Roam is the only Web3 project among the 11 enterprise alliances in the WBA OpenRoaming plan. With its unique token incentive scheme and socialized growth system, the Roam ecosystem currently has more than 280,000 users, more than 270,000 nodes, and covers more than 140 countries. Roam has now surpassed Helium 5G in terms of node scale and has secured its leading position in the DeWi track. The WBA also has high hopes for Roam and expects it to contribute 20% to the overall OpenRoaming network node growth in the next few years.
OpenRoaming: A seamless Wi-Fi experience
With the continuous technical iteration of the 802.11 series of wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, especially the further innovation of Wi-Fi 5 (IEEE 802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax) in recent years, the data transmission speed has been greatly improved. At the same time, with the widespread integration of Wi-Fi functions in modern electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart home devices, Wi-Fi networks are becoming one of the most important infrastructures today.
At present, most public places usually use Wi-Fi networks as supporting services. At present, the scale of public Wi-Fi networks in the world has reached nearly 700 million, and this number is still growing at an annual rate of 10%. However, even so, public Wi-Fi networks are not convenient for users to use. In fact, most public Wi-Fi networks come from private routing devices, and a small number come from government or municipal, service provider (ISP) hotspots, community networks, commercial Wi-Fi network operators, etc. These Wi-Fi networks usually have some regional restrictions, and almost all of them require cumbersome connection steps, including repeated logins, reconnections, shared passwords, and redundant registrations. For example, a user who is traveling locally or internationally will find it difficult to get continuous Wi-Fi network connection support, and needs to constantly authenticate and connect to new Wi-Fi network hotspots.
At the same time, public Wi-Fi networks also face some security and privacy issues. A typical example is that in 2017, a security researcher demonstrated how to conduct a man-in-the-middle attack on the public Wi-Fi network of a Starbucks coffee shop. He created a fake Wi-Fi hotspot with a similar name to Starbucks' official Wi-Fi. When users connected to this hotspot, he was able to monitor and manipulate users' network traffic, including redirecting users to malicious websites. The security issues faced by public Wi-Fi are also constantly receiving attention.
In order to create a seamless, secure Wi-Fi network system that does not require manual login, in 2019, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) promoted a technical standard called OpenRoaming. The OpenRoaming technical solution supports users without logging in or authenticating every time they connect to a new Wi-Fi network. Once users are authenticated in any network that supports OpenRoaming, their devices can automatically connect to other participating networks for truly seamless roaming. At the same time, it uses WPA3 and WBA's Passpoint technology to ensure that all data transmissions are encrypted, providing a security level comparable to that of mobile networks. OpenRoaming is suitable for a variety of scenarios, including airports, stadiums, hotels, offices, and public spaces, and can provide users with a consistent network experience.
The penetration rate of OpenRoaming solution is only about 0.6%
In fact, after OpenRoaming technology was first launched on the market, in addition to WBA, Internet technology and communications giants were the main promoters. These early promoters included Cisco, Google, AT&T, Boingo Wireless, Samsung, etc.
Of course, traditional technology companies usually promote it from top to bottom. For example, Cisco and Samsung integrate OpenRoaming technology into their network equipment and mobile devices to ensure that the devices can seamlessly access Wi-Fi networks that support OpenRoaming. AT&T and Boingo Wireless promote the concept and advantages of OpenRoaming by establishing alliances with partners in different industries. These companies also try to implement OpenRoaming pilot projects in specific areas or places (such as airports, large conference centers, etc.) to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the technology and use them as practical cases to demonstrate the potential of OpenRoaming.
