The IoTeX ecosystem strikes again in its quest to bring DePIN to everyone! Switch Electric and Drop Wireless, long-term members of the IoTeX ecosystem, are partnering up to support Switch Electric's sustainable and decentralized energy initiative by establishing LoRaWAN coverage in underserved regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Switch Electric will leverage Drop Wireless LoRaWAN infrastructure to verify network coverage for smart meters using the token-incentivized M3tering protocol. The program, starting in five prominent Nigerian cities, including Lagos, with plans to expand into Uganda and Kenya, aims to enhance renewable energy sharing across multiple countries in the global south.

Switch Electric recently unveiled the inaugural smart meter designed specifically for decentralized energy projects, allowing individuals to produce and market their electricity.

“Access to energy remains a pressing issue in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our collaboration with Drop Wireless enables us to leverage their established LoRaWAN network, financially empowering local communities to own wireless gateways. Paired with our M3tering protocol-enabled smart meters, this creates a formidable solution for enhancing energy accessibility and promoting sustainable development.”

I. Christwin, CEO of Switch Electric

To ensure the economic sustainability of the Switch Electric collaboration, Drop Wireless plans to evaluate any underutilized gateways within its community and strategically redeploy them in targeted areas to maximize societal benefits globally.

These gateways will be distributed under leasing agreements, and Switch Electric's usage fees, along with mining rewards, will be distributed among community members who contributed their gateways.

This arrangement presents an innovative economic model where underutilized wireless assets can be fully utilized in underserved regions, creating more sustainable hardware distribution models and helping local economies.

Dr. Andrew Baek, CEO of Drop Wireless, expressed excitement about the partnership with Switch Electric and the opportunity to contribute to their impactful mission. He stated that the partnership exemplified the potential of DePINs to incentivize collaboration and address real-world challenges.

Since its inception in 2018, IoTeX has been one of the leaders and pioneers of the intersection of IoT and Blockchain. The idea of a machine economy underlined by community-owned infrastructures was first formalized by the IoTeX research team in 2021 and was then called MachineFi. Fast-forward to 2023, this concept has since been universally recognized as DePIN.

The name might have changed, but the mission is always the same, encapsulated by IoTeX’s motto: DePIN is for Everyone. The collaboration between Drop Wireless and Switch Electric within the IoTeX ecosystem is a step in this direction, and it paves the way for similar partnerships across the whole IoTeX ecosystem and possibly beyond as cross-ecosystem interoperability becomes a standard for the mass adoption of DePIN.

“We’ve been working with Drop Wireless and Switch Electric for a while now, and their contribution to our ecosystem cannot be understated. It’s so great to see them come together with this initiative. This partnership is a great example of what DePIN can do on so many levels: Incentivizing sustainability by repurposing devices, empowering underserved communities, creating a better community-owned physical infrastructure, and boosting local economies. Our DePIN for Everyone motto couldn’t have been better represented! We’re really proud of the work iChristwin, and Andrew have done!”

Giuseppe De Luca from the IoTeX core team.

ABOUT IOTEX

IoTeX is a DePIN-specific blockchain that boasts over $1 billion in on-chain assets, over 400,000 users, and over 45,000 devices across hundreds of dApps. As a one-stop modular infrastructure for DePINs, IoTeX offers a comprehensive suite of building blocks and tools, ranging from the hardware abstraction layer and off-chain computing layer to its Layer-1 blockchain layer serving as the trusted anchor for identity, governance, dApps, etc., to significantly simplify the deployment of DePIN projects.

The IoTeX ecosystem is constantly evolving and is currently the second largest after Ethereum in the DePIN sector. Some of the most notable projects across various sectors include DropWireless, Switch Electric, Wayru, Network3, and enviroBLOQ.

ABOUT SWITCH ELECTRIC

Switch Electric introduced the first smart metering platform to bridge the gap between distributed energy resources (such as rooftop solar assets) and the Web 3.0 economy, allowing individuals to generate & sell their power. Its vision is to displace centralized power generation and enable cost-effective decentralized energy supply for Africa's 1 Billion people by 2100.

ABOUT DROP WIRELESS

Drop Wireless is predominantly dedicated to harnessing its state-of-the-art technologies to establish Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN). This endeavor is geared towards ushering in useful applications within the upcoming era of extensive interconnectedness. Its commitment extends to furnishing tools that foster a community-centric infrastructure and ecosystem.

Switch Electric and Drop Wireless lead the charge towards Africa's more sustainable and equitable energy future. Stay tuned for further updates on their progress and how you can participate in this transformative movement. For more information about this partnership and the M3tering Protocol, please contact

• Drop Wireless at https://t.me/Drop Wireless

• Switch Electric at https://discord.gg/Z4AyRjh7gW