Open the Roam App on your phone, click 'Check-In,' and receive 'Roam Points' or 'eSIM Data' to successfully check in.
This is what Roam users persistently do every day—share WiFi nodes and check in regularly. From the first registered user to now, Roam has over 1.7 million registered users globally, spread across more than 190 countries and regions. It is this still-growing user base that has brought the first million nodes to the Roam network.
From 1 to 1 million, what has Roam accomplished along the way? At the beginning of its establishment in 2021, Roam formed a Web3 working group within the Global Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), opening the door to integrating decentralized identity (DID) and verifiable credentials (VC) under the OpenRoaming™ framework. This was an important step in creating secure and seamless connections for global users.
In terms of products, supported by OpenRoaming™ and blockchain technology, Roam continues to innovate: at the beginning of the year, Rainier MAX60 officially replaced the MetaBlox OG miner as Roam's second-generation WiFi router mining machine, and the Baker MAX30 AP mining machine released in the second half of the year further enriched Roam's product architecture. Soon after, the launch of Roam eSIM was well received in the market, quickly pushing the number of Roam registered users past one million nodes. It is clear that Roam has made solid progress at every step, and this is just the beginning.
The release of the 2025 roadmap makes the Roam ecosystem market even richer.
On December 14, Roam released the '2025 Roadmap,' covering a total of 11 updates across three major modules: products, technology, and community ecology.
In 2025, Roam will bring four major product updates: Roam Loan will officially launch in Q1, and through formal cooperation with Huma Finance, 'Buy Now, Pay Never' will no longer be just a slogan. Users can purchase and use routers with a low threshold to participate in the construction of the Roam network, with loan repayments directly deducted from mining rewards. After the loan is paid off, the mining rewards will belong to the user. In Q2, Roam Growth will receive an important update, during which the product service framework for Growth will be released, and existing Roam Growth products will also be completely upgraded to include more diverse sustainable income projects for users. In the second half of the year, updates will focus more on the Roam App and the developer platform Roam Innovator Hub. The new Roam App 2.0 version will further enrich the interactive forms that users can participate in. In the concluding fourth quarter, Roam will welcome the launch of Innovator Hub, an innovative platform that will provide more developers with API and SDK tools and grant support, encouraging developers to participate in ecological co-construction.
In terms of technology, Roam will have four major updates next year: In the first half of the year, Roam will focus on the Proof of Presence protocol, achieving real-time verification of local interactions with the Roam network; in the third quarter, the Roam router OS system will be updated, and more new WiFi mining devices will be released, including devices from qualified third-party partners and community-supported OpenRoaming™ mining devices; by the end of next year, Roam will complete the full integration of WiFi and cellular data networks, achieving true seamless roaming between the two major wireless broadband sectors.
As another important component of Roam's vision for a global open wireless network, Roam eSIM will launch its long-term version in Q1 next year, with no expiration date, no binding, and no monthly fees. The Roam global eSIM cellular data network will provide users with more convenient connectivity. Additionally, in terms of community and ecology, Roam Discovery will gradually complete its launch in the first half of next year, with main products including Discovery Pool, Discovery IMPACT, and Discovery Incubator Program. In the second half of the year, the DAO community governance will go live, allowing users to actively participate in community building through decentralized decision-making mechanisms.
From the roadmap, it can be seen that in the first half of next year, with the gradual rollout of new products, the Roam ecosystem market will be greatly enriched. The three core products, Roam Loan, Roam Growth upgraded version, and Roam Discovery will be launched successively. From how to purchase hardware devices with a low threshold to how to turn the hardware devices in hand into powerful economic tools to create sustainable income, Loan and Growth provide users with a product experience from entry-level to continuous advancement. In Discovery, through the three modules of Pool, IMPACT, and Incubator Program, it attracts excellent peers and investors to settle in, providing a platform for peers, investors, and developers to exchange discoveries and build consensus based on Roam's innovative location-based technology and resources such as API and SDK toolkits, promoting conceptual innovation and project implementation. The launch of Roam's long-term eSIM and the new version of Roam App will provide users with more seamless connectivity experiences and traffic rewards. In short, the Roam ecosystem will be richer next year, and the scenarios in which users can participate will greatly increase.
Steady and solid progress is the fastest pace.
When Roam was established in 2021, its original intention was to solve the pain points encountered by WBA in promoting the OpenRoaming™ program globally. It has been proven that Roam's approach of encouraging community and user participation in the OpenRoaming™ network through Web3 is effective and has attracted the attention of many traditional telecom operators. Of course, while gaining the attention of traditional industries, it has also received favor and support from investment institutions. By the end of 2023, Roam completed a $5 million strategic round of financing, led by Anagram and Volt Capital, with participation from Comma3 Ventures, ECMC Group, and others. The angel round participants Synergis and SNZ continued to invest in the strategic round. In April 2024, Roam received investment from Samsung Next, marking its only investment since DePIN became a phenomenon in the last year.
Since early December, the number of Roam hardware nodes has consistently ranked first on the data analysis site DePINscan, and the number of nodes has now surpassed one million. In less than a year, Roam has achieved over a million users and nodes. Looking back at this year, Roam has been steadily fulfilling its initial promise—with each product rollout and update—to promote the OpenRoaming™ network globally, building an open global wireless network and achieving seamless global WiFi connectivity. With this steady progress, Roam, together with 1.7 million users, has brought a secure and convenient WiFi network to over 190 countries and regions worldwide. It is clear that steady and solid progress is the fastest pace. Now, with the release of the 2025 roadmap, we look forward to what remarkable performances Roam will bring next.