Although OpenRoaming itself has great potential in promoting the experience of shared Wi-Fi, its effectiveness depends on the number and coverage of participating networks. The large-scale adoption of OpenRoaming usually relies on the broad participation of service providers, but the program is promoted from leading enterprises to small and medium-sized enterprises. Cost and profitability issues will lead to poor penetration. Potential obstacles include some equipment investment costs and huge initial education costs. In most regions or scenarios, there are few Wi-Fi networks that can support OpenRoaming, and users usually cannot experience the advantages of seamless connection. On the other hand, the OpenRoaming standard also has certain adaptability requirements for devices. Not all devices support the Passpoint technology required by OpenRoaming, so users need to use compatible devices to enjoy the convenience of automatic connection. Therefore, at present, the penetration rate of OpenRoaming is extremely low for many small and medium-sized cities with underdeveloped Internet awareness.
According to current data, there are about 3 million OpenRoaming nodes available worldwide. Based on the market size of 628 million Wi-Fi users, only 0.6% of Wi-Fi networks are connected to OpenRoaming. This means that it is far from enough to rely solely on the enterprise side to promote OpenRoaming. It requires a larger driving force to promote its development, such as allowing more small and medium-sized enterprises to join the alliance and allowing C-end users to become promoters. On the other hand, the extremely low access rate also means that there is huge room for development in this field.
On the bright side, with Roam (formerly Metabolx) joining the OpenRoaming Enterprise Alliance, it is building a pipeline in a Web3 way for a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises and C-end users to become promoters of OpenRoaming, and is working with traditional communications industry leaders such as Boingo Wireless, Cisco, GlobalReach Technology, and Intel to drive the coverage and number of users of OpenRoaming network nodes.
As the only Web3 enterprise among the 11 alliance enterprises, Roam is expected to enable all potential roles to spontaneously become promoters of the development of OpenRoaming by building a DePIN system driven by a token economy model, and is expected to significantly reduce the threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises and C-end users to access OpenRoaming, while earning income from their contributions to OpenRoaming. It is reported that Roam's decentralized backend and hardware will eliminate the technical and cost barriers to deploying OpenRoaming (reducing economic costs by 50% on average), enabling it to enter everyone's daily life and allowing all roles to promote the process in a bottom-up manner. The WBA also has high hopes for Roam and expects it to contribute 20% to the overall OpenRoaming network growth in the next few years.
Roam is the key factor driving the large-scale adoption of OpenRoaming
Focusing on Roam, it is a DePIN-driven wireless that establishes a Web3 protocol layer between Wi-Fi networks, OpenRoaming, and users. This protocol layer supports enterprise users or individual users with network capabilities (bandwidth capabilities or Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities) to join OpenRoaming through Roam routing devices or mobile devices, and provides free services to users with Wi-Fi network needs while obtaining token incentive income from the Roam network. At the same time, the Roam protocol can ensure that the data of users connected to OpenRoaming remains autonomous and is not affected by the central database.
Web3 Wi-Fi network based on DID/VCs credentials
From the user side, the Roam protocol introduces decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and corresponding verifiable credentials (VCs). Based on DID/VCs credentials, users can directly obtain the ability to switch seamlessly in public Wi-Fi networks without repeated authentication and registration.
Users can easily synchronize configurations between devices through the Roam APP, or re-obtain configuration files when changing devices, without having to complete the complicated setup process again. In this way, Roam will establish a unified, user-centric global Wi-Fi open roaming network that seamlessly connects different Wi-Fi networks.
At the same time, VC/DID as a Web3.0 Wi-Fi credential is the core of the Roam ecosystem. It allows the use of token incentives to initiate a virtuous cycle of network construction, control the deployment and expansion of the global distributed wireless access network, and generate valuable "3W" data - a detailed description of who is connected, when connected, and where connected. Based on this series of data, Roam will conduct in-depth cooperation scenarios with social applications within the ecosystem including SocialFi, GameFi, etc.
Another groundbreaking aspect of the Roam ecosystem is its ability to drive the popularity and large-scale adoption of OpenRoaming in a bottom-up manner.
Accelerating the expansion of the OpenRoaming network based on the incentive-based DePIN system
Roam has built a DePIN ecosystem that is driven by the Web3 economic system. Based on the DePIN network, small and medium-sized enterprises, individual users, and other users with network bandwidth and Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities can join OpenRoaming at any time through the Roam protocol, including purchasing a Roam router or sharing a hotspot by installing the Roam App on a mobile device.
