Are depreciating assets like AirNodes considered RWAs?

AirNodes Discuss
1

Do AirNodes count as real-world assets (RWAs) in the way the crypto world defines them?

They’re physical, they generate yield, and they depreciate over time like any typical hardware investment. So would they fall under the RWA category, or is that term usually reserved for stuff like real estate and tokenized bonds?

Curious how people are thinking about this, especially as DePIN and RWA narratives start to overlap more.

2

Hey @volic — great question, and you’re spot on digging into the nuance.

At the core of it, RWA just means a real-world asset represented on-chain — that’s it. So even if an AirNode NFT only represents the physical hardware, without yield or a location tied to it, it still qualifies as an RWA. It’s tangible, deployed in the real world, and tokenized.

Where it gets more interesting is how that asset is used. If the NFT also ties to a specific location or earnings stream (e.g. deployed in a specific Hex location), then you’re layering in elements of utility and yield, which is why people often associate RWAs with real estate, bonds, or other income-generating assets. But those are features, not requirements.

On depreciation: AirNodes do lose value over time like any hardware, but they can also appreciate in market value depending on network demand (aka usage), expected yield, or new deployments (like Pakistan). So it’s not a straight path to zero.

And yes, AirNodes getting NFTs soon only strengthens the case, because once they’re tokenized, you’re holding a real-world, physical object with an on-chain proof of ownership. That’s the textbook definition of a real-world asset.

So TL;DR: yes, AirNodes are RWAs, even as standalone hardware. Location or yield just determines how attractive they are, not whether they count.