.

Powerledger will be the largest – allowing solar panel owners to sell the power they generate back into the grid. POWR reached an all-time high market cap of around $680 million in 2018 but still trades 80% below that level.

A lot has changed for energy markets since then, and Powerledger and other similar companies were probably very early on.

The Framework has recently backed cryptocurrency startups in the energy space including Yeshua - which aims to green energy grids by rewarding solar farm builders with USDC and GLW on Ethereum - and daylightIt is a project backed by IoTeX that similarly decentralizes green energy via cryptocurrency rewards.

“Energy is the most liquid, fragmented, and high-demand ecosystem that can be captured via blockchain, and it is specifically designed for DePIN,” Anderson said.

“DePIN is kind of turning into energy — it's kind of like how DeFi is turning into financial services. I think we'll see that shift become more pronounced in the next year.

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