POKT Token: History and DePIN tokenomics
Tags: depin, web3, tokenomics
Published: 2024-06-06 11:21:14


![POKT Token Guide Visuals](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/p4aqfmh97o71f8qn6nkf.png)

## Introduction

You and I will agree that blockchain is no longer a new story in town; it is here to stay, probably forever, and has received a lot of interest.

But if you’re new to it, blockchain is a decentralized and secure digital ledger used to record transactions. It is typically public, allowing anyone to view them to establish transparency and trust within the system.

Blockchain technology has also greatly impacted various industries with its decentralized and secure approach.

However, of course, there will always be problems and challenges that go beyond just how beautiful and sweet it may sound. Two among them are scalability and infrastructure costs.

Because of the attraction blockchain has gotten in recent years, this has led to congestion, especially during the transaction process. As more users join the network, things can slow down. This is because blockchains can only handle a certain amount of activity at a time, and it has become a major challenge for blockchains. It makes them less suitable for applications that need things to happen fast.

Also, setting up and maintaining blockchain infrastructure can be really expensive for application developers.

This is where the POKT Network comes in as a solution to these challenges by providing a decentralized network for relaying blockchain traffic. POKT Network offers high-performance and low-cost infrastructure for developers to build and scale their blockchain applications.

## What is the POKT Token?

POKT Network is a blockchain network specifically designed for Web3 applications. It operates as the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) Base Layer in the Web3 infrastructure, contributing to a dependable, cost-effective, and high-uptime solution for data access and management while ensuring its decentralized nature.

POKT Network offers low latency and high accuracy in data handling, connecting data transfer between different blockchains through two major players: a network of thousands of computers (nodes) and the application. The nodes are used for storing data and communicating information.

The POKT Network uses a native token called POKT. This token serves an important role in incentivizing various participants within the network and creating a stronger and more secure blockchain network. By holding and utilizing POKT tokens, users contribute to the network's functionality and its overall growth.

## Use Cases of POKT Token

We will categorise POKT into 4 use cases:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jlhj4mzk6fw7704647f9.png)

- **For staking**: This process involves locking up a certain amount of POKT tokens for a specified period as a means of supporting the network and participating in its operations. In return for securing the blockchain and processing transactions, POKT stakers are rewarded with additional Pocket Network tokens, $POKT. Staking greatly contributes to the security, transparency, and stability of the network. The more a user stakes, the more rewards they get, and the more voting power they hold, allowing them to participate in network governance decisions.
- **For Developers**: A simplified process has been created for developers to integrate their applications with decentralized node infrastructure. This grants them access to cost-effective infrastructure, allowing them to request, retrieve, and store data essential for blockchain-enabled application development without managing expensive nodes. Developers can access Pocket's open-source code and make contributions to the community.
- **For node runners**: The node runners act as infrastructure providers for the POKT Network. They play a major part in being a big intersection for Web3 applications, linking different blockchains using thousands of computers also run by node runners, and connecting developers in need of blockchain-enabled applications with infrastructure providers operating full nodes, known as Service Nodes. All the work in this Pocket Network boils down to relays, where apps send requests and Service Nodes check them on different blockchains. When it's verified that a task has been done, these node runners are compensated with POKT tokens for providing access to reliable blockchain application programming interfaces (APIs).
- **Holders**: Community members and contributors can get POKT tokens as rewards for contributing to the foundation and making an impact in the ecosystem, governance of the community, and the protocol. These people grow their holdings by continuous impact and are called POKT Holders.

## DePIN Tokenomics

The focal points of blockchain have always been transparency, decentralization, scalability, and verifiable infrastructure. DePIN, which stands for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks, takes these principles and applies them to the real world. In the POKT Network, DePIN represents a significant advancement in how blockchain technology can manage and scale physical infrastructure such as communication networks, the energy grid, and transportation systems using the decentralized and scalable model.

DePIN offers incentives for resource contributions for specific actions within the network operations, such as data delivery and arbitration. In DePIN, participants contribute physical assets such as data storage, wireless connectivity, sensors, or energy grids. In exchange, they receive rewards based on the network’s incentive structure. DePIN platforms enable decentralized sharing and management of both hardware and software resources among users. One of the most important roles of DePIN is ensuring the security and efficiency of physical infrastructure by removing single points of failure and reducing the risks of tampering or manipulation. Data exchanges are protected by cryptography, and the distributed database guards against attacks or unauthorized access.

As blockchain continues to gain traction every single day, there will always be a demand for an efficient and scalable network, and POKT, I believe, stands in a position to address this growing need by offering effective solutions. The continuous and ongoing development of this network definitely holds promise and its future looks bright both in its integration and protocol enhancement.

## Additional information

For more read on POKT and how far this project is going, you might have to check out this links below

- POKT Network Website: https://www.pokt.network/
- What is DePIN: https://medium.com/bru-finance/what-is-depin-decentralized-physical-infrastructure-network-9cd4247db608
- POKT overview: https://messari.io/project/pocket-network-2/profile
- POKT for Developers: https://www.pokt.network/blog/pocket-core-mvp-for-developers
- What is POKT staking: https://docs.pokt.network/pokt-token/stake-pokt

Look forward to the next post in the series about the POKT token in the Shannon Era.