Originally published on Medium.

 

BlockMesh is on a mission to connect the unconnected through a decentralized, cost-free communications network. For the past four weeks, we’ve been busy working on our hardware and have also been invited to the MEST Africa Summit and RISE Technology Conference. Our hardware solutions are integral in seeing our mission fulfilled, read more about that in this update. Besides focusing on our hardware development and attending conferences, we also have one eye on the future as we look to develop our own custom blockchain, read about that here.

 

MEST Africa Summit:

The MEST Africa Summit held in Cape Town was a brilliant experience as we rubbed shoulders with global entrepreneurs, investors, industry-leading executives and the next generation of African tech startups. It’s great to see how excited people are for our unique venture and we look forward to exploring new partnerships.

 
Our Co-founder Jason was a #MESTAfricaSummit panellist discussing how Blockchain can have the biggest impact across Africa, how companies can best leverage this tech as well as regulation, ICOs, reputation & expectation management, potential use cases and more.Our Co-founder Jason was a #MESTAfricaSummit panellist discussing how Blockchain can have the biggest impact across Africa, how companies can best leverage this tech as well as regulation, ICOs, reputation & expectation management, potential use cases and more.

 

RISE Technology Conference:

Coming up for the BlockMesh team is RISE in Hong Kong. Rise brings speakers from the world’s biggest companies together with the world’s most exciting startups. Last year, RISE welcomed 14,000+ people from 90 countries; including 400 investors, 565 media, almost 600 startups and 240 speakers.

We have been invited as a featured startup and will be exhibiting our custom MeshEx Keyring Boosters (world first) alongside our chat and wallet apps. We can’t wait for the opportunity to meet with and learn from some of the biggest minds in global tech and innovation.

 

Hardware Update:

After months of hard work and determination, BlockMesh is in the final stages of completing an important milestone. Once completed we will be the only company in the world to release a communications device that incorporates a blockchain.

 
MeshEx Keyring BoosterMeshEx Keyring Booster

 

We’ve recently performed field tests of our MeshEx Keyring Boosters and have confirmed 2-way communications from 5km apart, point to point. We plan to have our alpha version ready for demonstration at RISE.

 
A — Sender, B — Relaying, P — Travelling receiver (in vehicle)A — Sender, B — Relaying, P — Travelling receiver (in vehicle)

 

Partner Programme:

After internal testing, the MeshEx Keyring Boosters will be sent to select partners and community members. They will be tasked with setting up Beta BlockMesh networks for case-studies and further testing. Simultaneous real-world tests in various conditions and environments will fast-track our development. The Partner Programme will reward those who take part so keep an eye on our website and social channels to put yourself forward as a beta tester.

 

Kickstarter Campaign:

Once the Partner Programme field tests are completed, we will launch a Kickstarter campaign to further fund our device rollout. We plan to distribute 10 000 units within 2018 and a successful Kickstarter campaign will help us achieve this goal.

 

Updated FAQ answered and added to our website:

1. What is the Total Supply of Blockmesh?
2. Does Blockmesh have its own blockchain?
3. Where can I store BMH tokens?
4. What is the utility of the BMH token?
5. Can BMH be mined?
6. Why does Blockmesh need a blockchain?
7. Does Blockmesh have patented technology? What are the patents?
8. What is a mesh network?
9. How much will the BlockMesh hardware devices cost?
10. Is Blockmesh just a messaging app?

We’re looking forward to this next chapter of the BlockMesh development story and appreciate your support in helping us to achieve these goals. As always, find out more on our website and by joining our Telegram group and send any questions or comments to us on Twitter.