DAWN Q1 2026 Roadmap: From Infrastructure to Activation

With a strengthened foundation and exciting momentum, DAWN is pushing forward into a new phase of growth and participation.

Q4 2025 focused on solidifying core components: improving deployer tooling, validating the protocol stack, completing smart contract audits, and preparing the network for public participation. With those systems in place, Q1 2026 marks a decisive shift toward public release, ecosystem activation, and real-world usage.

This quarter is about turning production-ready infrastructure into an open, participatory network. It's a network that deployers, subscribers, partners, and the broader community can actively engage with more broadly.

Q4 Recap: A Hardened Foundation

Before looking ahead, we'll start by recapping what Q4 delivered.

• A full rebrand of dawninternet.com and a relaunched web dashboard
• Chrome Extension V3.0 and Deployer Back End Tools V2.0, improving stability and operational depth
• Completion of smart contract audits with two independent firms
• Continued outdoor hardware deployments and refined household coverage modeling
• Network coverage reaching ~4 million households
• A $13M Series B led by Polychain Capital

Q1 2026 Roadmap: Public Releases & Network Expansion

Explorer V1.0 & Transparency

Q1 introduces the first public release of Explorer V1.0, a major step forward in network transparency.

The explorer will provide:

• A live network map
• Household coverage visualization
• Predictive signal modeling using open-source data and line-of-sight algorithms
• Real-time and historical insights into network growth

This marks the beginning of DAWN's public-facing transparency layer, making network coverage and progress visible to everyone.

Dashboards for Deployers & Subscribers

This quarter brings the first public releases of:

• Deployer Dashboard V2.0
• Subscriber Dashboard V1.0

These dashboards transform how participants interact with the network:

• Deployers can manage infrastructure, coverage, and subscribers
• Subscribers gain a clear interface for managing their Internet service

Together, these tools formalize DAWN's operational surfaces for both sides of the marketplace.

Black Box: Public Release & Partner Integrations

One of the most anticipated milestones of Q1 is the public release of the DAWN Black Box.

In Q1:

• Black Box shipments begin
• Multiple partner integrations go live
• Users can select different GPU configurations at purchase
• The ecosystem map expands as new partners are announced

Behind the scenes, Black Box software has reached an important point: handling device registration, subscriber plans, on-chain coordination, and partner workloads. Q1 is when that system moves into the hands of the broader community.

Mobile App: Powering Deployment

The DAWN Mobile App launches alongside Black Box availability.

The app is designed primarily for deployers and enables:

• Black Box configuration and setup
• Creation and management of internet plans
• Subscriber onboarding and installation workflows
• Integration with downstream hardware, including Tarana-based deployments

Over time, the mobile app becomes a central coordination layer for real-world deployment activity.

Tarana Open Access Network

We believe that a major driver of coverage growth in Q1 will be the launch of the DAWN Tarana Open Access Network.

DAWN is integrating with ISPs already operating Tarana hardware, allowing existing networks to:

• Bring coverage onto the DAWN network
• Coordinate deployments on-chain
• Contribute real-world infrastructure, subscribers, and revenue without starting from scratch

This approach enables DAWN to "short-circuit" traditional deployment timelines and rapidly scale coverage by tapping into live ISP networks.

Proof of Bandwidth & Desktop App V1.0

Proof of Bandwidth (PoB) remains a core protocol priority and unlocks several downstream releases.

• PoB introduces a verifiable system for measuring real network performance
• It relies on both challengers and provers to validate capacity
• Due to browser limitations, PoB is enabled via the Desktop App, not extensions

The Desktop App V1.0 launches alongside Proof of Bandwidth and allows:

• UDP-based speed testing
• Validation of Black Box capacity
• Deeper performance verification than browser-based tools can provide

Nothing in this stack is released prematurely: PoB comes first, and the desktop app follows once the system is ready.

Solana Testnet & Indexer

Q1 also introduces the Solana Testnet, launching in parallel with Black Box shipments and the mobile app.

• Black Box deployers are the first participants
• Subscription activity is simulated on testnet
• Fiat payment rails support real subscribers while on-chain coordination runs in parallel

Supporting this is the Indexer, a near-complete system that captures on-chain events and makes them accessible via fast APIs for:

• Explorer
• Dashboards
• Mobile and desktop apps

Together, these components move DAWN closer to a fully verifiable, on-chain coordination layer.

Public Documentation

To support this expansion, Q1 includes the release of public documentation covering:

• How to become a deployer
• How subscriptions work
• Network architecture and participation paths
• Hardware, software, and protocol references

This documentation makes DAWN accessible not just to early insiders, but to anyone looking to participate.

Coverage Expansion: 5.9 Million Households

By the end of Q1 2026, DAWN is targeting 5.9 million households covered, representing a 47% quarter-over-quarter increase.

This target is grounded in:

• Active deployment pipelines
• Signed partners
• Ongoing installations
• Open access integrations like Tarana

It reflects real, executable growth; not aspirational projections.

Looking Ahead

Q1 2026 is about translating infrastructure into usage.

With hardened systems behind us, DAWN is opening the network to deployers, subscribers, partners, and the broader community; connecting hardware, software, and on-chain coordination into a cohesive whole.

As always, transparency and readiness guide every release. Nothing ships before it's ready, but when it does, it's built to scale.

We'll continue sharing progress through quarterly updates as DAWN moves closer to its long-term goal: a global, open, and verifiable connectivity network.

The next phase is here. 🌅