Taking off: Rewarding Flight Trackers in the Age of Web3

When
I
was
in
college,
social
networks
were
all
the
rage.
Up
until
that
point,
the
internet
was
read-only;
you
visited
a
web
page
and
read
someone
else’s
opinion
on
a
topic.
We
wanted
more:
we
wanted
to
post
our
own
photos,
express
our
own
opinions,
and
share
them
with
our
friends.
Those
were
amazing
times;
everyone
loved
the
internet,
and
it
was
all
for
free!
However,
we
slowly
learned
that
if
something
is
free,
you’re
the
product.
Or,
better
said,
your
data
is
the
product.

This
op-ed
is
part
of
CoinDesk’s
new



DePIN
Vertical,
covering
the
emerging
industry
of
decentralized
physical
infrastructure.

It
was
kind
of
fair,
though.
You
got
access
to
a
platform
that
costs
money
to
run;
in
return,
you
provide
some
data
about
yourself.
They
use
this
data
to
sell
you
relevant
ads,
ad
companies
reach
the
right
audience,
and
everyone
wins.
As
time
passed,
data
collection
became
more
advanced
and
intrusive,
profits
increased,
while
your
side
of
the
deal
stayed
the
same.
This
model
was
so
profitable
that
it
ended
up
being
implemented
everywhere
—
from
social
media
and
online
newspapers,
to
TVs
that
run
ads
in
their
menus.
And,
as
it
turns
out,
even
in
flight
tracking.
I
will
come
back
to
this
last
one
in
a
minute.

Web3
promised
us
the
solution.
Instead
of
giving
away
your
data,
what
if
you
kept
ownership
over
it?
During
the
last
bull
market,
everyone
tried
to
find
problems
that
Web3
could
fix.
Everything
was
tokenized:
art,
watches,
carbon
credits
and
random
memes.
It
should
have
been
the
other
way
around:
first
identify
the
problem,
then
apply
the
solution.

Helium
was
doing
just
that.
By
using
Web3
incentives,
it
built
a
decentralized
network
of
hotspots
that
together
provide
connectivity
to
IoT
sensors.
It
incentivized
people
who
don’t
know
each
other
to
work
together
and
create
the
largest
telecom
network
in
history
by
combining
their
home
Wi-Fi
networks.
It
did
this
successfully
by
proving
that
the
problem
was
not
in
data
ownership.
Instead,
it’s
in
how
the
profit
is
distributed
among
the
data
providers
or
the
ones
that
provide
the
infrastructure
for
the
data
to
travel
from
one
place
to
another.
The
value
is
in
the
network
of
people
that
generate
the
data
—
a
decentralized
physical
infrastructure
network
(DePIN).

So,
what
does
any
of
this
have
to
do
with
flight
tracking?
The
flight
enthusiasts’
community
is
a
small
but
global
group
that
collects
data
from
airplanes
flying
around
them
and
sends
it
to
a
couple
of
large
flight
tracking
networks.
In
return,
they
get
full
access
to
the
platforms
(sounds
familiar?).
Those
networks
then
collect
this
data
and
sell
it
to
all
sorts
of
different
companies
operating
in
aviation,
travel
and
logistics.
This
data
is
critical
for
aviation
operations,
yet
it’s
being
collected
by
enthusiasts
using
cheap
Raspberry
PIs.
Flight
tracking
networks
such
as
Flightradar24
and
Flightaware
are
highly
profitable,
yet
the
people
who
provide
the
data
that
makes
these
networks
possible
do
not
get
paid
for
their
contributions.

By
applying
a
DePIN
model
to
flight
tracking,
Wingbits
is
building
a
much
fairer
and
more
performant
network
where
the
data
providers
will
get
a
share
of
the
profits
that
their
data
generates,
based
on
their
performance
and
uptime.
While
data
providers
for
the
other
networks
don’t
have
any
incentive
to
maximize
their
coverage
and
uptime,
the
Wingbits
rewards
model
makes
sure
that
the
best
participants
earn
the
most.

It’s
just
the
right
thing
to
do
and
we
can
see
the
results.
Since
we
launched
our
public
beta
in
November
2023,
the
Wingbits
community
grew
from
40
to
over
1450
live
antennas,
growing
in
half
a
year
more
than
Flightradar
did
in
their
first
three
years.
We
now
have
almost
complete
coverage
over
Europe
and
a
large
part
of
the
US,
tracking
over
35000
flights
daily.

I’m
super
excited
about
DePIN.
It
will
create
real-world
value
and
give
all
of
us
an
opportunity
to
monetize
our
data
as
we
please.
New
projects
will
challenge
existing
business
models
and
reignite
the
public
perception
that
our
data
is
valuable
and
we
shouldn’t
just
give
it
away.

Note:
The
views
expressed
in
this
column
are
those
of
the
author
and
do
not
necessarily
reflect
those
of
CoinDesk,
Inc.
or
its
owners
and
affiliates.