In recent years, DePIN, as one of the important crypto innovation outlets, has shown an explosive growth trend. DePIN integrates physical assets into decentralized networks through blockchain technology, bringing new changes and new opportunities for the large-scale application of Web3...
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DePIN: The next Web3 mass adoption frontier
In the past few years, the crypto space has achieved a breakthrough in the bottleneck of blockchain expansion, but there are still some shortcomings in the large-scale application landing. The "GameFi" and "SocialFi" tracks that everyone expected to be widely applied have failed to maintain sustained growth, and the latter is still in the early stages. Now, the large-scale adoption of Web3 has a new front, that is: DePIN.
The DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network) that is currently rising globally can be seen as a new evolutionary direction of the "blockchain + Internet of Things" concept from a few years ago.
According to data provided by a previous report by Fortune business insights, the global Internet of Things (LoT) market size in 2023 is US$595.73 billion. The market is expected to grow from US$714.48 billion in 2024 to US$4062.34 billion in 2032. Although the market size of the Internet of Things has grown in recent years and is not small, industry insiders say that the Internet of Things has also exposed some shortcomings to be solved, such as network security and data privacy issues, the operation and maintenance costs of centralized large-scale IoT devices, and the pressure from regulators and other parties. The sharing and utilization of physical infrastructure, new economic models and technical architectures brought by DePIN solve these problems. As a result, DePIN has become one of the fastest growing industries, with an estimated total market value of more than US$2.2 trillion. According to a report released by Messari in January 2023, the DePIN industry is expected to reach more than US$3.5 trillion by 2028.
At present, there are a number of successful Web2 IoT companies and projects in the market that are accelerating the adoption of Web3 solutions, bringing leapfrog growth to their own businesses. For example, Roam, a decentralized global open wireless network that was popular some time ago, is a leader in the DePIN track. Through its unique business model and technological innovation, it provides a classic case for the large-scale application of DePIN.
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What does Roam bring?
It is reported that Roam, a typical DePIN project, is supported and developed by MetaBlox Labs, combining Web3 and OpenRoaming™ technology to provide users with free, seamless and secure Internet connection. Simply put, Roam is a decentralized open global wireless network platform, which will serve as a bridge to integrate OpenRoaming™, traditional WiFi, eSIM, Web3 and other technologies, thereby establishing a free, powerful and secure global network connection for global users, and bringing more innovative products and value-added services.
MetaBlox Labs, the parent company of Roam, is also the only Web3 IDP project party among the 11 enterprise alliances of the WBA OpenRoaming™ program. Seven of the world's top ten mobile operator groups (ranked by revenue) have joined the WBA, and other WBA members include technology giants such as Cisco, Google and Intel.
Roam has received three rounds of financing from many well-known investment institutions including Anagram, Volt Capital, SNZ, and Samsung Next. It must be extraordinary to be sought after by investment institutions in a short period of time. Today we will talk in detail about what Roam has brought:
1) Solve the pain points of the traditional telecommunications industry
2) Create real value for users
For ordinary Internet users, Roam brings a new Web3 decentralized telecommunications network experience. Through a global network built with the latest popular OpenRoaming technology specifically designed for public WiFi, it provides users with an efficient, high-coverage, low-cost, secure and private network experience.
For crypto community users, Roam brings DePIN platform revenue sharing and community ecological rewards. Users (miners) can earn Roam Points by participating in network construction (such as providing WiFi access services and running Roam routers). These points can be exchanged for ROAM Tokens (which will be TGE in this cycle), air miles, phone bills and other physical objects and other services. In the future, Roam will also provide additional incentives for users by sharing CDN bandwidth through hardware network nodes (such as Rainier MAX60 routers).
3) Innovative solutions and products
Currently, Roam is gradually promoting the construction of the global telecom data layer based on its own DePIN business and product lines, aiming to establish the physical layer L1 of the DePIN ecosystem and open up data connection and sharing between people, devices, assets and AI. The goal is to create an open, secure, decentralized data layer that connects various physical and digital assets and promotes the integrated development of Web3 and the Internet of Things.
The ecosystem built by Roam's Telecom Data Layer will have the capabilities of data connection, secure identity authentication, data encryption security, and token sustainability. It will be applied to decentralized wireless networks, the Internet of Things, edge computing, smart homes and other scenarios. At the same time, it will bring new infrastructure to the development of Web3 and the Internet of Things, accelerate the integration of the physical world and the digital world, and thus realize large-scale application implementation.
Among them, it is worth mentioning that its flagship product Roam eSlM cleverly realizes seamless switching between WiFi and cellular networks. Currently, you can receive free eSIM traffic in the Roam APP through Roam Network interaction, or recharge eSIM traffic for Roam Global eSlM with USDT cash. This service currently covers 160+ countries and regions. Another online product, Roam add-on eSIM, provides fixed-data roaming packages similar to those of telecom operators (currently supports 10 countries), saving users "sky-high" international roaming traffic fees and other expenses.
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The number of users has exceeded one million. What did Roam do right?
According to public data, Roam has exceeded one million users and more than 860,000 self-built nodes in less than a year, becoming one of the top players in the DePIN track. Through Roam Explorer, we can see these data charts:
1) More than 860,000 nodes around the world
2) Rapidly growing number of registered users (over 1.4 million)
These data reflect the good growth of the Roam network and the high user activity, which is also a very outstanding result for an Internet project that has been established for less than a year.
Roam has been able to quickly gain popularity due to the following factors:
1) Free commercial promotion based on the community
Roam has attracted a large number of users by providing free wireless network access and global eSIM traffic. At the same time, Roam's point incentive mechanism has brought more positive feedback. Users can not only share their own networks but also receive qualitative rewards that can be exchanged for valuable tokens, etc. This has enabled Roam to quickly build a Web3 community with consensus. Data shows that from the launch of Roam eSIM to date, the number of users has grown from 750,000 to one million in less than a month.
2) New experience brought by Web3 technology
In addition to the token incentives mentioned above, the integration of Web2 and Web3 also gives users a brand new experience. OpenRoaming technology enables users to enjoy automatic login, secure and encrypted WiFi networks around the world. At the same time, blockchain and Web3 technologies and DID+VC solutions ensure that users' privacy information is fully respected and protected, allowing users to use the low cost and convenience brought by the service with greater peace of mind.
3) Active operation and community building
In addition to product development, the Roam project team also attaches great importance to community building. Many opinions and suggestions from community users have become a valuable source of experience for project innovation.
Based on past experience, community-driven development will bring powerful promotion and conversion capabilities. The active participation of users not only promotes network optimization, but also enhances user loyalty and brand stickiness.
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summary
As one of the typical large-scale Web3 application landing applications, Roam is expected to break away from the traditional model and become a telecommunications application originated from Web3 but serving the whole society. The successful advancement of its business shows that "Internet of Things + Web3" has great potential. DePIN is moving forward in the direction of solving pain points and practical problems for various industries and users. In the next big market, DePIN like Roam is expected to occupy a "place" with its super high landing value.