In terms of hardware devices, Roam currently sells the Rainier MAX60 router, which is reportedly compatible with OpenRoaming and has Wi-Fi 6 performance, supporting data transmission rates of up to 9.6Gbps, which is nearly 3 times faster than WiFi 5's 3.5Gbps, thereby reducing bandwidth congestion. At the same time, it supports 200+ devices connected simultaneously within a range of 150 square meters, which can meet the needs of most guest Wi-Fi. When a user connects at a specific node, all Roam routers work together to verify their DID credentials.
The router itself is priced the same as ordinary Wi-Fi 6-supported routers, which has a low entry threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual users. The router is also the edge computing and connection center for many homes and small businesses, providing efficient and secure support for large-scale data transmission.
Most importantly, by running Rainier MAX60 and providing OpenRoaming Wi-Fi and other services to OpenRoaming users, users can get four times the RoamPoints reward of adding Wi-Fi points (RoamPoints can be used to obtain $Roam tokens after staking and burning after TGE), and the more OpenRoaming Wi-Fi connections users establish, the higher the reward. This will greatly spread the user's construction costs and network operation and maintenance costs, and even make a profit from it. The extremely low price threshold, continuous economic incentives and excellent network performance of Rainier MAX60 are driving a large number of nodes to spontaneously join the OpenRoaming network construction.
In addition to hardware devices, Roam has also launched an App. Based on this software, users can not only join OpenRoaming Wi-Fi for free, but also share their Wi-Fi network at any time through mobile devices with hotspot function, and receive RoamPoints rewards based on their contribution in the process of sharing the network.
This mining setting is turning all mobile devices with hotspot sharing functions into small nodes of Roam, and expanding the network with the fission of users by launching a series of social functions. Roam App is not only a channel for users to join the sharing network and join OpenRoaming Wi-Fi for free, but also the App has launched a series of Web3 native functions, including:
Check-in-to-earn: This feature allows users to earn points by checking in. Users can receive points by verifying the working status of Wi-Fi network nodes and providing hotspots for other users. Currently, the cumulative number of check-ins in the app has exceeded 1.86 million.
Connect-to-convert: Roam App provides various incentive mechanisms for users who participate in network co-construction, and at the same time, it will also serve other track projects in the Web3 ecosystem with the accumulated traffic pool. Web3 project parties can accurately airdrop to target users according to their own project needs to achieve growth and early start of the ecosystem. Active users of Roam App are expected to receive a series of Web3 project token airdrop incentives, which will further promote users' contribution to the Roam ecosystem. At the same time, Roam App is also expected to convert a large number of Web2 users into Web3 native users in this way.
Location-based-socialfi: This feature is a social gameplay based on geographic coordinates. Users can continuously expand the social graph based on their geographic location and strengthen the connection between users in the ecosystem. The introduction of socialization is enhancing the cohesion of the Roam community, and also provides a foundation for further fission of the ecosystem and further exploration of commercial value.
Infra-as-a-service: Roam supports cooperation with other infrastructure project parties on infrastructure services. Roam and other DePIN project parties cooperate on hardware, supporting multiple mining on one machine to bring more diversified benefits to users. At the protocol layer, Roam can also provide data support for project parties based on geographic location, and use Roam App as a visual driving application.
Currently, through the setting of a series of functions, Roam App has more than 280,000 users and has formed one of the largest communities in the Web3 field. Not long ago, the joint event between Roam and OKX attracted more than 100,000 participants, which shows the appeal of this ecosystem.
At the same time, the number of nodes in the network as a whole is approaching 280,000, covering more than 140 countries. The number of Roam ecological nodes is currently experiencing rapid growth, and the month-on-month growth rate is as high as 100%+, which also makes Roam ecology the third largest DePIN network.
Economic Model
The Roam ecosystem currently includes three assets and drives the growth and development of the ecosystem in different ways, including RoamPoint points, ecosystem tokens $ROAM and Roam NFT.
