I just looked into an interesting DePIN project on Solana called Roam, and there are a few noteworthy points here.

What is Roam and why is it developing so quickly? In early 2025, Solana officially launched Roam—a decentralized WiFi platform aimed at building a global roaming network. The clever part is the very simple model: you share your home WiFi, and when others connect, you earn points, which can later be exchanged for ROAM tokens. This economic model seems reasonable, but the implementation is quite smart.

What are Roam’s growth figures? In just 7 months—from July 2024 to January 2025—the number of devices increased from 400,000 to 1.21 million—nearly tripling. According to DePINscan, Roam currently ranks first worldwide in the number of DePIN devices, with 2.08 million registered users. This is quite impressive compared to other projects in this space.

Why is it growing so fast? I think it’s because the barrier to entry is very low—routers are common devices, and no complicated setup is needed. Additionally, Roam sells official routers (MAX30 priced at $199, and MAX60 at $499) to boost rewards. Buyers of MAX60 can earn an extra 60 points daily, with a maximum of 150 points when logging in.

Looking at the geographic distribution, Roam is mainly concentrated in South Korea, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe—regions with well-developed networks. Currently, it covers over 140 countries. But there’s a problem: these areas already have good WiFi, so the actual demand isn’t very high. Most current users connect mainly in anticipation of airdrops.

Regarding potential profits from airdrops, I did a rough calculation. A total of 1 billion ROAM tokens will be issued, with a TGE (Token Generation Event) creating 400 million tokens, of which 280 million are for sale. As of January 2025, Roam has issued about 2.139 billion points to users. Comparing this to IoTeX’s (token with a circulating value of $330 million), each ROAM token could be valued at around $0.825, with a points-to-token exchange rate of approximately 7.6:1.

In this scenario, an average user (who doesn’t buy a router) could receive an airdrop worth about $7.8. If you buy a MAX60 router and hold for 100 days, accumulating 9,000 points, your earnings could reach $900. But that’s the most optimistic case.

I have to say, Roam is essentially a story about capital efficiency. Raising only $7 million and achieving 1.21 million nodes is very impressive compared to projects that raise hundreds of millions. But in reality, Roam’s main revenue doesn’t come from tokens but from selling routers. If half of the 1.21 million devices are routers, revenue could reach $127 million. Even if only 1/10 are routers, that’s at least $25 million.

Besides decentralized WiFi, Roam also offers international eSIM roaming services covering 160 countries, priced around $1.19–$1.99 per GB.

However, I also see some risks. The airdrop effect is a key factor in retaining current users. If the airdrop doesn’t meet expectations, there could be a large wave of users disconnecting. Moreover, after the airdrop, can Roam maintain its current node count and continue attracting new users? That’s a big question.

Currently, the ROAM price is around $0.03, much lower than initial estimates. This indicates that the market has its own assessment of the project’s potential.