In the post-epidemic era, more and more remote workers choose to become digital nomads. Freed from the constraints of office work, digital nomads can choose to stay in Aruba in the Caribbean for 90 days, and then live in Cape Verde on the west coast of Africa for a year. This "nomadic lifestyle" has gradually become a trend in emerging fields, and has long become the norm in the Web3 field.

For digital nomads, finding an ideal working environment and ensuring smooth network connection are the top priorities no matter where they roam. The open global wireless network provided by Roam will undoubtedly become the best choice for digital nomads.

Roam network node in Cape Verde

Global OpenRoaming™ network penetration rate is less than 1%

WiFi networks in public places such as hotels or cafes are often not so convenient for most users to use, especially when you first arrive in an unfamiliar place. Most public WiFi networks require cumbersome connection steps, including repeated logins, reconnections, shared passwords, and redundant registrations. At the same time, public WiFi networks also face problems such as low security and privacy leaks, which are really daunting.

In order to create a seamless, secure Wi-Fi network that does not require manual login, in 2020, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) promoted a technical standard called OpenRoaming™, which aims to provide users with seamless connectivity when roaming between different WiFi networks. Unlike traditional public WiFi, OpenRoaming™ eliminates the hassle of users having to log in or authenticate every time they connect to a new Wi-Fi network. Once users have authenticated in any network that supports OpenRoaming™, their devices can automatically connect to other networks participating in the OpenRoaming™ certification for truly seamless roaming. At the same time, the Passpoint technology used by OpenRoaming™ ensures that all data transmissions are encrypted, with a security level comparable to that of cellular data networks. This innovation not only improves the convenience and security of connectivity, but also minimizes the risk of data leakage and unauthorized access.

Faced with the huge appeal of secure and seamless WiFi networks, in 2020, the OpenRoaming™ technology solution received an active response from a number of technology giants as soon as it was proposed, including Cisco, Google, AT&T, Boingo and Samsung. They promoted the OpenRoaming™ technology in various ways. At present, there are more than 4 million OpenRoaming™ network nodes in the world, but compared with the 700 million public WiFi nodes in the world, OpenRoaming™ accounts for a very small proportion, only 0.6%, which is far from achieving its scale efficiency.

Roam: Driving Web3 transformation of traditional WiFi networks

As the only Web3 IDP project party among the 15 enterprise alliances in the OpenRoaming™ program, Roam integrates traditional OpenRoaming™ technology and DID+VC Web3 technology to promote the access of a large number of Internet users and small and medium-sized enterprises to the OpenRoaming™ network transformation. For the OpenRoaming™ network transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, Roam innovatively developed an OpenRoaming™ upgrade solution based on the W3C decentralized digital identity standard, and effectively solved the technical and cost barriers in implementation through decentralized deployment.

For the huge traditional user group, Roam provides a variety of ways to participate and encourage users to participate in network co-construction. Users can share WiFi nodes through the Roam App or upgrade their own WiFi to the more secure and convenient OpenRoaming™ WiFi. Currently, Roam supports more than 4 million OpenRoaming™ available WiFi hotspots in more than 190 countries and regions around the world, and has more than 870,000 self-built WiFi nodes. There are currently nearly 1.5 million registered users, and these data are still growing rapidly. The community co-construction method and the benign incentive mechanism have greatly expanded the coverage of the Roam network and improved the user experience.

eSIM: The final piece of the puzzle for Roam's global WiFi network

Roam eSIM was launched in October this year. Data shows that in less than a month after Roam eSIM was launched, the number of users increased from 750,000 to one million, and is still growing rapidly.

As of December 4, 2024, the number of Roam network users has reached 1.53 million

There are two types of Roam eSIM: Global eSIM and Roam add-on eSIM. Global eSIM allows users to freely choose the amount of money they want to recharge their wallets through account recharge, and then deduct the cost based on the traffic tariff of the selected country and the actual traffic usage of the user. Another type is Roam add-on eSIM, which is mainly for countries without network roaming services. Users can choose traffic packages, and currently supports 10 countries.

In addition, Global eSIM users can also get global universal traffic rewards by checking in through the Roam App or participating in Roam community activities. Currently, Global eSIM covers more than 160 countries around the world, which is of great appeal to digital nomads traveling between different countries.

Diversified incentive models create value for users

Currently in the Roam ecosystem, there are three types of assets: Roam Points tokens, governance tokens $ROAM, and MetaBlox NFTs, which drive the development of the ecosystem in different ways.

Roam Points is the ecological token in the current Roam token system. Users can obtain corresponding points tokens by sharing WiFi nodes, daily check-ins, inviting friends and participating in community activities. For users who purchase Rainier MAX60, 3,000 Roam Points can be obtained for the first activation. In addition, if the Wi-Fi node works normally, the router will produce 60 Roam Points every day. The daily check-in at this point can also earn the mining machine owner an additional 5 Roam Points. The daily reward limit is 150 Roam Points, that is, a maximum of 210 Roam Points can be obtained per day.

Roam Points can be used to obtain $ROAM tokens through burning after TGE, which will greatly spread the construction costs and network operation and maintenance costs of users, and even make profits from it. When RoamPoints are used for specific purposes or under specific circumstances, the corresponding RoamPoints will be destroyed. This helps control the supply and enhance the scarcity of tokens.

$ROAM is the governance token of the ecosystem. Holders can obtain ecosystem tokens in a variety of ways, such as staking, airdrops, or participating in important node activities in the community. Its main uses include participating in community governance, voting, and a series of community OG rights.

MetaBlox NFT is issued directly by the MetaBlox Labs Foundation and can be bound to specific mining equipment. Holders can receive $ROAM token rewards by staking NFT. In addition, NFT also gives holders special community status.

Connecting Web2 and Web3 to achieve large-scale implementation

Contrary to the top-down promotion of the OpenRoaming™ network by Cisco, Google, and traditional telecom giant AT&T, Roam has been transforming the traditional telecom industry in a bottom-up decentralized way from the beginning. As the Web3 expansion layer and aggregation layer of OpenRoaming™, Roam has built a Physical L1 for the DePIN ecosystem, creating value for users through a free-to-use business model and a diversified incentive model, and quickly attracted a large number of users. With the implementation of the Telecom Data Layer, it will also build a network foundation for global users, devices, and data. As the number of users grows, Roam will not only deeply empower Web3 projects in the ecosystem (such as SocialFi and GameFi), but also generate additional income from its expanding network nodes and user groups, thereby continuing to feed back to the community as a driving force for its project flywheel. And because WiFi, as the entrance to large-scale user traffic, can naturally adapt to AI large model training, Roam will achieve seamless interaction between hardware devices and advanced AI systems, and open up data connection and sharing between people, devices, assets, and AI.

Despite the volatile market and the lack of marketing investment over the past year, Roam has still achieved amazing growth in the number of users and node deployment, consolidating its leading position in the DePIN project. According to DePINscan.io data in November, Roam ranked second in the DePIN project; WBA also has high hopes for Roam and expects it to be able to undertake the task of increasing the overall OpenRoaming™ network nodes by 20% in the next few years. At Roam's current "wild growth" speed, I believe this goal will be achieved soon. At least, in the "hermit paradise" Cape Verde on the west coast of Africa, the cold Siberian Plateau, and even the sparsely populated northern Canada, Roam users have already seized the opportunity.