Roam

From MetaBlox to Roam

Roam began as MetaBlox, a project founded in fall 2021 with a straightforward ambition: to unify fragmented public WiFi infrastructure worldwide into a single, secure, and decentralized network. The company rebranded to Roam and completed a migration to the Solana mainnet in Q2 2024, positioning itself within the decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) category that has become a defining vertical in the Solana ecosystem.

The rebrand signaled a strategic expansion beyond the original MetaBlox miner hardware into a full-stack connectivity platform encompassing mobile eSIM, a consumer app, AI-ready edge infrastructure, and a live token economy built on-chain.

What Roam Does

The core proposition of Roam is bridging the gap between an estimated 600 million public WiFi hotspots worldwide and people who want to use them without friction, passwords, or privacy tradeoffs. Roam layers three technologies on top of existing telecom infrastructure:

OpenRoaming: Roam serves as the sole official Web3 partner of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the industry body that administers the OpenRoaming standard. OpenRoaming allows a device to authenticate once and then connect seamlessly across any participating hotspot, in the same way a SIM card allows a phone to roam across cellular towers globally. This integration gives app users automatic access to 4.5 million OpenRoaming-certified access points in addition to 3 million or more community-built nodes.

Decentralized Identity (DID/VC): Rather than submitting email addresses or phone numbers to WiFi splash pages, Roam users authenticate via a blockchain-based Decentralized Identifier. The network uses Verifiable Credentials to share only what is necessary for access, keeping personal data off centralized servers. After the initial setup, the protocol handles authentication silently as users move between hotspots.

DePIN incentive layer on Solana: Hardware operators and access point contributors earn rewards for expanding the network. The Solana blockchain anchors the proof-of-service consensus and records contribution data, while the ROAM token governs the economic layer.

Network Scale

As of mid-2025, Roam reported more than 2.4 million WiFi nodes worldwide and a user base exceeding 2.7 million. The combined accessible footprint, including community nodes and OpenRoaming hotspots, stands above 7.5 million access points spanning 190 countries. eSIM coverage extends to 180 or more countries for mobile data when WiFi is unavailable.

These figures place Roam among the largest active DePIN networks by node count, a position reinforced by the WBA partnership which gives the project credibility within the traditional telecom industry rather than purely within the crypto-native DePIN ecosystem.

Earning Mechanics and the ROAM Token

The Roam economy runs on a two-layer system. Participants accumulate Roam Points through several mechanisms: connecting to verified Roam or OpenRoaming access points earns check-in rewards; operating hardware that extends network coverage earns ongoing rewards tied to node uptime via proof-of-service; referrals, quests, and proof-of-location events generate additional points; and onboarding new access points for others to use contributes further.

Roam Points are burned to receive ROAM tokens, the native asset of the network on Solana. ROAM can be staked and used for community governance. The burn mechanic is designed to create an ongoing demand sink tied to real network participation rather than purely speculative activity.

The ROAM token launched for spot trading on March 6, 2025, becoming available simultaneously on Bybit, Bitget, Gate.io, KuCoin, MEXC, Backpack, Hotcoin, and LBank. The total supply is fixed at 1 billion ROAM, with allocations across team, investors, and network mining rewards.

Hardware Products

Roam sells two primary mining devices: the Roam Rainier MAX60, a WiFi 6 router with enterprise-grade security features and support for on-device AI agent workloads; and the Roam Baker MAX30, a compact lower-cost access point aimed at residential and small-venue deployment. Hardware operators are the backbone of the community-built node network, with uptime directly determining reward output under the proof-of-service model.

AI Expansion

In 2025 and into 2026, Roam pushed further into AI-adjacent infrastructure. The platform markets itself as Edge AI Ready, meaning the network can support AI agents and edge compute devices that need secure, decentralized connectivity without relying on centralized cloud services. Under this model, an AI agent can authenticate via the DID system and pay for connectivity via blockchain transactions, a use case Roam is positioning as a natural extension of the existing identity and incentive infrastructure. The Roam AI product line, which includes an AI chat and image creation tool tied to Roam accounts, runs alongside the core WiFi offering.

Why It Matters on Solana

Roam represents one of the clearest examples of a Solana DePIN project achieving genuine physical infrastructure deployment at scale, with millions of nodes in the real world, a functioning token economy, and a live exchange-listed asset. The WBA partnership distinguishes Roam from purely crypto-native competitors by anchoring it to established telecom standards, giving enterprise and hospitality verticals a path to integration that conventional carriers would recognize. For the Solana DePIN ecosystem, Roam is one of the projects most frequently cited as evidence that the category can deliver real-world utility at meaningful scale.