When centralized infrastructure fails, entire societies are left in the dark. Recent blackouts across Europe and beyond reveal the urgent need for DePIN, empowering communities to build resilient, community-driven solutions that can withstand crises.
Opinion by: Carlos Lei, co-founder and CEO of Uplink
Seeing Spain, Portugal, and France go dark recently? Sure, millions lost power. It was a connectivity collapse, showing just how brittle communication lifelines become when the power dies.
Don’t think for a second this is just a European problem. The same script plays out all over. South Africa’s endless power woes. Pakistan’s massive blackout in 2023. Then there was that crazy Texas freeze in 2021. Another time, locals in Houston melted snow off their roofs into buckets just to flush toilets for an entire week. Most people were without heat in sub-zero temperatures, and power and phones were completely out. It was an unforgettable lesson about just how fragile essential systems can be.