RoamPoints is the core asset in the current token economy system. Users can obtain it by participating in network contributions, direct purchases, and exchange with cooperating merchants. Functionally, RoamPoints can be circulated within the Roam ecosystem and used to purchase third-party applications, access network-generated data, or publish advertisements in the Roam network environment. In addition, RoamPoints can be exchanged for governance tokens ROAM through staking, destruction, etc. 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 (currently more than 25% of RoamPoints have been destroyed).
$ROAM is the governance token of the ecosystem. Holders can obtain ecosystem tokens in a variety of ways, such as staking, voting, and obtaining airdrops from other projects. Its main uses include verifying the services provided by miners, participating in community governance, and staking to obtain operating rights. The token is planned to be launched on the top trading platform in the near future.
Roam NFTs are issued directly by the Roam Foundation and can be tied to specific mining equipment. Holders can earn $ROAM rewards by staking NFTs. In addition, NFTs also give holders special community status.
Roam Ecosystem Development Potential
Or become the largest DeWi ecosystem
At present, the scale of Roam ecological nodes has exceeded Helium 5G, becoming the second largest DeWi network, second only to Helium IoT. With the "wild growth" of the Roam ecosystem, it is also developing towards the largest DeWi ecosystem.
In fact, DeWi projects including Helium and Wicrypt usually hope to promote the widespread use of network services by building a DePIN ecosystem to reduce network costs. The ultimate profit direction is still to sell eSim of large telecommunications companies or charge users for paid services as another virtual network operator. Although the new service model has advantages over Web2 network services in terms of network acquisition costs, the breadth of network services provided, and user-side network acquisition costs, this business model, which has been proven in the Web2 business model, has limited potential.
The difference of Roam is that Roam's profit model is not to charge fees from users, but to achieve profits at the data and application layers. Therefore, as the Web3 expansion and aggregation layer of OpenRoaming, Roam can be open to all users for free, and as the network node system continues to expand, the user network quality and experience will continue to improve.
This approach makes it easier for the Roam ecosystem to achieve rounds of growth, as evidenced by the current scale of the ecosystem and the momentum of node growth (from doubling every month to doubling every week). As the scale of the ecosystem user base expands, it is expected to become the most important Web3 data availability layer, empowering the development of various technology fields. Different profit models and growth strategies also determine the higher ceiling of the Roam ecosystem development.
Backed by the blue ocean market
In fact, Roam is still in the early stages of its ecosystem development, especially as ROAM tokens have not yet achieved TGE. At present, Helium 5G is currently valued at $700 million, which may mean that Roam's ecosystem valuation is expected to quickly break through if its overall node scale and user volume are better than Helium 5G.
In the Wi-Fi market, there are about 628 million guest Wi-Fis, but only 3 million OpenRoaming nodes. If a 1% conversion rate is achieved, it means that about 5 million people will enjoy a better Wi-Fi experience, and the potential market value is as high as $1 billion. Roam is becoming an important force in promoting this trend, which also shows that it is backed by the blue ocean market of this track.
The grand narrative direction is also making Roam popular in the capital market. At the end of last year, it completed a round of financing of US$5 million, led by Anagram and Volt Capital, and participated by Comma3 Ventures, ECMC Group, Awesome People Ventures, Stratified Capital, DePIN Labs, Future 3 Campus, IoTeX, ZC capital and JDI. After that, it received investment from Samsung Next and others. At the same time, Roam will also plan to realize TGE of ROAM tokens on the top trading platform in the near future, which will promote the full launch of the ecosystem and further accelerate the operation of the ecological flywheel.
The progress of the investment market and the future token market will further promote Roam's construction in the DeWi track ecosystem and global WiFi roaming network nodes. It will continue to work with Cisco, Boingo, GlobalReach, etc. to use DID-based credentials to support the latest WiFi technology and realize a fast, secure and roaming global network, and continue to play a key role in 5G deployment and reducing cellular traffic.
