Since the release of Roam’s 2025 Roadmap, the community has been buzzing with excitement. To provide further information about the Roadmap, Roam hosted an AMA on December 19, 2024, with co-founder YZ. During the session, YZ shared valuable insights, updates, and the latest information regarding the Roadmap and the upcoming Token Generation Event (TGE), ensuring the community is well-informed about what’s to come.
Guests and Project Introduction
YZ: Hello, I’m YZ, co-founder of Roam. We’re building a global open wireless network. We start with WiFi OpenRoaming and are also stepping into the eSIM market. The reason we’re doing this is to provide you with a converged wireless network. Whether you’re at home, in a restaurant, or traveling, you’ll have free, secure, and seamless connectivity. To achieve this, a lot of development is required, including both technological advancements and innovations in business models.
Panel Discussion
Question 1: As we all know, at the heart of Roam is the Roam product. Could you share the product plans you have for Roam in 2025?
YZ: In the Roam Product, we have a Loan Program in which we partner with Huma Finance. This program helps us lower the entry barrier and make it as easy as possible for you to join. You only need to pay a 30% down payment, like $150, and you’ll get our miner. The remaining cost will be financed by Huma. The goal is to get as many people as possible to have the device in their hands. You can pay back with your mining rewards. We’re confident the mining output will cover the cost of the miner, and with a roughly 10% interest rate, pay back to Huma.
Another very important program is Roam Growth. These days, all the venture capitalists, liquid funds, and community members are always looking at the annual recurring revenues of a product because that measures whether the product or network you’re building is really valuable. Roam has two sides. One is the device side: we have nodes, hardware, and a network built by these nodes. Right now, our node functions as a WiFi OpenRoaming node. Gradually, it will carry CDN, VPN, and other applications. With these applications on our node, it will generate a lot of cash income. Roam growth provides an opportunity for our users to share the profit. The other is the app. Since Roam is providing free connectivity in 160 countries, this could become a local life app, enhancing your local and travel experiences. You will also see opportunities to make money through Web3 in our app. Additionally, we will offer financial services, like the Loan Program, to improve your life. We’re also opening our resources to fellow innovators in the ecosystem to come and build exciting products for our users. This is what our Innovator Hub will do.
Question 2: What key technologies are you focusing on to enhance the Roam Network?
Roam starts with OpenRoaming. In fact, Roam is one of the certified providers of OpenRoaming and works with our partners to ensure smooth integration with the OpenRoaming framework.
Additionally, Roam holds GSMA SMS-certified credentials. Since eSIM is a regulated industry, this allows us to partner with telecom providers to create innovative eSIM solutions. You may notice that Roam’s eSIM is different from regular eSIMs. Traditional eSIMs are typically local and country-based, where you buy a package in a specific country, and the data expires. However, Roam’s eSIM is different. The data is valid globally and never expires. For example, if I have 20 GB in Canada and use 5 GB, when I fly to Singapore, the remaining 15 GB will automatically convert to local Singapore data. With Roam, you never pay roaming charges—you only pay local rates. In fact, if you’re using our network, you can earn free data as well. This requires significant changes in the backend to ensure seamless organization and metering of data. That’s another key area of development we’re working on.
Another important aspect is Web3 integration. We want to empower Web3 communities and support the development of GameFi and SocialFi applications.
At the same time, telecom operators are seeking Roam’s assistance. In the 5G world, telecom companies still charge the same data fees but face increasing capital expenditures. As a result, telecom operators are minimizing investments in certain areas, particularly for indoor and in-building solutions. We’re addressing this by ensuring that our OpenRoaming WiFi system can operate seamlessly with telecom equipment at the backend. This is why we’re also working on Open WiFi support and an app store where users can install various applications. We hope that by combining all these technologies, we can significantly improve the user experience, offering a free, secure, seamless, and open-telco solution.
Question 3: How can community members get more involved in the Roam project, especially through Roam Discovery and the community DAO governance that Roam is planning to launch in 2025?
YZ: Roam will invest $ROAM tokens into various ecosystem projects and exchanges to build on top of Roam or bring new users into the Roam network. This approach is similar to the general L1, L2, and even L3 grant programs. Since Roam is a physical L1 because we process time- and location-based data, many applications want to build on top of Roam’s data sets.
Whenever users lock their tokens with Roam, Roam will issue equivalent tokens and provide incentives to partner projects. The number of tokens a partner project receives is determined by a bonding curve, based on how many real users it brings into the Roam ecosystem.
At the same time, when these projects enter the Roam ecosystem, they are required to airdrop tokens to Roam stakeholders. These stakeholders will distribute the tokens to people who locked tokens with Roam or participated in the events during the process.
While we will continue to focus on key technologies and business development within the ecosystem, the community will ultimately make decisions about how the ecosystem functions, with decisions being made through community voting.
Question 4: What are the next steps for the eSIM?
First, regarding the eSIM program, we will offer phone numbers as part of our eSIM offering. Currently, Roam eSIM only provides data, but we’re gradually expanding it to transition from a travel eSIM to your main eSIM.
If you use Roam eSIM as your primary service instead of your current telecom provider, I can guarantee that if you travel frequently, you’ll see a 60-80% reduction in costs. Additionally, if you take advantage of our OpenRoaming WiFi network, it will be free for you. The more you use our network, the more you can earn enough eSIM data to ensure you’re connected everywhere, without any extra charges.
Question 5: Can you share with us an update about the TGE and what the community can anticipate before its launch?
From my perspective, it’s a great time to launch the token. The team is working hard on it, and 2025 has the potential to be a fantastic year for launching our token. However, before launching the TGE, there are a few things we need to sort out.
First, we need to educate people about the TGE process. Recently, some projects have launched with issues, such as discrepancies between the tokens people received and their expectations. Other projects have offered to retire existing points or assets in exchange for tokens. With Roam, before and after the TGE, you will always mine the same points. The TGE simply means we will open the burning pool for you to burn points into tokens. It’s crucial that we educate our community about this process to ensure a smooth TGE.
We plan to open a pilot TGE pool to allow our users to practice burning points into tokens. The tokens you receive during this pilot will not be our final tokens. This pilot period will help ensure that the TGE is seamless and smooth. Our new team is currently working hard to define and develop this process. Once it’s ready, we will allow people to test burning points before the TGE, which will be an added benefit for early participants in the project.
The second important aspect is the readiness of the project team and the community. Finally, we need to coordinate with major exchanges for the listing schedule. Even if we receive an offer from an exchange, the scheduling process takes time. The final TGE date will be announced with the exchanges.
